We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.

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London was exciting, awe-inspiring, awful, emotionally-draining, lovely, and oh-so-much-fun (yes, all rolled into one!). What a weekend.

I've become really good at public transport now. Buses, trains, trams...I feel like I've been doing it all for a really long time. It's actually really easy once the anxiety of new situations wears off. But then I think about it, and I've actually only been in England for seven weeks! This past weekend was my half-way mark; I have only six weeks left of school! Yikes.

IFSA-Butler organized an extravagant, all-inclusive weekend in London for its students who are studying in England. There were over 100 students who gathered in the exciting city from all around England; it was very well put-together and a lot of fun. We stayed at the St. Giles - a nice hotel in central-London - and Butler also paid for numerous meals, including a Mexican dinner, a dinner/cruise on the River Thames for a Halloween celebration, and a gigantic brunch at the Hilton before leaving London. I feel like I'm always telling you all about how much I eat while here. Mom, rest assured - I am eating. Trust me.

After checking into the hotel on Friday, my friends and I had dinner with the rest of the Butler crew at an authentic Mexican restaurant called Mestizo. It was delicious. I had been craving Mexican food for awhile, so it was a real treat. I also enjoyed the fantastic altar on display; I forget who the person was, but the altar reminded me of Spanish classes in high school and having to make altars (which I think is the reason I appreciated the really nice one at the restaurant - those altars are a lot of work!). I think I made an altar dedicated to Walt Disney once. It was pitiful compared to the one I saw this past weekend.

Anyway. After dinner, I met up with my friend Jillian again. We went to a nice restaurant/bar called the Slug and Lettuce and had girly cocktails and had fun catching up (since we had not seen each other for a full 6 days). Then Jillian and I met up with my Butler orientation friends, and the eight of us went to the Absolut Ice Bar, which is made completely of ice - the sculptures, the seats, the bar, the tables...even the glasses that were used to serve our drinks! The room is kept at minus 5 degrees at all times, and the ice is transported to London from the Torne River in Sweden (or so they claim). I felt so at home amidst the cold, icy weather...it was like being in Wisconsin/Minnesota again. Jillian and I laughed at each other for paying to be cold when we can do that for free back home. But it was so cool! They gave us these cute thermal capes with fur-trimmed hoods to wear into the room, and the drinks selection was pretty fabulous. We each got a Vodka cocktail - they had names like Amethyst Twist, Emerald Fizz, Star of India, and Snowy Syrup - served in glasses made entirely of ice. It was such a fun time.

Saturday morning, Jillian met up with us at our hotel and was our tour guide for the day. We walked to St. James' Cathedral, which is massive and totally impressive. Then we walked across the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern museum. We mainly walked into the Tate to reach the 7th floor for a view of London. I wish we had time to walk around and see all the art, but the only thing we saw was the gigantic arachnid model that was frightening because of its size. I remember learning in high school physics that the pressure exerted on the ground by a woman of average weight on stiletto heels is greater than the pressure exerted by an average-sized elephant standing on one leg (due to the tiny surface area of a stiletto heel). The spider was two stories tall, and its legs narrowed down to sharp tips that reached the ground, and I couldn't help but to wonder how much pressure was being exerted onto the marble by the spider, despite some thin cables I saw that were more or less supporting the model.

We then walked towards the Shakespeare Globe, which didn't really look like much because it is closed for renovations. Jillian then brought us to the Borough Market, which was so fantastic. There were so many booths full of bread, cheese, jam, pies, fruits, veggies, meat...everything! So much food. And so many free samples! It was a lot of fun, and I was really enjoying myself and looking around at everything and feeling so gloriously happy. I guess I became so preoccupied with thinking about how enjoyable my weekend was that I let down my guard. And my camera got stolen out of my coat pocket. How ridiculous, right? I was so upset and angry. I can't remember when I have ever been that angry at a person, and it was worse that I didn't even know who it was. Jillian and I couldn't believe it - you would think that the two of us would be so completely adamant about protecting our things after what happened with Jillian's wallet last weekend. Part of me was mad at myself for being a bit careless, like it was my fault. But then I became even more angry at the person who did it...because I should be able to enjoy myself without having my things taken from me! It was just the most sickening feeling - to feel my camera yanked out of my pocket and to turn around and not know who to blame because there were hundreds of people around me. Luckily, I have been uploading photos onto my laptop quite religiously, but I lost all of my pictures from Friday night and Saturday morning, and I didn't buy another camera until Sunday, so basically all of the photos you see in this blog are taken from my friends. I guess what makes me so angry is that pictures are so personal, and the idea that some complete stranger has probably looked at my photos makes me feel like a part of me was taken away. I'm glad that I'm able to even have pictures to upload onto this blog, but for some reason it's just not the same. I always love looking back at my photos and remembering how I felt at the time, so it doesn't feel quite right flipping through the perspectives of someone else.

After being upset and a bit dramatic for awhile, I decided London is too grand of a city in which to feel sorry for myself. Plus, I wasn't about to let some random thief ruin my weekend. Jillian took us to Green Park, which was so beautiful. It really helped to cheer me up. The autumn colors were fabulous, but when I saw lawn chairs scattered throughout the park, I dreamed of being in London on a magnificently sunny summer morning, drinking coffee and reading a wonderful novel in the park. We then went to Buckingham Palace and saw the Changing of the Guards, which was a really big show. There were hundreds of people gathered around. The Queen was not there, however. I learned that the British flag flying on top of the palace signified that she was probably at Windsor that day.

After Buckingham, we walked to Trafalgar Square, where the London Film Festival was being held that weekend. We also spied St. Martin in the Field in the distance. We walked briefly through the National Gallery (again, I wish I had the time to do a full tour to see the amazing art - the National Gallery is so beautiful with its gorgeous brocade walls and fantastic ceilings). We had a nice lunch in the gallery, got some souvenirs in the shop, and then split up for the day.

My friend Claire (also a Butler/UEA student) and I saw Les Misérables at the Queen's Theatre located in London's Theatreland, near Piccadilly Circus. It was the most glorious show I have ever had the honor of seeing. And the fact that the storyline revolves around the life of a man who was imprisoned for stealing was so fantastically ironic considering my morning. I appreciated the show so much more, I think, just because of having been pick pocketed, and instead of continuing to feel angry at whoever took my camera, I started to pity the person who had to resort to stealing. The show kind of put things into perspective for me because sometimes...people have no choice. I laughed, I sobbed, I felt so glad to have been able to enjoy something so beautiful. It was so emotionally draining! I fell in love with the little girl who was the young Cosette - her doll-like voice stole my heart. The Thénardiers were hilariously ridiculous and added just the right amount of amusement. The love triangle was gripping, and all of the characters' life struggles were so heart-wrenching. Claire and I finished a whole packet of tissues between the two of us during just the second act. We were ridiculous together. I can't get over it. I mean...I saw Les Mis. In London! It cannot get much better than that.

After Les Mis, Claire and I booked it to the pier in time for the Halloween dinner cruise on The Silver Barracuda. It was a lot of fun! Basically, it was a bunch of 20-/21-year-old American students in Halloween costumes dancing around to wonderful American music, speaking to each other with American accents. I loved it. Dinner was delicious, the orientation counselors were dressed as the Ghostbusters (so funny), and the music was so much fun - everything was sing-a-long-able (instead of the often-annoying techno beat that's popular here in Europe). I had such a blast singing along and dancing to familiar songs.

Afterward, my friends and I had girls' night in at the hotel. It was really relaxing after a long day. We talked, we laughed, we sang Disney songs and tunes from musicals. It was fabulous. And then we woke up and had an extravagant brunch at the Hilton with the Butler staff. We spent Sunday morning walking around London for a bit, and then we caught trains back to Norwich. I have a lot of work to do again this week, but so far I am having a lot of trouble concentrating what with all the election hype. I am feeling it all the way across the ocean! There is a Stars-and-Stripes theme at the club tonight, and the Blue Bar on campus is hosting an Election Party where students can gather to watch the BBC/CNN coverage of the results. My American friends and I are planning on pulling all-nighters to watch that tonight. So excited!

Vote Vote Vote. Cheers to America!

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Photos

this is how massive it was!
we look so tiny

view from top floor of Tate
this scene is featured a lot in the movie Love, Actually (starring Hugh Grant) :)

Comments

[Zach]

"I remember learning in high school physics that the pressure exerted..." Nerd. :-) Oh, all your descriptions of all the places you visited made me miss London! I want to go back... Beautiful description, again, fitting for what seems an incredible weekend. Can't wait to hear about it.