Question: Did I watch Spice World and blueprint their every move and strategize a plan to live out all the dreams and hopes of my 8 year old self the night before I went to London?
Answer: I only do what's appropriate for my age.
Emily, Kelly, & I did in fact watch all 10 youtube movie segments Thursday night with big fat dumb smiles on our faces. I knew jumping over the bridge in the Spice bus as I raced to my sold-out concert after needing to desensitize a bomb would be a little tricky to reenact, but I wasn't intimidated by the idea. I know some people who know some people.
Fast-forward to 5:15am Friday morning and my AIFS group & I were out our doors and on our way to Shannon airport for a weekend in London. Its safe to say that my weekend didn't stop until I crashed full force into my bed Sunday night with a raging headache, chills, and a fever. What wasn't included in the itinerary, oh wait- there wasn't one... What didn't occur was anything that even closely resembled rest. The only thing we had planned was finding Chipotle and shoveling burritos into our mouths and finding Ericka (my good friend from Point Loma who visited me a few weeks ago) & Lauren (my roommate and also confidant in life and bedtime stories), who's studying in Sicily for the semester but who was also in London for the weekend. This was planned.
Flying out over Ireland
It was the strangest thing to see everything and everyone getting ready for the wedding. The man at the internet cafe told me that Kate was a gold digger. Drama-rama.
Of course I had heard about the wedding from my Yahoo! homepage, but I didn't realize how important it really was until I found out I could buy a bell as my own save-the-date. Now I know what to send in the mail for my big day. Pavlov would be proud.
Success equals managing how to work the underground system and endlessly wondering around a busy street two hours after arriving in London for your first time to find Chipotle.
Hey, I know you guys!! SO great.
The building that inspired the structure of wedding cakes.
Shakespeare, oh Shakespeare, let down your hair.
Buckingham Palace. The Queen was probably out shopping at Target or someplace.
Spice girl bridge!
We most definitely stopped and had a Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen type photo shoot with the phone booth and Mr. Ben.
New friends & Old
Westminster Abbey, where the wedding will be
The Rosetta Stone!! Three of my friends & 1 did a project on it for History Day in 9th grade and replicated it. So many memories and it was super awesome to see it in real life. Another amazing thing about London: Most of the museums are free!
Abbey Road
I don't read Harry Potter, but I was a phony and had to see this. Supposedly it used to be in a real brick wall. You could of fooled me though, this shiny plastic pin the tail on the donkey type material is practically the same thing.
The sun came out for all of 2 hours Sunday morning and it was absolutely beautiful.
It started to rain just as we got on the London Eye, but hey, that's life.
It was an extremely fun weekend and I really liked the city. I was a little overwhelmed by how chaotic it was at first, but as I became more at ease with the tube and getting around, it became so much more enjoyable. There was always something to do and it seemed like everyone in my AIFS group spent the weekend doing different things. It was definitely not a city you could see in one weekend!
I've been feeling a little homesick lately, which was unexpected since I was fine the whole time I was in Costa Rica. I think the fact that I've been sick 3 times now has a big thing to do with it. The only thing that sounds appealing when I'm sick is my home and my mom.
Another difference is that I'm living in an apartment where people are always coming and going and I can hear everything. Living with a host family in CR really did feel like a home for the most part.
Studying abroad in 100% amazing all by itself, but its also pretty spectacular that there are so many programs and options: 3 months, 4 months, summer, apartment, host family, city, middle of nowhere, giant university, little school... you can do any of it!
What's next? Emily & I are going to Sweden this weekend and have no plans really, so we'll see where that takes us. Next week is St. Patty's Day and I get to spend it in Dublin with one of my best of bestest friends who will be visiting from Florence. WORDS CAN'T DESCRIBE HOW EXCITED I AM. Following weekend, John, Emily, & I are going to Scotland.
Oh, Okay. Right? These things are so simple to type but their meaning is beyond unbelievable.
On another, totally related, adventure, I've become addicted to Jersey Shore and am currently watching season 1. I'm glad I have so much free time to do this and don't have a presentation and two papers to work on.
Lastly, Chingy & I would like to thank the Holiday Inn for their amazing buffet of a breakfast that I didn't just eat, but devoured. Three meals into 1? Its possible.
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