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Published: August 30th 2008
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Well our journey definitely did not start out as we had planned it. Of course I got the sinus infection from hell, as that never seems to fail. On top of that I got this major toothache problem from the crown that Dr. Hensley had put on a few days prior. Needless to say, I am and will be extremely bitter for days to come. Mitch and I left on Sunday night rather than on Thursday night, but we did get to spend those extra days in Maine and it was absolutely glorious. Mitch may have totaled over 50 or 60 smores in our 9 day stay. The only thing that seems to get bigger on him his biceps and chest, I wish smores had the same effect on me but unfortunately it goes straight to my glutes. It was by far the best visit we have ever had to Maine and I don’t think that Claudette could have entertained one more night at her house without officially putting restaurant hours in her kitchen window. She is a saint.
Anyway, we arrived at the airport on time and everything went smoothly. It was a weird time, I felt like
it was the first time I was going to college and got pretty upset about it all. Luckily as always I had Mitch there to console me and well I got over it after a while. My dad was so awesome to pay for all the plane tickets and everything, he spends so much money on me it’s a joke. When I am financially independent, many years to come, they can perhaps afford to spend a bit of money on themselves. The lfight to London was just dreary and terrible as it was a red eye which means no sleep and jet lag. We arrived a bit late, but were greeted at the airport by Mr. John Harley. A lovely white-haired British man who is friends with the Folk’s family. We are staying with his family till Oxford starts. He drove us to his house with our huge and heavy bags, and we got to take in a lot of the English countryside along the way which is quite honestly beautiful and green. Exactly how I thought. They live in Kent in this absolutely amazing mansion of a house, it was built in the 1500s…has 3 stories and a lot
of the original walls and such of the house. It is a bit eerie being in such a historical time piece and I almost feel like I need to scream at some servants and start knitting or something. I like it though, its quite unique and different from the Hodgson Family Resort in Brentwood Tennessee. Mitch and I were totally and completely exhausted when we arrived and passed out for an hour or two. We awoke to find ourselves sitting at a kitchen table with a “lunch” spread on it fit for the queen herself. It was amazing. We had legs of lamb, fresh potatos, a huge pot of vegetables, and green beans. It was quite the lunch, I guess I am just used to being spoiled by my mom with a half a sandwich and an apple. The best part about it all was that we had dessert after lunch. Genius idea and I can tell you right now I am a big fan it. I par took in all three of the dessert options apple pie, icecream, berries, and merangu crème type cookies. It was amazing, and I am salivating at the very thought of it. After being
stuffed to the brim, we prepared for our journey to London. The Harleys were going as well as they were going to visit their recently engaged son. They showed us the ropes at the train station (which we are still trying to grapple) and left us at Trifalde (sp?) square. Mitch and I were a bit stunned for a while and probably looked like a pair of statues in the square as we looked around at all that London has to offer. It’s a bit overwhelming and as Mitch and I are both a bit of control freaks, we were trying to mentally create a way to be able to see it all. I mean we are there for 4 and a half months, but we don’t want to miss a thing. The buildings were quite breath taking, and we had a blast just walking around hand in hand with stupid little smiles on our faces gawking at each and every building. Most of the museums were closed because it is a holiday in London. However, we did get to experience what it felt like to be a sweaty human sardine in the “tube” and got smashed against the glass
for a lovely little unairconditioned ride to our next stop. We had a nice little dinner in the Piccadilly square, and somehow I talked Mitch into thinking that he actually wants to go see a play…”Wicked”. It is supposed to be one of the best in London, but I plan on seeing at least 3 more while I am here. It is a toss up whether Mitch will tag along for the rest. After about five hours of wandering, we had hit our limit as we were still extremely sleep deprived and our legs felt like jello so we wandered back to the train station to make our way back to our wonderful flat in Tonbridge. We both fell asleep on the train and left the map that the Harleys had so kindly lent us somewhere in the streets of London. We were clearly extremely out of it, but we had a great time anyway and decided we will buy a new map tomorrow. All in all, it has been a very successful first day here in the UK. It is pretty obvious that there are many good times to follow whether we like it or not and those good
times are probably going to involve US dollars being converted into British pounds which means our parents will be wincing in pain 4,000 miles away…but hey, we live once and well this is it. Tomorrow we attack London for real, I will be armed with my camera and Mitch with his video camera…I hope those Brits are ready because here we come.
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