Thursday:
Today started off badly. First, the hotel wouldn't give us our upgraded English breakfast. Then we were late to the first class. It was actually Megan's fault (BIG SURPRISE). She was under the completely false impression that class started at 9:30 instead of 9. Then once we got there, the man behind the front desk DELIBERATELY gave us the wrong room number because he HATES innocent American girls, such as ourselves. Oh well. You know what Kanye says..."You should be honored by my lateness. That I even showed up for this fake shit".
After class we headed to the the Victoria and Albert museum (V&A). We saw a lot of Roman statues and some interesting artifacts and art pieces from all around the world. We were in different groups so we had separate tours and saw opposite ends of the museum, so at the end we decided to stay longer to explore. Apparently there are around 6 floors, but we did not have the time to fully see everything.
We then explored the area with a few others. We discovered an ice skating rink and a deserted creepy circus area. Eventually we found a cheap Chinese restaurant to eat a quick dinner.
At night, we went out on the town for the first time. I know, we're wild. It was a place called O'Neils located in China Town . We took the TUBE to Picadilly, which is a replica of Times Square actually (except less impressive). BUT everything is better in London. We then had to suffer the 5 pound cover charge since we got there a little after 10. WE HAD A BLAST! Apparently it was kind of a late 90s, early millennium cover band night led by front man Wayne Brady look alike. We enjoyed singing along to Fat Lip, Kiss Me, Smooth Criminal, etc. British people just LOVE American music. We literally knew every single song, and we are now partial to O'Neils which is actually a chain around here.
So the underground doesn't run after midnight so we had to walk home. THE HORROR. We pretty much guessed which direction our hotel was and ended up being right. We had to traverse some interesting alleyways and we had some unique photo ops. We stopped in a phone booth to find out what all the rage is, and then the phone started ticking so we pulled a Jack Bauer and ran and ducked(though there was no ACTUAL threat). Eventually we were able to find our way back. Thankfully we have a map genius on the trip (Edgar) or at least he pretends to know what he's talking about. ALSO....those of you who know Glenn Stone sholud know he now goes by "Joey". Reinvention.
Friday:
YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT. We made it to class early and we got some breakfast (so basically we grabbed toast and swiftly walked in the rain and our toast became soggy). We really have to learn the short cut because some of these girls have a definite advantage when it comes to getting to class. WE DEMAND EQUALITY.
Class has actually been very interesting...really it's all about health care. Of course Brittany was randomly selected to express her viewpoints on the first day of class which just became an awkward discussion.
After class we went to visit the Wellcome collection (NO SPELL CHECK...it really is WELLCOME not WELCOME so CALM DOWN). There we learned about the medical history of England and other countries. Some of the main galleries centered around anatomy, obesity, MALARIA (Paul Miranda), Genomes, and artifacts; Megan did not like it very much because it made her nauseous; however, Brittany was very interested. After the tour, a few of us checked out the featured exhibition "High Society" which looked at the history of drugs. Overall, it was very interesting. The museum had a ton of ads from US prohibition times. Apparently at one point drinking wine was a "gateway drug" because once you drink wine you drink HARD LIQUOR and once you do that you DO DRUGS.
After the tour, we searched for a decent grocery store to finally buy some food for our room. On the way we discovered some shops and restaurants in Russell Square. Megan even found where she is going to live WHEN she moves to London. The grocery store was excellent because it had everything we needed. Megan purchased bread, peanut butter, COOKIES, and shampoo. Brittany bought some instant soups,cheese&butter crackers, and water. The cookie selection is super impressive. Also cookies are called "digestives" or something like that. unappealing.
We finally go out to the bar with the entire group Friday night. We (or rather, Matt) convinced a sports bar to play the UD game on some tv at midnight. Really we were doing them a favor because we gave them so much business. And when I say business I mean we bought quite a few drinks. It was a lot of fun. Brittany met a British girl named Debbie who was incredibly sweet and funny. She was trying to imitate American accents, but her view of Americans is based completely off two solid MTV hits, The Hills and The City. A slightly creepy, but relatively well-meaning man bought us drinks at the bar. We did not protest because we are poor, STARVING/THIRSTY college students. Don't blame us. And when the INJUSTICE occurred, we were rudely kicked out of the bar at exactly 3am during the 4th quarter with 5, yes 5 SHORT MINUTES, to go. We watched the game from the outside windows with our faces pressed against the cold glass until they turned off the game. Presumably because they hate Americans. It wasn't until later when we were on the bus ride home that we found out that UD lost 19 to 20 :(. We might have been upset and disappointed, except we are in LONDON so we can't be unhappy about anything. This is the cheeriest place on Earth, cheers mate.
Saturday:
Kelly knocked on our door at 11 am which luckily woke us up. Some people from the trip were doing a bus tour of the city which costs 30 pounds, but we were convinced we could navigate alone. Though we were exhausted and assumed the others going on the day trip must be inhuman for being so energetic, we tagged along.
SIDENOTE: Megan was terribly unhappy to be woken up at this ungodly hour. She harshly declared that she was not going on this tour because she did not have enough time to get ready. Brittany then hauled her out of bed, pushed her out the door, and shoved her onto the cold streets of London (or something like that).
7 of us took the tube to Westminster and walked upstairs to find BIG BEN. Quite a shocker. We actually did not notice it at first, but he is a very impressive clock. He also may be inaccurate (off by 5 hours). Everything about London is truly beautiful. Next, we went to Westminster Abbey, but we did not want to pay the money to go inside. We walked around the outside and tried to imagine what the Prince William /Kate wedding will be like.
We then made our way to St. James park where we found....PIGEONS, and consequently PIGEON MAN. This homeless guy came up to us, shoves some broken peanuts into our hands, and taught us the long forgotten art of feeding the birds. Or rather, feeding the squirrels, because that's what happened. Soon we had squirrels climbing all over us reaching for peanuts in our hands. They quite possibly could have had rabies but we didn't think of that because we are spontaneous and caring animal lovers (only slight sarcasm). Actually, Brittany's hand was scratched so we should probably get that checked out.
After the park we saw Buckingham Palace. VERY IMPRESSIVE. We would definitely consider moving in, but we were disappointed we couldn't tell jokes to the guards because they were hiding behind the gate like scared little boys. COME OUT AND MEET US; YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO LAUGH. Also, they were wearing a curious blue color. Laundry day, perhaps? Blue isn't the new red, is it?
After searching for what seemed like MILES, we finally found a delightful deli to get lunch. Megan craved an omelet and Brittany of course had a cheese&crispy bacon potato jacket. Overall it was pretty tasty considering most of the food we have had has been bland. After lunch, we ventured to Trafalgar square where we climbed statues and had some excellent photo ops.
When we got back, Brittany took a quick nap and Megan went to the lobby to use the internet. Afterward, we went to see a show, which became more difficult than we thought. Luckily we ran into some other people from our trip and located the temporary "Big Top Circus" where the "play" was being held. It was called "La Soiree" and was NOT a play but a freak show/porno/circus which was very entertaining. We were very impressed, though confused as to why this was on our itinerary. We did see a double jointed man fit himself through 2 tennis rackets. We now have new life goals.
Tonight we went to a pub with Michalec and unfortunately did not get to have any substanial conversations with him. Damn it, we need recommendations and adult conversation. Megan and Brittany were up for a club afterward but the group was tired so we decided to utilize this time to catch up on the blog.
Tomorrow we are waking up early to do some more sightseeing and hopefully we will have some good stories for the next post.
THIS POST IS DEDICATED TO TIM BARRANCO.
Also, thank you Conor for the suggestions. We will definitely keep these in mind.
We miss you all!
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