London this weekend was AMAZING. I had so much fun! I can't even begin to tell you about how great it was, but I'm going to try.
We left Harlaxton on Friday morning at 8 and drove into London. It was raining all the way there, so I was kind of sad about that, but by the time we actually got to the city it had stopped, so that was great. We then went on a 2 hour bus tour around London and got to get off the bus and take pictures in front of Tower Bridge. It's so weird to finally see landmarks like that in person; we see that bridge all the time on tv, in movies, in the news, etc- so it was so unreal for me to be standing right in front of it. We then went back to the hotel and checked in and everything, then we had all of Friday and Saturday totally free!
Eileen, Anna, and I decided to go for a walk around London. We started out with a bigger group of people, but that slowly disintegrated as people found their own stuff they wanted to go see, and also just because it's hard to navigate a huge group of people through a big city like London. After taking pictures in Trafalgar Square, we headed on down towards the river to Big Ben and Parliament, where we took more pictures and stopped in a little souvenir shop for some postcards and such (we acted like tourists for just a little while... most of the time we tried to blend in.) When we got down to Big Ben, we realized that we actually had no idea how far we had gone, and also that we had to get back to the hotel to meet people for dinner. We had kind of just been wandering through the streets, stopping in stores as we passed, etc, so we didn't know how long it was going to take us to get back to the hotel. 45 minutes later we FINALLY got back. It was so cold outside and it was dark and I really think we walked like 3 miles each way. Then came the fun dinner at the crazy Chinese place. The only reason we went was because it was close and the London Pub was so jam packed not even two people could get inside, let alone our group of 8. The Chinese place was so weird, and it was expensive, and our waitress hated us, even though we didn't do anything. She was just a meanie. But it's ok I guess, because now we have a good story about it. You probably don't think that was a good story, but trust me... they were crazy.

After dinner we all went out to a pub that was just a couple of blocks away from our hotel, called the Rocket. It was SO MUCH FUN. I loved getting to talk to people that were there, because it seeemed to be that its customers were mostly locals. Granted, they were mostly drunk locals, but they were still really fun to talk to. Anna, Shaylin, and I met these two guys named Jack and Dominic, and I had a lovely hour-long conversation with Dominic about Harry Potter. During this conversation, it was ruled that I was indeed the bigger fan. :) (Not even people in London can touch my mad Harry Potter skills... haha) But anyway, it was like my dream come true. I was in London, having a conversation about Harry Potter, with a British guy. Really- what more could I have asked for? It was great! Also, I had the boys do their own impersonations of American accents, which was hilarious! Jack's needed some work, but Dominic's was pretty good. They then made me do my British accent. They laughed at me. Apparently it's not as good as I thought it was...
Saturday morning I went with my roommate (Amber) a new friend (Megan), and a friend from Western (Audrey) on another walk around London, but since it was POURING DOWN RAIN we took the tube (hence the title of my blog- I don't know how many times I heard "Mind the gap!" ) We went back down to Big Ben, Parliament, Trafalgar Square, etc. We also stopped in at Leicester square to pick up tickets for a show (our main purpose in heading that direction). We wanted to see Wicked, but it was going to be 59 pounds per ticket (that's about $90 for you Americans) and we decided that it was too expensive, so we went for Hairspray instead. It was so great! I loved it so much. The music was great, and the actors were phoenomenal. It takes a certain amount of skill to both talk and sing in a perfect American accent, which most of them did. After the play I went back to the Rocket with Anna and Shaylin again, where I got to meet some other guys that I also had nice conversations with (not about Harry Potter this time, but hey, life can't be absolutely perfect every day...) One of the guys I was talking to had actually been to Kentucky before, so that was a fun conversation. As we were leaving to go back to the hotel that night we met a guy from California who was studying abroad at UCL (University College of London), whose friends had left him alone in London on his first night there! (Poor guy!) So we (with the help of some of our new London friends) helped him make his way back to his school.

Sunday we went to Hampton Court Palace (the home of King Henry VIII). It was very cool to think that Henry once walked on the same ground I was walking on, slept in the bed I was looking at, sat in the chair right in front of me, etc. However, it was cold, and we were all exhausted. So, I really didn't enjoy it quite as much as I might have had we done it a different day. It was still very cool though. I may go back sometime when I'm not quite so tired.


So, the basics of what I did in London are as follows:

1. Meet lots of cool people. This is me and my new British friend Jack.

2. Walk about a million miles. Me and Anna halfway through our epic journey down to Big Ben.

3. Learn that the stereotype of "rainy London" is pretty true. This is Anna, Shaylin, and Eileen putting their umbrellas and rainboots to good use.

4. Navigate the tube. I'm a pro, trust me. This is Mark, Me, Anna, and Shaylin on our way to Knightsbridge.

5. Take in a show. This is Megan, Amber, and me at Hairspray.

6. See all the monuments I've seen on TV since I was a kid. This is (obviously) me in front of Big Ben!

7. Visit a palace. This is me walking around in Hampton Court Palace.

In all seriousness, I could see myself living in a suburb of London, should I ever find myself needing to move to Europe. (Don't worry Mom, I'm still coming home in May. hahaha ) Everything here is beautiful, and accessible, and the people are all really friendly (with the exception of our waitress at the Chinese place...). London was great. Hands down, no arguments, no complaints. I loved everything about it, and I'm definitely going back LOTS this semester.