Fun Weekend!

This weekend I had my second class, which means I have a break for two weekends...hooray! That also means I need to start working on essays, which is not going to be fun. My teacher this weekend was Dr. Alex Lindsey from Cambridge University. He is a tiny little man, but very nice and intelligent. My classes usually run from 6-9 p.m. on Friday night, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. on Saturday (with nice long breaks!) and 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on Sunday. It's really not bad at all! Saturday night, Tooley and I ate dinner with Natalie (from Alabama) and Michelle (from England) at Natalie's house. Natalie is living in a professor's house who teaches at UCLA during the year. Natalie cooked spaghetti and salad for us, and Michelle brought a chocolate cake. After dinner, we watched a movie and chatted. It was really fun! Michelle picked up Tooley and me and drove us to Natalie's...it's always a treat to ride in a car! haha! On Thursday, I learned that I had to attend a Rotary Club District Welcome Meeting that was being held Sunday in Birmingham. I was nervous that my school would not excuse me from missing class, because I found out about the meeting on such short notice. Luckily, Dr. Lindsey was very understanding and excused me from class on Sunday. Mr. Pearce, the man in charge of Rotary Scholars for England, had arranged for me to be picked up on Sunday morning for the meeting. Well, on Sunday morning, I got up, got dressed, and waited outside for my ride...for 40 minutes. No one ever came! I had given Mr. Pearce my cell phone number, but he had never called, so I figured my ride forgot to pick me up. I went to the internet cafe to send him an email, and saw that he had sent an email to me on Saturday night saying that he couldn't find a ride for me to Birmingham, so I needed to take a train, and then a taxi to some hotel. Since my internet isn't hooked up yet, and my school's library closes at 5 p.m., I had no way of knowing about the change in plan! I called my host counselor, Mike, and told him the situation. He had no idea about the change in plan and felt awful about the mix-up. He was very unhappy with how Mr. Pearce handled the situation. Mike is wonderful, I'm definitely lucky to have a great host counselor! So by the time everything was sorted out, it was too late for me to go to class, so Tooley and I spent the day browsing through shops and taking it easy. :) We had a great weekend. Today, I woke up to the sound of the Elves (that's what Tooley and I call the children who attend the Elfin School next door) playing kazoos and recorders. It was cute! I'm going to try to take a picture of the Elves, b/c they look so adorable in their uniforms! The weather has been wonderful...sunny and 70 degrees! It was nice not having to wear a fleece today. I just booked our trip to Scotland (Tooley, Catherine, and I are going on Oct. 22-24) and I'm so excited! Tomorrow Tooley is off from work, so we're going to visit Chipping Camden, a little village about 30 minutes away. It's supposed to be a very cute village, and we're going on a Cotswold Walk, which is a trail that goes through the beautiful countryside. :) I hope the weather is this nice tomorrow!