London at Night

So I finished up my week of classes here with no problems. I was able to find everything successfully and all. Thursday I had Issues and Challenges in Creative Practice which is a general media studies class, and then I had Modern Art in London after that. That class seems especially cool, every week we go to a different museum and then head back to campus to discuss it afterward. For our first meeting we went to Tate Modern and had to walk around and describe like 25 paintings we saw in our notebooks. Time consuming, albeit enjoyable. Friday I had Modernity and After, not really sure what it was. I figured it was some kind of class on Modern art, but I did not know anything more specific than that. Turns out it was a class on Modernist Photography, which ought to be interesting.
After class I went and took a nap, then headed to London to go to the BFI with some friends. I went in a little early and walked around Oxford Circus before heading down to Southbank to go see Breakfast at Tiffany's. It was incredible; seeing some of these movies in theatres is definitely a totally different, better experience than watching it at home on a small tv on a dvd. Firstly, the quality of the image there was unbelievable. Also, the sheer size of the screen was welcome. It was especially great during that first scene where she gets out of the cab and stands in front of Tiffany's (eating her breakfast). There is a shot where she stands in front of the building and the camera pans up showing the size of the building. And with the orchestrated Moon River playing in the background I almost lost it. Afterward we walked around Southbank for a little bit and got some dinner (it wasn't particularly good). Then I swung by the International Students House for a little bit before heading home.
As I got off the tube at Northwick Park (the stop for the University) around 11:30, I bumped into some people I knew who were going out to some club and invited me to go with them. With my only real plans being to go back to my room and watch the Simpsons for hours I decided to go with them.
We took the Tube into London with two other guys who went to the University, one who lives in my flat and ended up at this club. We stood in like for about half an hour - fourty-five minutes and got in. It was extremely crowded and we had to stand in line for another twenty minutes to get our coats checked.
We went into the club, I got myself a drink and danced to this DJ set that was performing. They did a pretty good job and I had a fun time. We then moved around the club a little bit and I watched some guy on some sort of drug get carried out by security because he couldn't stand. As they pulled him away, he did that thing that dramatic baby did where he held his hand up and screamed "NOOO!!" into it. Around four in the morning, one of my friends felt sick so we all left and the rest of the group got food but I wasn't particularly hungry.
Then the tubes didn't run until around 6:30 or so, so we walked around London realizing how close to the Thames we were. We had a good look at St. Paul's by the moonlight with nobody else around which was really incredible. It is extremely hard to see London totally alone I would imagine; you'd have to go at a very specific time I bet.
We crossed the Millennium Bridge and went to the other side of the Thames and walked along the river there, passing Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on the way. There are steps leading out of the river, I suppose for if you fall in and need to get out, which are very easy to access from along the riverside. Like, steps leading over the barrier and down to the river. So I went down that to put my hand in the Thames. As would be expected, at 5 in the morning in January, the Thames is REALLY cold. We then made our way back to the Tube and caught it back and I ended up at home around 7.
Yesterday I got up around 3 and went out and bought groceries because I was out of food. After that I just came back and watched the Simpsons all night basically because I was worn out from the night before and the grocery trip. Buying groceries is a grueling experience. The supermarket is about a 10 minute walk away, but when you're carrying about a weeks worth of food it is super hard. Today I will probably just stay in and read or something. Tomorrow I am going into London to get my computer looked at and then I am going to go see The Birth of a Nation at the BFI at 6:10. I'm also trying to get tickets to see Swan Lake at the Royal Opera House, and either The Magic Flute or the Barber of Seville. We'll see what happens there.