09/09/08 We head south to Poole

Sara es ok ahora. Yo moy feliz sabo ella es asi asi. Deseo mirar que ella escribe. Espero ella escribe muchas para mi.

I got an email from Sara. The first line made me laugh so hard. She said simply: Rudolph, calm down. This first sentence did calm me down greatly.

This was another day where we had to wake up early. I wanted to get lost in Harrods before we got on a train to travel for three hours to Poole. This was our last day in England.

The main thing I have to say about Harrods is that it's huge and Gunnar would love it. It's completely filled with designer items, and I know that he'd definitely spend tons of money in there. Ahmee adored the furs and china section, I adored the furniture and fabric section, and Poppy loved the old clocks. I wasn't happy that Ahmee got a map though; it meant that we weren't going to get lost. The whole point of going to Harrods was to get lost. I decided I was going to do my best to not listen to Ahmee, then I could say I had no idea where I needed to go to get out. This plan didn't work. I didn't listen whenever Ahmee explained the layout, but I still knew how to get out and which direction to go. The signs on top of the doors told you what was in the room beyond. Often, I was the one to point out which direction we needed to go, even though I did not have the map. I did not achieve what I set out to do. I did not get lost in Harrods.

I must explain why I had this fixation with getting lost in Harrods. One of my favorite movies is The Parent Trap (newer version with Lindsay Lohan). Now in The Parent Trap Hallie is just about to tell her mom she isn't Annie, she goes in and sits down next her mom who had just gotten off the phone. Her mom turns to her and says, "Hey Darling come in. I'm just going to fed ex this design off to Paris, and then why don't you and I spend the rest of the day getting lost in Harrods hm?"

I might not have bought anything in Harrods, but I did get a pair of black flats in a store right next to it. Later I wore these flats to dinner with my black shirt, black leggings, turquoise necklace + earrings, and my multi-colored scarf. It was incredibly cute! I am so going to wear it in Paris!

After Harrods we headed back to the apartments, grabbed our things, got in a cab, road to the train station, got our tickets, and then got on the train. While on the train I typed for ages and ages, glancing out the window only every now and then. Since all I could see were the trees that lined the tracks, I managed to keep my eyes on my work. I got a study guide done and a good bit of my journal done. I can't say I'm very pleased that we're leaving England so soon though. I feel like we haven't seen enough of it, that we've only barely skimmed the surface. I feel the same way about Scotland. I wonder how long we'll be in France....

Once we arrived in Poole we grabbed our things and headed to the Premier Inn. I hope we can stay in these whenever we're in France. They're so nice and they have internet. Something I worry about is whether or not we'll be able to find a place that has internet. Shoot, I worry about getting directions, getting the hotel, ordering food, anything where I have to speak French. I know maybe three words of French, and I'm pretty sure that's not going to do me much good. I'll get used to the language barrier though, I'll be in countries where English isn't the main language for the rest of this trip.

Before we left I talked to Uschi Appelt. She was so excited for me. She said I was going to come back a linguist, an art expert, an architecture expert, a historian, and a brilliant navigator. I don't know whether or not I've got a knack for these things or not, but I do know that I can't wait to find out. Something else I know is that my memory needs more work. I'm always having issues remembering specifics. Normally the specifics I have a hard time remembering are names and dates. I shall have to work hard on these.