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Published: September 9th 2011
the flight was non eventful and smooth except for some eastern religion woman screaming back and forth with the flight attendents the entire time about the meal. i actually got to london an hour earlier than planned. i was the only one from the group who flew out of philly, but the flight was jam packed full, 255 people. luckily i got an aisle, in the front too. i wasn't able to sleep really on the way over, kept doing the head bobbing scaring me awake thing. and i hadn't really slept the night before, so i was pretty beat the entire next day, as was everyone else.
a representative for aifs picked me up from the airport, he was a little later than me getting off because the plane got there so fast, but he came in holding a sign so i would know where to go, just like the movies, so weird! anyway i went to sit in the passenger seat of the car and walked to the left side... duh. i know they drive on the opposite sides in england but it totally escaped my mind, how embarrassing. he was just like no no no this side and laughed at me. silly american.
the first day was kind of a waste, people arrived different times throughout the day, and i didn't know anyone so i didn't get to rome around london while we were waiting for the rooms. i walked around a little but didn't want to get too far with no pounds and no idea where to go. london is so expensive, pounds are even more than euros. i took 40 out of the atm and the american dollar amount was 65. ayiyiii. euros are more too, but not as bad.
it turned out there was on odd number of people so i got a room to myself, which was kind of nice, but i was mostly bummed because i didn't know anyone and wanted to have people to go around the city with. some people came in groups but a lot of people knew no one coming into the trip. after we got checked in we met for a drink in the hotel and talked amongst ourselves. the hotel was really really nice, it took me a long time how to figure out how to turn the power on, you put your hotel key into a place in the wall in order to turn it on to save energy, which is pretty cool, but took a while to figure out.
after the drink a few of the girls wanted to get fish and chips, maybe the only food england is famous for? i got a bacon egg and cheese. first of all, british bacon is not bacon, it is ham. it's not gross, but they seriously don't have real bacon. it's thick and not cooked nearly enough as i like my crispy bacon. ketchup and sodas are also very different. THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT HOT SAUCE WAS?!?! that was the most absurd thing. the food was more different than i expected because not too much else (besides the direction thing) was that different. it reminded me a lot of dc with accents and words like scuttle, loo, tube, cheerio, etc.
a girl from SU is on the trip too! her name is mitsuko (sp?) she's really nice and has a boyfriend in the marines who is about to deploy (before she gets back) so sad 😞. anyway, she's moving into decatur farms next year with her counsin, so we'll definitely keep in touch! how crazy, and we didn't know each other before the trip at all. most of the people are nice, there are maybe like ten guys and fifty girls. extremely not proportionate. there are people from all over, texas, california, iowa, ohio, massachusettes, minnesota, florida, maine, kansas, etc. this girl from LA named lacey (sp?) is really nice, she always wears this huge poof in her hair, but not snookie like at all, it's actually pretty adorable on her. she reminds me of a smart version of meghan and morgan haha. everyone hear reminds me of some one at home or just looks really familiar.
so after fish and chips everyone just went back to the hotel, we were all so tired from the traveling. it is SO weird not having a cell phone. i can't get service at all so i can't even check the time! i needed to seriously invest in a watch and alarm clock. i had to get the hotel wake up call. i passed out dead asleep that night at 9 pm (london time- five hours ahead of MD) and woke up at midnight from such a deep sleep that i thought it was morning, luckily i could check the time from my ipod or i'd have no idea. i couldn't sleep much the rest of the night for some reason, i thought it was hitting me that i wouldn't be able to turn over and text brittany and jill whenever any stupid thing happened.
the next day we got a complimentary breakfast before we went on the bus trip. i got coffee, orange juice, sausage (didn't want another bacon fiasco), scrambled eggs, hash browns, pastries, and some fruit. the coffee is a lot stronger, and the eggs were gross and mushy and wet and small. the rest was pretty good though. we then went on a bus tour of london, which was cool because we saw a lot of stuff, but lame because we were speeding by on a bus and couldn't get out and take pictures. we saw westminster abbey, hyde park, hard rock caffee london, ritz hotel, london eye, big ben, parliament, thames river, king albert memorial, lots of statues, little america (monuments), covent garden, buckingham palace, the changing of the guards (which we did get out and watch), etc. of course my camera died half way through the day.
after the tour we were dropped off at covent garden which is like a market place. we went to a pub for lunch and i got tomato basil soup (tried to keep it cheap in expensive london) and it was nothing like bob's at de novo's of course.. nothing compares! after that we went into the market and i bought a pocket watch with the london eye on it for thirteen pounds. it's cool and i don't like watches, plus that'll be my london souvenier. we then went to the british museum for a while, and then went to see the tower of london and london bridge. at about 630 we headed back to the hotel so i could charge my camera. we took the tube (subway) everywhere all over the city that day, a day pass was like 6.60 pounds.
after my camera charged a little (oh i couldn't charge anything ebcause my converter was only 2 prongs not 3 til i got to europe, so i borrowed one of the girls), then we headed to abbey road. i was the most excited about this part obviously and a lot more than anyone else. we had to run out in the middle of the road to take pictures while cars weren't coming. we didn't make it in time for daytime pictures, but i can't imagine we'd have much success due to the traffic (and the other tourists doing the same as us). we were there for about an hour maybe more, it was so cool though. i walked across barefoot of course. the wall outside the studio were signed all over, i got to sign. which reminds me if you go to the abbey road studio website they have a camera on the crossing at all times, it's pretty cool to watch.
by the time we got back to the hotel it was close to 11 and nothing was open. we had been out since 8 am and hadn't eaten dinner or much of a lunch, so we stopped and got snacks at the grocery store. it was a loooong day but really the only one in london so i'm glad i made it last. we saw a lot. i even saw a one legged pigeon.
the next morning we had to be ready at 545 to head to pisa then on a bus to florence. i had 16 pounds left so i got my post cards that i collect from everywhere i go and a little british car i'll probably end up giving brady as a souvenier, then exchanged the rest for euros.
overall London wasn't too much different from dc. it would have been cool to stay for maybe another day but i was MUCH more excited about italy and everywhere else. London was FREEZING i had to wear my jacket and a scarf one of the nights. it was very dreary and cloudy. some british man on the "lift" did the fake out opposite shoulder tap to me, which was pretty funny haha it reminded me of larry. the opposite direction driving got me everytime i tried to cross the street, luckily in high traffic areas it says "look right" and "look left" where youre supposed to. london was cool to see, i wasn't too excited about it to begin with since i knew it wouldn't be too much different culture wise, but it was pretty cool, i won't visit again for the rest of my stay in europe though probably like most people want to.
internet access is limited but i'll keep you all as updated as possible!
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John Beley
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Cheerio
Great to hear from you. Loved your blog. Made me laugh several times. Keep having fun. Love, Pop Pop