Ok, none of that is true. Well, I haven’t seen Allen’s nipples lately, but I think it’s safe to say that they are fine. Don’t worry.
It really has been a pretty amazing few weeks, though. Andrea Gibson, Katie Wirsing, and Buddy Wakefield began their “I am a Lagan” tour here in London and stayed with us for a few nights. It was pretty crazy showing three of the best slam poets in the world how to use our shower. Those guys are amazing, and having them here has definitely been one of the highlights of my trip so far. Their last show was at Farrago (the first “slam” we went to in London) where John Paul organized a UK vs. US “slam-off.” Buddy Wakefield, Andrea Gibson, and Katie Wirsing vs. two random London dudes. Seriously. I don’t even need to tell you how the scores ended up, but after questioning Allen’s score-adding skills, John Paul “misplaced” the scores during the break and, calling Allen’s memory unreliable, decided to call it a draw. If anyone thought that slam was worth it at all, I’m sure we’d be upset, but it’s really just hilarious that he has to pull those kinds of shenanigans. 
We ate at Mildred’s, a vegan restaurant in Soho, and it was hands-down some of the best food I’ve ever had. Those three are so much better at the eating healthy thing than we are, so Allen and I were inspired to go vegetarian until we leave. It hasn’t been too bad so far. We also went to the Tate Modern (briefly) and wandered around Trafalgar Square for a few hours at night, which was gorgeous.When they left, I had 2 days to finish my projects for finals that next week. That sucked, but I’m done now. Everything went pretty well, and now I have no responsibilities until we go back…except work, but that doesn’t really count. My job is amazing.
Friday sucked, though. Almost all of our friends from school flew out on Friday b/c it was the last day they could stay in the student housing in Camden. It’s so weird to think that we really might never see those kids again.
It’s also a little weird to think that we came all the way to London to make mostly American friends. (We went to an American school. It was the cheapest way to go…) It’s cool, though – now we have places to stay all over the US when we go on the epic road trip I’m planning in my head.We finally nailed down our itinerary for the rest of the traveling we’ll be doing. It goes a little something like this:
Christmas in Amsterdam (why not?), next few days in Rome, then on to Venice and Florence for about a day each, ending up in Paris for our final days before the grand homecoming on January 8th. Then I get to return to poetry at the Meadowlark, which I am pretty excited about. Lincoln is sending one poet to the first ever Women’s Slam in Detroit in March, and I’m really hoping it can be me... which means I have some writing to do. A few of our friends from school here live in Detroit, so I could save the slam a little money and stay with them instead. See? Don’t you think they should just give the qualifying spot to me? Sure you do… SURE YOU DO…
-stacy
