Yesterday was a long day and I was too tired to write out what I did... so here it is now...
Sun rises around 4 here, and lucky us, have an east facing window... I woke up around 6 a.m. to sunshine in the face. We had to be in the lounge by 12:30 for our orientation and I was not about to stay up for another 6 hours. Opened our dorm door around 7 hoping we'd catch a cross breeze and finally feel back asleep around 8. Woke up at 11:50. Perfect timing considering we didn't have an alarm clock yet!
Orientation was for the IES Residence Hall we're staying at and after it was over we were supposed to meet a tour bus outside for a bud tour of London. Well the bus never showed so we did a walking tour and I thought my feet were going to fall off. Very informational, but a lot of walking.
We walked through Chelsea to Trafalgar Square and then down Fleet street, the business section of London and past the London Tower. We went through Leadenhall Market which is where they filmed Diagon Alley in HP, and even saw the shop door they used as the Leaky Cauldron. We saw the Insurance company's building that insures all the big important stuff like oil rigs (ironically) and the Titanic... apparently there's a huge titanium bell or something inside that only rings when disaster strikes... it rang when the Titanic sank.
We grabbed a bus and stopped past somewhere and watched the guard get dismissed... we walked past the London Eye across from the mayor's house and the War Rooms... We walked through a park and saw the Royal Pelicans and then went past Prince Charles' house (he wasn't home. We know that because the British flag was flying. If the British flag is flying he's gone, if his flag is flying he's home.) Then we walked down to Buckingham Palace.
That took us almost 6 hours. We were all exhausted and all the stores we needed were closed... all the trouble because the stupid bus company messed up our bus order. So we were going to go to Brentford and go to The Griffin Pub (the pub they used to film Greenstreet Hooligans) to watch the game, but it was so late, we knew it'd be packed.
So we came back to Chelsea and got dinner at a place called PJ's and then left to try to find a pub or something to finish watching the game. That was a bad idea... the pubs were all super crowded.
SPAIN WINS!!! We stood outside the Blue Bird restaurant to watch the game because they had a huge TV screen on the patio and it was basically a completely open-air restaurant so the view was good. I was VERY happy with the outcome. My man, Cesc Fabregas, finally got some playing time! =]
So all in all, it was a day filled with walking and more walking, but it gave us a little sense of where we're at and where we can go.
Unfortunately, it's now been almost an entire day, and I'm sure I've forgotten parts of yesterday... maybe I'll come back and fill in the blanks as the come to me =]
Monday, July 12, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Official Day One: Hello, London!
It's 11:18 here in London (5:18 back home) and I'm settling in for the evening. Finally finished unpacking everything about 20 minutes ago. Check out our housing... cramped to say the least, but I think we'll manage.
I've officially been in Europe for a little over 11 hours! So let's start there. Our delayed plane finally landed at London-Heathrow around 12:30 this afternoon. Two other girls in my program were also on my flight, so by the time we gathered all three of our checked baggage it was almost 2 p.m. (2p.m. is also the time we were supposed to be at our housing by... at the latest.) Well, we rolled in around 3 p.m., after managing to nearly take the wrong train to Paddington Station and then taking a taxi to Chelsea, where we're staying.
The flight itself was good. It was about 8.5 hours. I thought I'd get good sleep since it was an over night flight, but that didn't happen. Instead I watched How to Train Your Dragon and Forgetting Sarah Marshall AND I played some centipede and soduko and free cell... I think I managed to get about an hour of shut eye the entire flight. I think I was just antsy... that and I had a bit of a headache. So now, we're finally at housing and settling in. First things first, say hi to everyone here. There are 11 students total and then we went to the grocery store to pick up some lunch stuff and snacks. It's pretty nasty hot outside during the day. No air conditioning too, so it's like an oven inside. For instance... I'm sweating just sitting here... May be TMI, but it's 100% truth 'cuz the windows don't open very wide so there's very little air circulation.
By about 5:30 we decided to shower and go out for dinner. Man what a difference a cool shower does... so we jump on a bus and get off randomly a few stops down and then get on the tube... Not really sure where we were tonight but we definitely walked around a lot. The guys were looking for a good place to watch the futbol game and the girls just wanted to explore the city a little bit. At one point, I think we ended up in a Bollywood film... It was an interesting experience. Haha, wish I could explain what actually happened, but we're not every sure. I also wish I could explain what some of my pictures are, but I'm not sure where we were so I can't do that either. We did end up checking out one bar and grill that hung the flags of all the World Cup contenders... and for some reason they hung a Texas flag... so apparently, not only is Texas is a country now, but it also had a team in the World Cup's 32... interesting...
A couple of us ate at a nice little Italian place with poor service (but we think it's 'cuz we're American, everyone seemed to be receiving great service). Then we ventured back to a bar that the rest of the group was watching the Uruguay vs. Germany game (Congrats on your 3rd place victory, Germany). Game ended so we decided to head home. It was only about 10 o'clock, but several of us haven't slept since we left the States. Alyssa, Natalie, and I weren't the only ones to have encountered flight delays and sleepless transatlantic flights.
Now we're back at IES housing, a lot of people are a sleep already, I had to actually unpack. Earlier all I did was throw everything on my bed searching for what I needed to shower. But now I'm completely unpacked and ready for a London bus tour tomorrow afternoon. I just hope I wake up on time since I don't have an alarm clock yet. Long story short: My phone doesn't work here, which I was going to use as an alarm, but no service = no clock = no alarm. Oh well. Tomorrow I'm going to go try to find a super cheap Europe friendly cell phone and an alarm clock. Wish me luck. I just heard a vuvuzela outside... just thought I'd share... Just 'cuz England's out of the World Cup doesn't mean they're leaving the spirit behind apparently...
Anyway, that about sums up my day. =]
Pictures to come later
I've officially been in Europe for a little over 11 hours! So let's start there. Our delayed plane finally landed at London-Heathrow around 12:30 this afternoon. Two other girls in my program were also on my flight, so by the time we gathered all three of our checked baggage it was almost 2 p.m. (2p.m. is also the time we were supposed to be at our housing by... at the latest.) Well, we rolled in around 3 p.m., after managing to nearly take the wrong train to Paddington Station and then taking a taxi to Chelsea, where we're staying.
The flight itself was good. It was about 8.5 hours. I thought I'd get good sleep since it was an over night flight, but that didn't happen. Instead I watched How to Train Your Dragon and Forgetting Sarah Marshall AND I played some centipede and soduko and free cell... I think I managed to get about an hour of shut eye the entire flight. I think I was just antsy... that and I had a bit of a headache. So now, we're finally at housing and settling in. First things first, say hi to everyone here. There are 11 students total and then we went to the grocery store to pick up some lunch stuff and snacks. It's pretty nasty hot outside during the day. No air conditioning too, so it's like an oven inside. For instance... I'm sweating just sitting here... May be TMI, but it's 100% truth 'cuz the windows don't open very wide so there's very little air circulation.
By about 5:30 we decided to shower and go out for dinner. Man what a difference a cool shower does... so we jump on a bus and get off randomly a few stops down and then get on the tube... Not really sure where we were tonight but we definitely walked around a lot. The guys were looking for a good place to watch the futbol game and the girls just wanted to explore the city a little bit. At one point, I think we ended up in a Bollywood film... It was an interesting experience. Haha, wish I could explain what actually happened, but we're not every sure. I also wish I could explain what some of my pictures are, but I'm not sure where we were so I can't do that either. We did end up checking out one bar and grill that hung the flags of all the World Cup contenders... and for some reason they hung a Texas flag... so apparently, not only is Texas is a country now, but it also had a team in the World Cup's 32... interesting...
A couple of us ate at a nice little Italian place with poor service (but we think it's 'cuz we're American, everyone seemed to be receiving great service). Then we ventured back to a bar that the rest of the group was watching the Uruguay vs. Germany game (Congrats on your 3rd place victory, Germany). Game ended so we decided to head home. It was only about 10 o'clock, but several of us haven't slept since we left the States. Alyssa, Natalie, and I weren't the only ones to have encountered flight delays and sleepless transatlantic flights.
Now we're back at IES housing, a lot of people are a sleep already, I had to actually unpack. Earlier all I did was throw everything on my bed searching for what I needed to shower. But now I'm completely unpacked and ready for a London bus tour tomorrow afternoon. I just hope I wake up on time since I don't have an alarm clock yet. Long story short: My phone doesn't work here, which I was going to use as an alarm, but no service = no clock = no alarm. Oh well. Tomorrow I'm going to go try to find a super cheap Europe friendly cell phone and an alarm clock. Wish me luck. I just heard a vuvuzela outside... just thought I'd share... Just 'cuz England's out of the World Cup doesn't mean they're leaving the spirit behind apparently...
Anyway, that about sums up my day. =]
Pictures to come later
Friday, July 9, 2010
And the adventure begins...
LONDON BOUND!!! =]
I was supposed to be over 2 hours into my flight across the pond right now, but there's been a delay and I'm still sitting in Houston's airport. Last time I was here was four years ago, I remember having to run through the terminals so we wouldn't miss our connecting flight from Acapulco to St. Louis. It's a nice airport, but I'm tired of being here.
Went out last night since it was my last night in Fort Worth for almost a month. Ate some delicious Mexican food, as I hear London's Mexican is sub par. Had some fro-yo for dessert and then headed downtown to the Flying Saucer to fulfill a few more beers for the UFO Club (Dear Gus and Ashley, don't get too far ahead of me. hehe.) Great night spent with some of my favorite Fort Worth friends!!
I did all my last minute packing this morning. It was kind of hectic. I realized around 11 a.m. that I hadn't packed a few things I needed... like socks... when I was checking things off in my head I realized I packed a pair of tennis shoes and no socks... that had to be amended. Then I realized I never bought a London street map. Had to run to the bookstore. TCU's bookstore didn't have them so I had to go to Borders, where the cashier went on to tell me about how we plans on leaving the continent next summer because he hasn't yet... Good luck with that...
Jimmy John's with Ashley... (Thanks for driving me to the airport!)... I flew out of Love Field, which was fine. I'm used to Love Field. My bag was 48 lbs, barely under the 50lb. limit... sorry Blade, looks like I may not be able to bring back an Irishman for you. haha.
I had to buy an internet pass so I'd have something to do while I sit at gate E7, waiting for my plane to arrive. It's been pretty boring. Talked to Nikolee on Skype, that was pretty sweet. Haven't talked to her in a few weeks. Caught up with Jared and his new job at home. Haven't talked to him in months so that was awesome.
It's almost 9 o'clock now. When I landed my flight was delayed until 9:05, now it's 9:26, but it's still not here... hopefully we'll get out of here before midnight =[ 'cuz I'm getting really bored just sitting here waiting... Someone just said he saw our plane... I hope he's right, so I guess I'll start shutting down my computer now. =] Talk to ya from London!
I was supposed to be over 2 hours into my flight across the pond right now, but there's been a delay and I'm still sitting in Houston's airport. Last time I was here was four years ago, I remember having to run through the terminals so we wouldn't miss our connecting flight from Acapulco to St. Louis. It's a nice airport, but I'm tired of being here.
Went out last night since it was my last night in Fort Worth for almost a month. Ate some delicious Mexican food, as I hear London's Mexican is sub par. Had some fro-yo for dessert and then headed downtown to the Flying Saucer to fulfill a few more beers for the UFO Club (Dear Gus and Ashley, don't get too far ahead of me. hehe.) Great night spent with some of my favorite Fort Worth friends!!
I did all my last minute packing this morning. It was kind of hectic. I realized around 11 a.m. that I hadn't packed a few things I needed... like socks... when I was checking things off in my head I realized I packed a pair of tennis shoes and no socks... that had to be amended. Then I realized I never bought a London street map. Had to run to the bookstore. TCU's bookstore didn't have them so I had to go to Borders, where the cashier went on to tell me about how we plans on leaving the continent next summer because he hasn't yet... Good luck with that...
Jimmy John's with Ashley... (Thanks for driving me to the airport!)... I flew out of Love Field, which was fine. I'm used to Love Field. My bag was 48 lbs, barely under the 50lb. limit... sorry Blade, looks like I may not be able to bring back an Irishman for you. haha.
I had to buy an internet pass so I'd have something to do while I sit at gate E7, waiting for my plane to arrive. It's been pretty boring. Talked to Nikolee on Skype, that was pretty sweet. Haven't talked to her in a few weeks. Caught up with Jared and his new job at home. Haven't talked to him in months so that was awesome.
It's almost 9 o'clock now. When I landed my flight was delayed until 9:05, now it's 9:26, but it's still not here... hopefully we'll get out of here before midnight =[ 'cuz I'm getting really bored just sitting here waiting... Someone just said he saw our plane... I hope he's right, so I guess I'll start shutting down my computer now. =] Talk to ya from London!
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