Friday Night Fun

Friday couldn't come soon enough! After school, Mechelle and I got a ride home from school from another teacher. The ride seemed to take longer than usual because there was a ton of traffic in route to a free concert on Jesus Green, which is a few blocks away from our house in Cambridge. We got home about 4:45 and I tried to rest for a little while.

Tiffany had made some plans with some of the teachers from her school to go eat dinner at a local restaurant and then go out for some drinks. We were all invited, but Alan and I decided to go to a different restaurant around the corner because we didn't really like the food at Nandos, the place everyone else went to eat. After dinner McKara caught up with Alan and me to go to the Boathouse Pub, the LAST of my 8 pubs required to complete the Cambridge Pub Crawl.

The Boathouse was a little farther than I though (about a 30 minute walk), but I was determined to complete my goal. When we arrived I ordered a Green King IPA and asked for my final stamp in my booklet. The gentleman behind the bar happily stamped my booklet and went to go get me a shirt. To my surprise, he came back empty handed and explained to me that they were all out of shirts! I thought "All this traveling and walking around to these 8 pubs for nothing!" Then I realized that I did have a good time doing it, and did get to sample a lot of beers...

Anyways, he explained that they may be getting more shirts in during the week, and I could also try any other pubs that I already visited to see if they had any of the shirts. Well on the way home, which we found a shorter route for, I stopped at another one of the pubs. Unfortunately they were also out of shirts. I decided that instead of walking around the whole town all night, I would just stop in during the week.

I talked to Tiffany and she told me that her and some other girls from the trip were at a nearby pub with a few of their teachers from school. We navigated our way through the crowded streets and found them at B.Bar. We had a few drinks and then Alan wanted to meet up with some other folks at a salsa club about 15 minutes away (walking). Alan loves to dance and runs the salsa club at USF. He told me if I wanted, he would teach me how to salsa. I still had to finish my pint and told him I would wait for some others and then catch up to him. He walked McKara home (she was tired) and then met up with some other girls to go to the club.

Meanwhile, two other girls from my study abroad class and I took up one of Tiffany's teachers on a ride to the club. We arrived about the same time as Alan and the other girls. We went inside, which was the only bar I had to pay a cover charge at the whole time I was here.

Because I was never in a salsa club and felt a little out of place, I found a more familiar place... the bar. After I got a pint I joined up with the rest of the gang just off the dance floor. Alan gave me a crash course on the basic salsa dance, and I before I knew it I was dancing with some of the girls in our group! I had a great time, but the steps get a little confusing after a while!

After about an hour and a half, I ended up walking home with Natalie because we both wanted to get up early the next day and were really tired. It turns out that Natalie and her husband are good friends with Mike and Amy Martz. Mike and Amy just happen to be the brother and sister-in-law of Lauren Frederick, one of Megan's best friends!

The next day, Tiffany, McKara, Alan and I were off to London... again!