London Life

Well hello everybody:) I am in London right now with Sierra. We arrived on Thursday night at about midnight. We took the train from Tours to Paris and then Paris to London. The train rides were a lot of fun except for I didn't get to sit next to Sierra on the way to London. When we arrived in Paris we were next to the hotel where Mamie was staying with her family so Sierra and I went to meet her family.

I was really happy to get to meet her family because I had heard so much about them and they seem like awesome people and I was sad when I didn't think I was going to get to meet them. On the way to the hotel we happened to find some delicious Nutella crepes that were completely delicious. Luckily I learned how to eat them now so I didn't make a mess or a complete fool of myself. The guy thought we were tourists (which we kind of are but not lol) and so we decided to play along with it and take pictures of him making our crepes.

After meeting Mamie's family we headed back to the train station so that we wouldn't miss our train. We found that we had to go through customs...Who would have thought, right? Well obviously not me. For some reason I didn't think you had to go through customs because it's a train so I was freaking out a little bit when we got there. We had to fill in some cards with our information and then go through two people that asked us questions about why we were going to London, kind of making you feel guilty that you were going. I was so nervous for absolutely no reason. Then we had to put our bags through an X-ray machine, it was the whole deal. It freaked me out. Then Sierra and I realized that we didn't have seats next to each other. :( It was a sad moment for the both of us. We were only a car apart but still...

On the train to London I wrote in my journal and wrote about a total of 20 pages or so within the 2.5 hr train ride. I was writing like a maniac and the guy sitting next to me asked me if I was writing a book. I might as well have been, right? I thought that was pretty funny.

So when we arrived in London, we bought our Oyster cards so that we can travel on the metro and bus and it's unlimited. Otherwise we would have to pay a couple £'s every time and it would add up VERY quickly. It was a great investment. We took the metro to our hostel and we found it quite easily.

Friday we woke up early and headed into downtown London. We took a bus because the metro station we needed was closed because of Easter weekend. The bus took about an hour to get into town, I almost fell asleep. London is a very strange place. I really like it, don't get me wrong but I just don't know how to describe it. The architecture is really awesome, all of the building have different shapes that one could never imagine. The metro is easy to use, not as easy as Paris... and it is super dirty. But getting to see everything is really exciting and then you actually realize that you are in London and everything is so much better.

We have visited most of the main sites, at least the ones that people told us to go visit but we haven't gone into a lot of places because it costs about £15 to go in, even with your student card. Getting to see everything even from the outside is quite cool. We won't be able to see the changing of the guard this time around because we didn't know it is every other day and we scheduled to go to Stonehenge tomorrow morning but hopefully some day we will get to see it. We did go to Buckingham Palace today and at least got to see what it is all about.

It is hard to compare London with Paris because they are so different but at the same time, it's hard not to compare them. Paris definitely beats London. The first day we were here I met up with Caroline Petersson from high school, she's from Sweden but was in London for the weekend. We went to starbucks with her and her brother and hung out for about an hour or so. It rained cats and dogs. It was ridiculous. I was quite angry about it because I couldn't enjoy anything about London at the time. I was too worried about my umbrella turning inside out, my shoes getting wet, finding where we were supposed to go next..I really didn't like London at that moment and said that "it is fake".. the French us the word "fake" to say that something is stupid. But now I take it back because I really like London now and I am super glad I came!

Today we went to Camden Town, which is like a downtown L.A. and it was by far my favorite thing in London. It was really crowded but even then, I loved it. There are tiny shops everywhere and little posts with handmade crafts (LOVE IT!) and it was all just really fun to see. We took lots of great pictures that you will all have to see on Facebook in about two weeks.

Our hostel in London is a little crazy. It is painted black with white trim. It has really unique architecture and character but when we first got here we were really sketched out by it. We thought it was super ghetto but we gain trust in it every night. It is attached to a bar and they call it the No. 8 Bar Club Hostel. We almost peed laughing when we arrived and read that on the door. We walk through the bar to get to our hostel which is the best part. It's really not that bad though. It's cheap and you get what you pay for. Except it would be nice if the water was warm in the shower.

Tomorrow we are going to Stonehenge! I am excited for it but I have heard from several people that it's not that great. We are meeting our tour group at around noon and then heading out and won't get back into London until 630pm. We will be staying with some family friends of Hallie's for the next two nights. We couldn't stay there the whole time because she had family at her house but she is willing to have us at her house right after her family leaves which is very generous. I am thankful because it saves us some money. :D

We are heading to Barce(lona) on Tuesday very early in the morning. We will arrive in Girona at about 10am and then we will head to Sierra's family friend's house. I am excited to hit some warm weather. I bought a cute flowery dress today in Camden Town that I really like and can't wait to wear.

I am really fortunate that I have been able to go to these amazing places especially with friends. I have been having such a great experience abroad, I would never take it back. I love my life right now and I have grown so much from all of these experiences. I am excited to see what's in the future for me with all of these other amazing places that I am headed towards. I wish you could all come join me in this great experience! I miss you all very much and don't think that I don't think about you because I am abroad and having fun. I see things everywhere that remind me of every single one of you. I will try to update my blog as often as possible. I didn't think I would have internet but it's the 21st century.. which I spaced out.. There are internet cafes everywhere and hopefully the people we are staying with will have the internet.

I hope everyone has a great Easter/Vacation. I love you all!