That that don't kill me can only make me stronger!
Trip Start
Sep 02, 2008
1
9
11
Trip End
Dec 16, 2008
London,
United Kingdom
Monday, October 29, 2007
After I got back from Ireland things were pretty normal around here. More hanging out with everyone, going to class, working at my internship, etc. etc. It was great coming home and hanging out with everyone again! I really missed my roomies and my other friends in the program.
As usual that Friday night we decided we needed to go out. We headed to one of our favorite bars here, Walkabout, and were having a great time until I headed to the bar to buy a drink and realized my wallet was gone! I immediately sobered up and starting scouring the place for it but, alas, it was nowhere to be found. I quickly left headed straight home and cancelled all my credit/debit cards and then stayed mad at the world for about 24 hours. I called the bar in the morning and they hadn't found it so at this point I had officially decided it was stolen. Huge bummer. It turned into a really big headache to get everything sorted out and really put a damper on my week last week. I was feeling pretty down about and stressed that I didn't have access to any money or my keys *which were attached to my wallet*
Acting crazy with Emma
. Everything is sorted out now but it ended up costing me a bunch of money and even more of my time. I'm over it now and realize that it was all material things that can be replaced, it was still a headache though!There was no time for moping though as the next day was the rugby world cup final!! The people here take their rugby VERY seriously so I put on my England jersey and headed down to our corner pub. It was a lot of fun! Reminded me of watching football back home. Unfortunately the Irish didn't have a very good night that night *USC game* and neither did England! *they lost to South Africa* It was still entertaining though! I love hanging out with the people in our program. They are so much fun! It's never a dull moment!!
Sunday morning I got up and met up with Mike and two of his friends who were here from Barcelona. We went down to Tower Bridge and did the little tour there. Tower Bridge is the bridge that everyone thinks is London Bridge but it's not. We got to see some great views from the top of the tower. It's such a beautiful landmark. Later that night we went to Ice Bar which is a bar, yes, made completely out of ice. The bar is ice, the walls are ice, the seats are ice, even your drink is served in a solid block of ice!! It was crrazy but very fun *and cold*! It's a good thing they throw a huge parka and gloves on you as soon as you come in the bar!!
The rest of the week was filled with various running around trying to get all of stolen wallet nonsense taken care of
The girls around the corner
. Trips to the housing office, bank and police station. Tons of fun! It was, thankfully, my full week off though! The schools here have what they call half-term, which is a week long break in, well you guessed it, the middle of the term! I didn't have to work at all so I got a whole week to go explore the city by myself! Tuesday I went down to the Knightsbridge area which is where Harrods is! I wondered around Harrods for quite a while. It was really neat to see all the opulance *the children's clothing section was nothing but Dior and Roberto Cavalli!*. I would love to be filthy rich someday and just come in there and have a field day!!! The area around there is also very posh. There is one street that's nothing but designer store after designer store. Crazy to think that people can actually afford that stuff!!
Wednesday I got the Parliament hook-up. Mike is interning there so he can get visitors in. I got to walk around and see the inside and I was amazed at how beatuiful there main government building is! Must be nice. There are parts where the original architecture is still there from the 1200s. Really neat stuff. I also watched the changing of the guard that morning at Buckingham Palace and walked through St. Jame's Park. I saw the biggest pelicans I've ever seen in my life there!!! After that I went to Westminster Abbey. I was in awe of it. It is so beautiful and there is so much history. Just to even think that you're standing in the same place where every monarch from the UK has been crowned is pretty amazing
Let's Go England!
. Plus all the tombs and of course the architecture. It was def. one of my favorite things I've done here.Friday night we went out to say goodbye to one of the girls in our program. She was doing a different internship type thing and had to go back mid semester. We went out to Planet Hollywood and had a wonderful time. Of course we acted like loud obnoxious Americans and loved every second of it! Me and my roomate Emma are like two peas in a pod. She's just as crazy *maybe even more so* than I am and that's why we get along so well!!
Saturday morning we got up and FINALLY made it to The Tower of London! I can't believe it's taken me this long to get there because it's one of the main things I've wanted to do since I got here. We decided it was fitting though since it's the weekend before Halloween! It was the perfect sort of day to go... cold and dreary out! I looooooooved it! I want to live there! I can't even express how cool I thought it was. Like I said before, I'm a little obsessed with the Tudors right now so it was so neat to be standing in the exact spot where Anne Boelyn and Katherine Howard were beheaded. I know that sounds horribly morbid but I love history so much and love being places where history actually happened. We did the "beefeater" tour and it was sooo great. Our guide was hilarious! He kept cracking jokes about Americans and flirting with all the women. Suuuch a good time!
That night we all went and got some Chinese buffet *def
Cheering on England!
. not as good as home but it will have to do!* and then went to a party one of the other flats from our program was having. I think I need to start staying in on the weekends or something because it seems that tragedy strikes on the weekends!The party itself was great... crazy and fun and all my favorite people were there. Then after the party we headed over to the boy's apartment to hang out and that's when things went crazy! Being the graceful young woman I was sitting on the floor and swung my head to the side and managed to crack my nose on the wooded bed frame. At first I kinda laughed it off, and then I realized that my nose was gushing blood! It's not broken or anything but it did bleed for a while and hurt quite bad the next day! I really am hoping at this point that I'm even going to make it back to America in one piece!!!
Needless to say, after Saturday night I spent all day yesterday at home laid out on the couch! But it was nice to have a lazy day.
Tomorrow I'm going back to work and I'm really not looking forward to it. I'm getting bored with my internship and would much rather be out doing things in the city! But it could always be worse and I do enjoy it sometimes. Hopefully I will start doing more things in the classroom.
I can't wait for Halloween on Wednesday! We are having a party at our flat and all getting dressed up just like we would at home. The Brits don't really seem to care about Halloween much. We're going to have to show them how us Americans do it!! I'm still undecided on a costume. I'm just gonna have to see what I can scrounge together from my clothes since I'm too poor to go buy anything!!!! It is making me a bit homesick though because I wish I was there to go to Halloween Horror Nights and trick-or-treat and go downtown and everything buuuut there's always next year! :-)
Comments
Off with your head!
I'm so glad you finally made it to Tower O' London! That is my absolute favorite!! Especially with a Beefeater. Yay. Sorry about your wallet and your nose, but I think you'll make it home. That icebar sounds like a superfun time! Please email me with some good Tudor books -- I'm addicted to the Shotime show! xo xo, Shannon