Adventures in England: Tooley's Birthday

On Friday, my good friend Sarah Tooley turned 23. After the festivities at midnight (the cake and presents), Tooley and I went to sleep, because she had to work on her birthday! She said the people in the entertainment section of Woolworth's let her pick out the music that was played in the store, which was sweet. On Friday at 5 p.m., the Christmas lights in Stratford-upon-Avon were turned on. The streets look beautiful! I've attached pictures so you can see how gorgeous and Christmas-y everything looks now. When I was walking through town on Friday, I saw Santa Claus riding in a horse and buggy down the streets. Apparently, Friday night is when all of the children in Stratford go to Town Hall and have their pictures made with Santa. Tooley said that she saw reindeer in the Town Square, but I didn't get to see them. After my Friday night class (I know, it's awful having class on Friday night), Tooley, Marfo, and I went to Bella Italia for desserts and coffee. Bella Italia has the best cappuchios and mochachinos I've ever tasted! Afterwards, we walked around the town for a little while and checked out the Christmas lights, then headed to a pub called The Shakespearience. Despite the goofy sounding name, it actually has a really cool atmosphere! The only reason it's called that is because it's located over one of the ticket offices for the theater. We hung out there for awhile and listened to some dance/techno music (we weren't huge fans), and then called it a night. It started sleeting when we walked back to the house! Everyone keeps saying it's going to snow soon, but so far, no flurries in sight. Today, I had class from 10-4, with a nice 2 and a half hour long lunch break. I went by Marco Delicatessan, which is right across from my school, and had the most delicious chicken and cheese baguette. I've become a huge fan of baguettes! During my lunch break, Tooley and I went to Woolworth's and picked out some Christmas decorations for the house. Strangely, there weren't many green decorations. The main Christmas colors in England seem to be red, gold, silver, and...purple! Purple is my favorite color, but it's not very Christmas-y. We stuck with the red and gold, and we'll probably put them up tomorrow. After class, I spent a few hours working on my paper...boo! It's coming along nicely, though. A few minutes ago, I heard the best news that I've heard in awhile...the Bulldogs won the Egg Bowl! Go Dawgs! :)