Many apologies for the lack of photos this week - I’ve been tourist-ing it up at locations I’ve previously been to, so carrying around my extremely heavy camera feels unnecessary. It’s been fun introducing my mom and Larry to London. Kind of makes me appreciate the city like I did before I came to live here…but I still absolutely can’t wait to get back to NYC in two weeks. London can’t do a damn thing to entice me to stay longer.

Today we went to the Tower of London and spent a good three hours visiting all the museums and taking the tour (the Yeoman this time was not as funny as the one I saw last year, but still good). The Tower of London is the one pricey tourist thing I recommend to anyone visiting London. We ate more pub food, chilled at their hotel for a while watching TV that may or may not have been Glee and which Larry may or may not have complained about watching and then totally loved. Behold the power of Glee!

I’m back in my dorm now. It’s been my birthday for about 52 minutes in the UK. Not sure how I feel about being 21. It feels like it’s not actually my birthday, since in my mind I’m postponing my birthday until I return to the States, where I can celebrate it with Columbia and home friends. This summer still feels so uncertain, but I guess I’ll figure it out day by day. No more word on the internship front, so I got myself some hours at Columbia’s Visitors Center. At least I’m guaranteed a really fun paid job with friends if all else fails.

As for birthday plans, I’m packing a bit for home in the afternoon and seeing Billy Elliott at night. Since I don’t have a favorite restaurant in London, I don’t really know where I want to eat. Meh. It’ll be good. And celebrating with friends back home will just have to wait. :)

— Lauren