Leamington Spa

Today I went to the town of Leamington Spa to do a little shopping. Although I brought my camera, I didn't really see anything that looked picture-worthy, so unfortunately I don't have any pictures to post. It's a really cute town, though! Leamington Spa became popular during the Victorian period because they discovered warm springs in the area. The royal family and wealthy tourists spent their vacations (or "holiday," as the English call it) in Leamington Spa. It's a very posh town with lots of cute stores. I had to take a cab to get to some areas of the town, and the cabbie and I had a nice chat. He's applying for a job in Stratford-upon-Avon and wants to study Shakespeare! He asked what I was doing in England, and when I told him I was in graduate school, he said, "Wow, you've accomplished a lot for a 19 year old!" Haha! I guess he's not very good at guessing people's ages. Good news...Paris hasn't been in the newspaper for the past two days, which means the rioting has gone down. I'm really glad, because that means we'll be safe and sound when the girls come over for New Year's. Whew! Also, I've become addicted to hot chocolate. I drink at least three cups a day! It's getting really cold here, and the hot chocolate is incredible in England. Tooley and I have different flavors of Cadbury's hot chocolate that we make at the house. We've taught our landlord, Jeremy, a new American phrase - "Stop, Drop, and Roll." We were in the kitchen talking about fires, and Tooley said that phrase, and Jeremy was so confused. He'd never heard it! We explained that children are taught to "Stop, Drop, and Roll" if they ever catch on fire. He left the kitchen, and we could hear him muttering the phrase over and over. Five minutes later, he came back in and said, "Well, it's a bit silly, isn't it?" He's funny! Now he thinks it's a pretty cool phrase. I learned that a "bubble and squeak" is an English dish where you mix leftover food together and fry it. And sprinkles are called "hundreds and thousands"...pretty appropriate name, huh? Tomorrow I'm going to be very studious and work on my paper all day, so my next post will be Friday night when Tooley and I get back from Bath. Get ready for some fun pictures...everyone says Bath is gorgeous!