Stranger in a Strange Mass

(Part 4 of 5 detailing my vacation to London)

That night was not nearly as bad as the one before it, and I was incredibly happy that my awful roommates left the hostel that morning.

I met up with Laurel and some of her roommates at St. Paul's Cathedral, and we all went to mass together. Because the church is Anglican, the mass was different than the Catholic masses that I am used to, but just slightly. The similarities were so great that I was even able to accept communion, and if I hadn't been paying attention, I probably would not have even known that it wasn't a Catholic mass. It was that similar, and it made me wonder why it was a separate faith altogether. The familiarity of the mass was relieving after the culture-shock of Spanish mass, and because Laurel was there, I had a sense of the community spirit that we have back at DePaul.

After mass we all walked around for a little bit, but because it was freezing out, we were glad when we found a place to eat. Having hot lasagna on a cold day like that really helped, but I found it funny that they already had the Christmas Coca-Cola bottles, even though it was just November 7th. I think that because they don't have Thanksgiving in Britain (or at least not in the same sense as in the States) there is not a buffer holiday to prevent people from preparing too early. (i.e. you can't say "You're putting up Christmas decorations already!? But it isn't even Thanksgiving yet!)

Afterwards, we traveled to Camden Town which is a very strange area of London. It was comprised almost entirely of shops selling really gaudy/touristy things. Although some of the clothing was trendy, most of the stuff there would probably make me lose respect for the person who bought it. The weird thing is that it was absolutely PACKED with people, and not just tourists either. People legitimately did their shopping there.

To our frustration, when we tried to take the tube back home we discovered that the station was closed to outgoing traffic, and that we would have to walk to the next station. Although the walk wasn't long, I still was not fond of the fact that there were no signs advertising this when we left the station to begin with. On the ride back to the hostel, Laurel and I said our goodbyes because she would be leaving for Scotland that evening and we would not see each other again.

That night I went to a local pub and had English breakfast for dinner. It was incredible, and I wished that I was able to have that much food for breakfast back in Spain. It consisted of: an egg over easy, toast, bacon, grilled tomatoes, and a grilled mushroom. Afterwards, I went back to the hostel and hung out in the lounge before heading off to bed to get a full nights sleep, because tomorrow would be my last day and I wanted to make the most of it.