Yesterday...might well have been the easiest school day I've ever had.  I only have one class on Thursdays, and it's only an hour, and the last class of the day.  I had a bunch of free time before 4:30, so I decided to go to Chinatown.

I love Chinese food.  Mmmm.  I had lunch there, and it was very good.  I also walked around Chinatown a bit, and felt somewhat out of place, though thankfully I was not the only white person there.  I haven't been to any other Chinatown (not even San Francisco's, really), so what I was most reminded of was Bangkok.  Lots of people selling things (especially food) on the streets, lots of kitschy souvenir shops along with things like Chinese Herbal Medicine, lots of people in general.  Very interesting place.  I'll definitely be gooing back there, if only for the food.  Mmm, Chinese food.

I had class at 4:30, and this is my 19th and 20th century novels class, and we'd been intending to go to the Charles Dickens museum on Doughty Street (which is just two streets over from AHA).  Unfortunately, the museum is closed this month, so my teacher wanted us to watch a documentary on Charlotte Bronte, since we just finished Jane Eyre.  However, she couldn't get the TV to work.

So instead, she...treated us to a round of drinks at a nearby pub.  We did do some literary discussion while in the pub, but mostly not.  So that was basically my day.  Chinatown, and then a pub.

Today we went on an excursion to Birmingham, which is about two hours away from London by train.  When we got there we spent about an hour at the Birmingham Art Gallery, but the main point of the excursion was to go to Bournville, and Cadbury World.

It was actually rather hilarious, how excited most of the group was about going to Cadbury World.  I was less than enthusiastic about all the chocolate everyone else was in raptures over, but I was highly amused at just how bouncy everyone was.  There were some school groups of younger kids also doing tours, but people in my group kept joking that our group was so much more excited than the little kids, which from what I observed is actually a fairly accurate statement.

I was far more interested in the history of Bournville and the factory than in the free or otherwise very cheap chocolate, and the history was really why we were even there.  The Cadbury family seems to have been pretty awesome, very much ahead of their time with their treatment of their workforce and wanting to make sure the workers are taken care of even to the extent of building a nice village for them to live in.  I could have done without all the chocolate, but I did enjoy the history lesson.

I did, however, get some chocolate, because it really was very cheap.  I'm not sure whether I should mail them soon, or wait to give them out until I get back home.  I got different kinds, and I'm not sure what people would prefer.  Well, I actually only got four bars, two of milk chocolate, one of dark, and one that is chocolate-covered Turkish Delight.  But I got them for you people at home, and I'm not sure the best way to get them to you fairly.  I'll decide later.

Tomorrow there is once again A Plan to go to the Tower of London.  We'll see how that works out this time. :p