I figured I ought to catch up on all of this stuff tonight because apparently I'm leaving for spring break on Sunday, not Monday like I had originally thought. And seeing as though I'm going to be gone for almost all of April, I better do this before I forget.
We'll start off with London Part 2. A few weeks back, I got the opportunity to go to London again--this time on U of I's dime. They'd paid for hotel accommodations, breakfast and dinner, some of the transportation cost, and the cost of all of our planned activities. I'm not going to miss an opportunity like this if it's practically free so even though I had been traveling several weekends in a row, I bought my round trip bus ticket to London. This time, I was traveling by myself which I hadn't had to do since I arrived. It wasn't nearly as scary this time around, and the exhilaration of being in London completely on my own was potent. I got to choose whether or not I wanted to stop for coffee on my way to the Tube station, and I got to navigate the streets by myself. I felt really independent and mature, and it made me kind of excited to get to really get a place of my own after I graduate. When I got to the hotel, I went to an orientation with U of I students from all over the U.K. I recognized one girl from a couple of my English classes and someone else from a mutual friend. That was it however so I mostly struck up conversations with random people. I've found that this is something I've gotten much more comfortable with over here. Usually if I don't know someone, I tend to just keep to myself because I don't want to bother anyone. Studying abroad has forced me to interact with people I don't necessarily know, and I actually found a group of people to hang out with while I was there. For someone who doesn't make friends as quickly as most people, this was definitely a skill I've needed to develop.
As far as activities go, a lot of the things we did felt somewhat repetitive, especially since I was just there two weeks earlier. The first night, however, was full of new things. We ate at this ethnic restaurant (and for the life of me, I can't remember exactly what type of food it was) which took a really long time. It actually got to the point where we had to take our dessert on the run because we were going to miss seeing a show: Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. Basically it's a show about 3 Australian drag queens taking a cross-country road trip. Definitely not your average musical. Our seats were quite bad; I could only see about 2/3 of the stage and being so high up, it was incredibly warm. The show itself was pretty good. The first half dragged but I think it was necessary to give the audience the character development needed to give the second half some emotional potency. I met my roommate that night, Catherine. I was surprised at how easily we got along, and I really enjoyed talking to her that night. The next day we took a coach bus tour around London. I ended up sitting near the front and got to overhear the witty banter between the guide and the driver. Our guide was the epitome of the little old English lady. She got overly excited at places she liked and made politely rude witty remarks. It was brilliant. Afterwards, I met up with Lindsay to grab lunch. It was so good to see her. Lindsay is someone who I never really have any drama with, and it feels like distance and college has done nothing to change the ease of our conversations or the way we relate to each other which is always a bit of a worry after graduation. After lunch, I went on a scavenger hunt around London with a few people from U of I. I managed to convince Lindsay to join us, and nobody seemed to notice when the group met back up that she wasn't from our school. She ended up being our photographer for the group shots which was really convenient since we didn't have to bother random passersby to take touristy photos. As lame as a scavenger hunt sounds, it was probably my favorite part of the trip. I like feeling like I'm on a mission and checking things off lists and to get to do that with Lindsay, who I don't see as often as I'd like since she normally goes to school in California, was really cool. Lindsay and I parted ways for dinner. Unfortunately, our group lost which was a let-down after ALL of the places we went to. =( After dinner was a comedy show. The first act wasn't very good. It was clear that he was just starting out and was still trying to get his bearings, so I felt kind of bad for him. Because it wasn't all that great, there was a really awkward moment when a significant chunk of U of I students decided to leave early to go drink instead. It was made even more awkward when the MC commented on it and started defending the first act. After that, the comedians were quite good. I'd never been to a comedy show, and this one was in the basement of a pub. It felt really authentic which was definitely cool. The next day we got to explore around the Tower of London. I had been there before with the band back in 2008, but the Tower of London is always fantastic so I was happy to go again. The first time I was there, the line to see the Crown Jewels was incredibly long; I think it took about an hour. For some reason, there was no line this time, and we got to walk right on through. I had one really cool moment as we were walking around the grounds where I saw one of the beefeaters giving a tour. I looked closer and realized that it was the same man that me, Heather, and Lindsay had taken a picture with three years earlier. It was so exciting. I tried to take a picture of him, but we were too far away to get a good shot. I'll put a picture comparison below. That afternoon, I left for Victoria Coach Station to get a ride back to Swansea. I had a slight moment of panic because I knew I was in the right area but I couldn't quite find the station right away. It wasn't anything to worry about, however, because I did manage to make it back on the right coach all in one piece. I actually met a woman on the bus who had a son about my age, and apparently I was the first American that she had ever met. She seemed quite excited to tell her family about that. Anyway, that was London, part 2.
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| I saw this guy. I can't find the other picture off hand. |
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