Shadow Cabinets, Electric Go Carts, The British Museum, Pub Quizzes and St. Patrick's Day in London

So, I have a lot to post about!
On Friday, the University was hosting some political event and as a group of us from my office went for tea, we noticed that the Shadow Cabinet (like the minority party in the legislature here) was all arriving in the parking lot by IMC.  So we all took pictures and I got to hear some opinions of what my co-workers thought of British politics.  Tom said these were the people that were mostly responsible for the economic downfall of UK.  It was really interesting.

The UK Shadow Cabinet outside the building I work in

Also on Friday, the evGP team here test drove their cart, which was shipped to Purdue yesterday in a big crate for the competition next month at the Indy 500 track.  I think they've got a pretty sweet cart that will give good competition for the folks back home.

Testing the electric go-cart before shipping it to the States

On Friday, I also was able to get a ride (on a motorcycle!) with Sagar to London to visit Justin and Leslie before they left.  I got in late Friday to where they were staying, and enjoyed spending Saturday with them, even though the weather was lame.  (drizzle all day).  We went to the library and the British Museum, which was really really cool.  I got a lot of neat pictures of stuff in there, like the Rosetta Stone.  I had a lot of fun, walking around with Justin and Leslie, being a tourist.  It was great to have them visit!

We went here, looking for Platform 9 3/4, but we couldn't find it.  :(

Outside the British Museum.  Don't climb...it's a bad fall!

The Rosetta Stone

Inside the British Museum

Outside the library

Buddha at the British Museum

London 2012 Olympic Medals

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and watched a bit of the England versus Ireland rugby match, which was intense.  England won.  Later Saturday night, Sagar and I went out for St. Patrick's Day.  Justin and Leslie didn't join us because they had to get up early for their flight home.  We started at the London Irish Centre, which was sort of depressing, I think, because Ireland lost the rugby game.

Band at the London Irish Centre

Then, we ended up in an area of London called Camden, which is a district of London in the Northwest area.  We hung out at a bar and ended up talking to a bunch of international people- I met two guys from Ireland, who were hilarious, a guy from Boston, a guy from Australia and two girls from Italy, along with several other Brits.  It was a fun evening, that ended with having Lebanese food at 4am and heading back to the hotel for 3 hours of sleep and then riding back to Kenilworth in the morning.  Sagar was nice enough to give me a bit of a tour around London on the bike on Sunday, which was really really awesome.  The weather was much better, the sun was out, and I got to see a bunch of areas I didn't get to see when I was there on my own last August.  We stopped at a motorcycle cafe just outside of London for some breakfast and I got to see all sorts of motorcycles.  I'm tempted to be getting my own bike here soon....

Traditional Breakfast, vegetarian style.

Ace Cafe, so many motorcycles!!!

Last night, I ran about 10 miles around Kenilworth and campus after working in the pits on the lathe for a bit.  When I got back, Steve had left me a voicemail to come down to the Virgins & Castle for a Monday night pub quiz, which I've been wanting to do since I've been here, so I was really excited to go.  I wasn't much help, unfortunately, but I did really enjoy it and I want to start going to more!

This morning, the weather was SO NICE that I decided to ride my bicycle to campus and I was able to find a new route as well, that avoids a lot of traffic!  I also saw the most beautiful Blue Heron, just chilling on a tree branch, enjoying the sun as well.

Blue Heron on my ride to work.

I am excited that spring is coming, Diresh and I are running my first 10K here on April 15!  I'm hoping to beat my old 10K record of 48:00, which I think is totally possible, with all the training I've been doing.
I hope everyone back home is doing well!  :)