Mind the egaP

Words are my weakest point. I can use them and I know what each word means, but I am unable to string words together to form anything that resembles my emotions. Many people are sad that we will be leaving in just a few days and I do not wish to leave either. But I can’t express exactly how I feel. I do not want to leave, but I am happy. I am happy for the whole experience and I am happy for knowing this trip has affected me.

From visiting Paul West and his family, going to Madrid, visiting the sites of old memories, making new friends and meeting new people, to building a strong sense of independence, I am glad to have made this trip.

Again, words fail to formulate in my mind to express my exact thoughts and feelings, so I must stop myself here, but I’ve enjoyed all of my time here.

8 years ago I went to Hereward House and made friends with Sebastian Wilson Dyer Gough. On Wednesday night, Sebastian came into London for a job interview and we had made plans to meet up afterwards. Spencer had decided to go to a Frisbee golf tournament rather than Phantom of the Opera that night, so Sebastian was able to take his ticket and because we have and odd number of guys, Dylan is in a room by himself, so there was an extra bed for Seb to stay in. Everything worked out perfectly for his stay.

After class and after Seb’s interview, we met up. I introduced him to all of the other students here. Emily’s English friend Craig was visiting her too. We four went to a pub, got a couple of pints and talked. It was really fun for all of us to talk, two Americans and two English men. Seb lived around the London area for the majority of his life and Craig is originally from New Castle, but studied in America for a couple years, and lived in Ireland for a bit as well. Needless to say, Seb was curious about Craig’s mixed accent. After we finished our last drinks and finished talking, Craig set off. Seb came along with me to go shopping for food (as I still needed it since getting back from Spain). We got pasta and sauce to cook for dinner and a couple of beers to go along with it. We got eggs and cheese for the morning.

Unfortunately, I had to do my homework for class the next day, so Seb did a mix watch TV and talk to others for the hour I finished my homework. Emily, Morgan, Andy, Laura, Seb, and I had decided that we would go out after Phantom of the Opera. It was a special occasion. So we all got our work done early in the day. Once I was done, Seb and I cooked our pasta and had our beers. We changed our clothes to get ready for the show. I gave Seb Spencer’s ticket then tried to find mine. Somehow I managed to misplace my entire packet of tickets and information. I remember thinking of putting it somewhere safe before going to Madrid, but don’t remember where that is anymore.

I couldn’t find my ticket. Rather than make the rest of the group late, I told them to go ahead and that I’d meet up with them at the theater after I got my replacement ticket from the school. Seb came with me to keep me company. Getting the replacement ticket was fairly easy, but set us behind about 15 minutes.

By the time we reached the Piccadilly Circus Tube station, it was flash pouring rain. When we got on the Tube, there was no rain, and now the heavens had opened the Watergates. Seb and I decided to make a run for it from the Station to the theater. After the brief 5 minute job, we were both soaked through.

We arrived shortly after the play started but didn’t miss too much. The others didn’t get rained on at all. It was only those few minutes after them that it started raining. I suppose it is my punishment for losing my ticket.

The show was excellent and very well performed. The music was great and the theatrics were outstanding! After the show, everyone made their way back to the apartment. Seb and I changed clothes into something dry. Us six who completed our work made our way out for the night to the special Wednesday night event called CheakSkates where  single shots of rum or vodka mixed with coke or lemonade were only 90p (less than a single quid!).

The club was very cool, with large open spaces, an easily accessible bar, and a dance floor. The lighting and sound system was very impressive as well. With the passing of time and several drinks later, we all had talked, shared stories, laughed, danced, and were ready to go home.

With a little trouble navigating the night bus routes back, we eventually made it back home. Everyone was hungry and it was determined that grilled cheeses would be the delicacy of choice. I cooked up grilled cheeses for everyone. After more talking, we all eventually made our way to bed.

I was pretty tired for class the next day, but it was worth it. A reunion with a friend after 8 years takes trump over a single day of class. After class, I came back to the apartments. Seb was awake now and had eaten. We had an hour until he had to leave to catch his bus back up to Cambridge and we students were scheduled to go to the London Eye. We spent that last hour talking and laughing. Upon departure, Seb invited us up to Cambridge to visit him sometime before we leave. With it only being an hour away, I think there might be a strong possibility of that happening. We hugged when it was time to go and went our separate ways.

It was a lot of fun to catch up with him and see him again. I hope to see Seb again soon, either later during this trip or just sooner than 8 more years.

I’ve been rather busy lately and haven’t gotten around to writing a post, but now that it is the weekend again, I can write all about everything that has happened in the past week. A week ago, I was in Madrid, Spain.

There was much talk of traveling to another country. Several ideas had been thrown up, such as going to Paris or Germany, but none ever really formulated. There had been some talk of going to Spain, but I never figured it would ever actually happen. When I heard that the girls of my travel abroad group had formulated the plans and where getting plane tickets and were inviting anyone else to come, three of us guys jumped aboard with the plan. It was more or less a spontaneous trip to Madrid. Going to Spain was actually my top choice of the three mentioned possibilities because I had never been before and I was seeking a new cultural experience.

Thursday

We left Thursday night through Gatwick Airport. Our flight was at 20:40 and we arrived in Madrid a little before midnight. When the plane touched down, a short Spanish song played and other passengers started clapping. Oh Ryanair, what a strange flight company you are. We made our way through customs and immigration to meet Laura’s cousin Adrianna. Adrianna is studying to be a stomach doctor and is close to be finished in her studies.  She knows some English but refused to practice it with the reason being we were in Spain and we should try to use Spanish. We all took the metro into the city to Adrianna’s apartment. The three girls got to stay in the apartment and us three guys were set up to stay in a hostel about 10 minutes away. Adrianna directed the taxi driver to where we were to stay and us three guys got in.

A couple minutes later we were at an unfamiliar plaza which I now know very well. We paid the driver and walked through the alleys looking for our hostel. We eventually found it and entered only to find they filled up for the night. Crap. We then had to search through the various other hostels in the immediate area (there were plenty). After talking (or trying to talk to) a couple other hostel owners, we found one that was fairly cheap that could house us all. We moved into the room, unloaded our stuff, drank some water, and then went out just to look around the area for some food. Before coming to Spain, I charged my camera’s batter to ensure it would last the weekend. It was at this point in time I realized I forgot to actually put the battery back in the camera. I was unhappy, needless to say, that I was not able to get any pictures from the entire trip. Luckily however, all the girls had cameras and were camera happy. Anyways, we set out and we found a 24 pizza place open and got a small pizza. We finally laid to rest this night at 4 in the morning.

Friday

We had set up plans to meet the girls at 10 in the plaza in which we were dropped off. So I woke up at 9 and showered. The others showered after me and packed up our stuff and left. We waited by the plaza until the girls finally showed up about 20 minutes late. We then decided to go back to the original hostel we were going to stay in and get a room now that it was early in the morning. From the night before we had discovered there are very few rooms that can stay three people, so we decided to tell the clerk that there were only two of us, and the third would just sneak in. This turned out to be an excellent plan and a difficult plan. We saved a large amount of Euros by doing so but the room we stayed in was right past the front desk of the Hostel.

Check in wasn’t until 2 in the afternoon, so until then we had to carry our packs with us. We made our way to an art museum. The museum didn’t allow anyone to carry a bag through the museum and checked them into a bag room for free. Excellent! With the weight of our shoulders, we toured the museum looking at famous works of art by famous Spanish artists. We toured the museum for a couple of hours and left around 1. Afterwards we got lunch for 9 Euros but the lunch came with a 3 course meal and a free Cervesa. It was a sound investment. Our hungry and empty stomachs were filled to the brim. With full stomachs and only working on about 5 hours of sleep, a nap was in order. The three guys made our way to the hostel to check in while the three girls went elsewhere into the city.

This is where we had our first problem with 3 people in a 2 person room. Because I spoke the smallest amount of Spanish of us three, I waited outside the main office while the other two guys checked in. At the time we didn’t know where our room was going to be. A few minutes later, I got a text saying just act like you live here and go to the door immediately to the left once you enter the office. I did just that; I entered the office and went right for the door, but the clerk stopped me. He asked where I was going and I told him to room 301. He then asked if I was going to visit my friends. This is where I was stuck. He just checked them in, so I couldn’t lie and say I lived in the room, so I had to say that I was visiting them. He told me to wait on the couch and he would phone them to come get me. That is exactly what happened. Dylan came and got me. We realized we might be in for a challenge.

We slept for a couple of hours and woke up around 5. We were woken up by a phone call saying there were more friends to visit. The girls had come to pick us up. We got our things and headed back out into the city.

We walked and visited a large cathedral and a palace. If only I knew more Spanish I might have been able to remember more about the names of these places, but they were still very cool to look through. After that, we made our way to a park with a fountain where we sat and rested while eating a snack. I was very happy to recognize the two statues by the fountain. It was Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, the two characters from Cervantez’s famous book called Don Quixote. We had our picture taken with the idols. We left the park to meet Laura’s sister (who had a 24 hour shift at the hospital and just got off) who was going to take us to a Fleminco dance. The dancing was very cool to see. We had wine and other drinks while watching the dancing. Afterwards, we explored the streets and eventually made our way back to the hostel. The girls left to go to sleep, but it was only midnight, so us guys decided to go back out. We happened across a group of three local girls and a guy (who was either gay or as Spencer put it “just Spanish”). We talked to them for a little bit and they told us they were going to a club called Moon Dance. That sounded good to us. The seven of us made our way to the club, which was fairly close by, and waited in line. I hadn’t brought my wallet back out, thinking I wouldn’t have needed it so when we got to the cashier to pay to get in, Dylan said he would cover me for the night and I could pay him back. When we Dylan got to the front of the line, I stepped to the side, apparently into the special guest free entrance line, and sort of just walked in. Needless to say, Dylan didn’t pay for me, and nor did I. I managed to get in for free, which was very nice. However, everyone who actually paid to get in got a free drink from the bar, so I missed out on that.

After several hours we all left to make our way back for the night. On the way back, Spencer stopped to light a cigarette and a woman then asked if she could get a light for her cigarette. I turned around, noticing Spencer was no longer with us, and saw him lighter her cigarette. I turned and started walking back to him. The large girl finished lighting her cigarette and looked up towards me. She said to Spencer, “Your friend looks pretty cute too” at which point in time I realized it was not a girl at all. It was a man, a cross dressing prostitute. Without going into the explicit words he spoke, he offered his services to me. I replied coolly with “Yo No Hablo Espanol.” I thought for sure that would deter the man as I started to walk away. He then replied with “Honey, I’m speaking English.” I then replied to that with, “Oh, right, sorry. No thank you.”

He was a nice transvestite prostitute. I’ll give him that. He didn’t pester or bother us after we declined his services. We walked the rest of the 2 minute walk back to our Hostel for the night, but then faced our final challenge for the night, getting three people into the two person room. We eventually perfected this technique and got the timing just right where Spencer and Dylan would go ahead (as they were to two who checked in initially) and I would then enter about half a second later. While the guy at the desk was occupied with both of them, I would make my way through the doors. It proved to be a successful strategy throughout our trip.

Saturday

I woke up nice and early, before everyone else. I was hungry too. I decided I would brave the world on my own and get food. I walked to the nearby pastry shop and got two ham and cheese croissants for about 2 Euros. It was a great breakfast. I then walked around and explored a little bit on my own. I made my back to the hostel and back to our room. Everyone was still asleep. I texted the girls and set up a time for them to come over. Until then, I laid down to nap. The girls came and woke everyone up. The two other guys wanted to shower and eat, so the three girls and I went out. We stopped by many stores, most of which were female clothing stores, but I looked at various souvenir shops.

Once the other guys were ready, we made the walk to the large park, the equivalent of Hyde park for Madrid. On the way there, we got smoothies from a juice bar. We stopped and looked at other various other buildings or fountains along the way. Once we were there, we walked around and looked at the gardens.

We left the gardens to meet Adrianna and her friends at a favorite bar of theirs. We were there for a couple of hours, talking to other people. We then all left to go to a bar/club closer to our hostel. While in there I met and talked to several other various people.

Once everyone left, Spencer and I walked back towards our hostel (Dylan had gone earlier). While walking back, I met and talked to about 7 other students who lived in Madrid and were studying English. We all talked for about an hour or so about things from stereotypes and differences in London versus America versus Madrid. Spencer and I eventually made our way back to the hostel and slept.

Sunday

Plans had been set to go to Adrianna’s friend’s apartment which was further in the country of Spain and had a pool. Us guys traveled through the metro and met up with the girls. We ate a quick breakfast than all got on the underground bus tunnels to take a bus to Adrianna’s friend’s apartment. We got there, and we swam. The water felt so great. I haven’t mentioned how warm Spain is, but it is pretty hot. The cold water was very refreshing.

That was the majority of Sunday was spent at the pool. When we left, we went and visited Madrid’s football (soccer) stadium. There was a fashion show going on when we got there and various foods being served. I took a free sample of octopus, which was rather good. After viewing the stadium, we kids went back to Plaza de Sol while Adrianna and her friend broke off from the group and went elsewhere.

We had no plans for tonight and decided we would make the plans as we went. After eating, we each purchased our drink of choice for the night from a shop. We were sitting at a bench in the plaza and talked while casually drinking when we heard music. It sounded like something worth investigating. We followed our ears and found a group of Spaniards singing a Spanish song and clapping along in the middle of a wide stair well. They gathered a small audience (mostly our group) and once they were finished, Laura spoke with one of them. They were going into a karaoke bar (literally right behind them). The bar was as “hole-in-wall” as it gets. It was two rooms, a bar and a stage/sitting area. It seated about 25 people. We were there for a couple of hours and making friends with the others. A couple of us tried singing a song (including myself) and failed miserably at that. But it was all still very fun. Once the karaoke bar closed, one of our new friends invited everyone to the bar he owned. We all walked to his bar, which he opened up just for all of us. Although there was no more karaoke, music was still played and we all celebrated our last night in Madrid. Never has a no-plan spontaneous night worked out so well before.

Once the party wound down and everyone made their way home, Spencer and I did our usual stroll of the plaza one last time before bed. This night we started conversation with more new people. I talked with a guy named Fernando for at least a couple of hours. We talked about all sorts of things from war to School and life in Madrid in general. Spencer and I made out way to bed as we were greeted by the Sun.

Monday

We had to check out of the hostel at noon. We were all still very tired. We packed our stuff and got a small quick breakfast and decided we would walk back to that large park to the same place we went two days earlier. We made our way there and got to have the full homeless experience for an hour as we each took a bench and slept on it. The girls, after taking their sweet time packing, and eating, and getting ready, eventually met us. We all walked through the park in the opposite direction this time. We took some pictures and then started walking back to the metro. We did some more souvenir shopping. We then rode the Metro back to the airport, caught our flight back, and arrived back home in our apartments in London around 10 that night.

Unfortunately, the only souvenir I got, a bracelet on the first day, fell off at some point and my camera had no batteries. So I have nothing physical to show for my trip to Madrid, but the trip was still very much rewarding. I may have come back with no souvenirs or pictures, but I’ve come back with a unique and memorable experience; one I’ll surely enjoy and be grateful for.

I feel like I am getting worse and worse at writing blog posts. But for a good reason; I’ve been more and more busy. Here is a day to day synopsis of the weekend:

Friday - The plan was to do laundry and work on homework while the wash was going. Afterwards we had plans to go to Hyde Park and throw the Frisbee and have a picnik. Turns out that laundry takes about 4 hours to do. Needless to say we didn’t make it to the park. That night I was genuinely surprised when I entered Spencer and Luke’s living room to find cupcakes with a make shift candle (a match) in one of them. Every burst out into singing Happy Birthday. I was not expecting that or anything in the slightest. That night we were supposed to go to a rave, but that ended up flopping for several reasons. We made our way home that night and rested for our trip the next day.

Saturday- We took a day trip to visit Stonehenge and the city of Bath. Most of this trip has been documented by pictures and uploaded to facebook. The sights were great and vaguely familiar from my distant memory. Overall, the entire trip was very enjoyable. After we got back, we went out to a buzzing bar/concert venue. Admission was free but the crowds were thick. It was a long enough wait to make it to the bar that I followed Spencer’s lead and ordered drinks two at a time to save myself the second trip.

Sunday- Relaxed all day. Went to Hyde Park and played Frisbee golf for a bit. Went to look at the London Eye and Big Ben at night, all lit up. Stared out into the River Thames and took in the view.

Monday - Work work work. A whole weekend worth of work done today. It was intense.

Now I am starting my next week of classes and close to being done with class for the week all at the same time. Gotta love 3 day weeks. It looks like I will be going to Spain this weekend, so I’ll have more to report on that trip.

Thursday marked the day of several important things. It was the last day of class of our first week of class (a “Friday” worth celebrating). It was the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2. And the girls here kept reminding me that I turned 21 at midnight.

There were several thousands of people who came to the red carpet to see the stars for the Harry Potter world premiere. Too many people to actually see any real stars. Luckily, the group of Potter-goers found a nearby library and decided to climb high inside of it. A vantage point was found a couple of stories up, where there was a clear view of the red carpet. The group was able to securely place themselves at the front of this window, whilst a growing crowd behind pushed forward to try to catch a view for themselves. The stars came and went. Pictures were taken. Draco Malfoy, Hagrid, and others were seen walking the carpet. Unfortunately, no sights of Harry, Ron, or Hermione.

Later that night, we all ate at a Greek restaurant and planned out what we were going to do the rest of the night. Dylan’s friend from highschool in Hawaii happened to be in London for one night, so we decided to meet up with him at Club Zoo. Before rushing off to pay inflated prices for drinks at a club, we all warmed our stomachs before heading off. A quick Tube ride over to Leicester Square and we were there. A promoter for the club gave each of us were given a ticket for a free shot once we got inside. A short line wait later, we were all inside, all had our shots poured and all at once raised our glasses and drank. No wonder they gave out free shots of that particular drink. It was highly saturated sugar water. One drop of the liquid and you felt sticky all over. I promptly went to the toilet room to wash my hands after that.

The club itself was two floors, playing two different types of music. Upstairs was rock classics of the 90’s and onward while the basement was bass heavy techno. After an hour or so, it became midnight. The girls of the group cheered to remind me of that fact and I promptly went to go make use of my new found legal (American) right; I bought a beer. It was sort of cool, knowing I was 21 and buying beer, but the fact that I had bought a beer about 10 minutes prior probably took away from that just a little bit.

After another couple hours, the upstairs of the club was closing. The downstairs stayed open for another hour, until 3, but we decided to head out. After walking around for about 10 minutes, we found the bus stop we needed to get home. We took our bus, got back to the apartment and eventually made our way to bed as the sun started rising.

It has almost been a week since I have last written. Much has happened since then. All of which has been very interesting and fun, but at the same time nothing I have found myself desiring to share and write about. It is becoming more clear to me that this blog’s purpose is not for me to write about my travels as a tourist but for me to write about my experiences and how they affect me. Do not misunderstand that my lack of desire to write about and repeat each step of my day as disinterest in my day to day activities. For those of you who know me, you know I am usually a quiet person. For those of you who know me well, you know I am a reflective person. This blog serves as an outlet of my reflections on my experiences abroad. For those (two) of you (, Mom and Dad,) who are really interested in following much of the specific ongoings of my daily activities, the ENG 331 program has its own dedicated blog. You can read that here: http://london-eng331.blogspot.com/

Over the past week, I have been spending almost every awake minute with these other students on this program with me. It has been very very fun to learn about them and live with them. Because there are only 8 of us, we have stayed together and done mostly group excursions this entire time. I feel as though we have all bonded together and will only continue to build our friendships. As a group, we have gone out to many various Pubs. We’ve been able to go to a different pub every time. The only pub we have frequented is The Kings Head. Good food, great drink, and all fairly cheap. Class started this past week. We all expected it to be a breeze, but the three days of class are all like Boot Camp. Work hard for 3 days, have 4 days free. I think that is a fair tradeoff. We’ve been studying different technical writing ploys, with a focus on Persuasion for this week.

The largest thing of interest for me to write about would be the other students that are living with me. I won’t go into much of my reflections about them, because, well, those are for me to keep, but I’ll talk briefly about each of them (in order of meeting them).

Spencer Thompson: Going to be a senior. He is very laid back and just likes going with the flow. Not one to plan things and really enjoys bluegrass.

Dylan Cawthorne: The tallest of the group and the youngest. He is going to be a sophomore. Has a wonderful and very similar taste in music to me. Big on planning. We’ll be setting up traveling plans

Luke Babyak: Going to be a senior. It is his first time out of the country and if I remember correct the 3rd time he has ridden a plane, so everything is quite an experience for him. He is very independent and forward.

Emily Brayman: Going to be a junior. We met a few times before coming on this trip. A constantly calm person, and very friendly. Easy to talk to.

Andy Hornsby: Going to be a junior. My roommate for this trip. A very friendly guy and a huge technology buff. He has all the gadgets and ipad apps to find new places to eat and get us directions there.

Morgan Drake: Going to be a junior. She is a person who will make you smile just by talking to her. She doesn’t like doing her work in the quiet or alone and seeks out a group of people. It is always nice to have her join us.

Laura Testini:Going to be a junior. She actually arrived on Wednesday but has already fully assimilated into the group. Very energetic and excited.

These are the people I will be spending the next 4 weeks with. The past week has been really long and has also flown by at the same time. We’ve done a lot together already and are really becoming a close knit group of friends. I can only imagine us becoming even closer.

Paul Moriarty West:

No mention of Lager and carrots ?

Mmmmmm

And those henchmen  i got to stone the train  were all part of my dastardly plan to delay your arrival until we could put the chopped carrots into the lager.

Paul Moriarty West

Page West:

Unfortunately, no. No mention of the carrots. I expect everyone that knows of the prevalence of carrots will understand and expect them. Then everyone else who does not, won’t know that I talked on the tele for an hour. I was, however, considering naming that post “Memories in the Making” as “Carrots, Carrots, Everywhere.” I think the latter might have been more fitting.

Pappy:

We managed to Skype GP after he returned from London and his Pup-lic experience up there in Scarborough Fair. We had already heard stories from cousin David that GP, Daniel, and Jessica looked a bit baked the morning after. Seven house later when we caught up online with GP, we could tell they had a VERY good time. I only wished GP had done some drumming in the pub!

For us at the NC beach, having GP 5000 miles away is, well, sort of like having him at college. Outta sight, outta mind. Well, almost. We’re really happy you’re really happy, GP!

I have only been here for 5 days, but it certainly feels like much longer. And for that, it is going to be difficult to talk about everything that has happened since I last wrote. I will, however, try my hardest to do so.

To conclude my ‘time crisis’ from last post, I walked to a nearby outlet and got a pay-as-you-go phone. I was relieved to know what time it finally was. Then, once I got back to my hotel room, I found the clock that eluded me for so long; it was built into the bottom of the tv. Shortly after that discovery, I promptly passed out on my bed and was dead to the world, recovering from my jet lag.

I had set a wake up call for 6 in the morning just to ensure that I would have enough time to eat, shower, and make my way to the train station to catch my 10:30 train. I woke up at 5 and wasn’t the slightest bit tired so I got up and started packing up then. I found myself all packed and ready to go at about 8. I was initially intending to leave around 9 just to ensure I had an hours time to get to King’s Cross, but because of extra hour of being awake, I was an hour ahead of schedule.

I took the Tube all the way to Kings Cross. I looked at my phone, saw I still had 2 hours until my train. I was not looking forward to sitting around and waiting for that long of time but at least it was going to be stress free. I got in queue to pick up my tickets. Leaving out all of the specific details, I was unable to get my tickets. So after about an hour of waiting in queue, talking to two people, and a guy for customer service over the tele, I eventually bought another set of train tickets, roughly the price of $160. So much for my stress free waiting period.

After all was said and done, I had my new tickets, and about 20 minutes until my train arrived. I decided this would be ample opportunity to go see platform 9 and three quarters and just do that sort of Harry Potter fan tourist gig. I made my way to platform 9, but was saddened to discover I couldn’t actually go in there because I needed a ticket for that platform. C’est la vie.

My train arrived, I made my way down platform 4 to stake out a nice place in coach class for me to sit for the next 3 hours. I found a lovely table. I cannot express how much fun the entire train trip was. Just listening to music while watching the train zoom past country side in itself was brilliant. But here is one of the best parts: I plugged my laptop into the outlet and was able to code while doing all of the above. Terrific!

Oh, but someone threw rocks at the train and broke a window, causing us to drive slower, meaning I missed my connecting train from York to Scarborough. I called Paul West, informed him of this delay and that I’d make it on the next train an hour later. This gave me opportunity to grab a sandwich from the shop. I looked at the options and decided I’d go out on a limb and try the chicken and sweet corn sandwich. It was really good.

My connecting train arrived and I got aboard. This short ride was even more enjoyable than the previous ride. It may have been because the views on this ride were more spectacular or possibly because the cute girl 5 rows ahead of me kept exchanging flirtatious looks with me. Either way, it was most enjoyable.

Then I arrived in Scarborough. I met the man in the picture above our fireplace at home and was taken back to his house. Paul is quite a character. I was a little nervous at first, afraid our conversations might be awkward, but that was not the case. Paul has the ability to make you feel like you’ve been friends with him for many many years the moment you meet him. At his townhouse, I met his wife Lesley, and their two kids Daniel and Jessica. I am very glad to have been able to make that trip and meet each of them. I really enjoyed my time in Scarborough. I can’t really express the experience through words, so I won’t every try to.

While in Scarborough, we met up with another distant relative David West. A most general consensus from everyone is that he talks a lot. Not necessarily a bad thing, but still true nonetheless. Our group of six went out to eat, then visited Paul’s dad. After that visitation, us kids were dropped off at a pub selected by Jessica. We met some of her friends and enjoyed some drinks with live music. Then we enjoyed some more drinks. Without going into any more details about the night, it was most enjoyable, making this one long day from the time I woke up at 5 in the morning to whenever it was I went to sleep, a day I will cherish and remember.

The next day’s afternoon, I made the familiar train trip back to London. Made my way through the Tube and back to my hotel. I checked in, got my room, and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning, moved into my apartment, met up with the other students, went out for lunch, met my roommate, had a small orientation, went grocery shopping, bought a lasagna to cook, cooked the awful looking lasagna, hesitated to eat the lasagna, ate the lasagna, regretted eating the lasagna, then went out with the other students for the night.

I really like all the other students on this trip and I am excited about spenind the next 5 weeks here with them. Thank you Mum and Dad for enabling me to take this trip.

So, where to begin. It has been such a long day. No, that isn’t correct. It isn’t the same day. It has been such a long extended period of time. There, that’s more like it.

My first flight to Dulles Airport left at 3:15 yesterday afternoon. That short 1 hour flight might have been the worst flight I’ve been on. It was, to describe it most accurately, a circus act. Our flight attendant was introduced by the pilot on the intercom as “Linda the Magnificent,” and oh how misleading that title was. I was snug and content sitting in my single seat on the third row but was told by Mrs. Magnificent that someone from the first three rows was going to have to move to the back. After an awkward moments pause where no one spoke, I volunteered myself. I walked back about 8 rows to the next open seat and turned back around to ask if it was sufficiently far enough back. I was responded to with “go to the last open seat available.” Lucky for me, it was in the second to last row of the plane, where the AC wasn’t quite working and the engines roared. I pointed to the empty seat (a window seat) to ask if it was available and the old woman sitting next to it looked up at me, then said “ci.” I put my bag down in the seat and stepped back to give her room to stand up. After another awkward moment’s pause, her son sat forward and said, “mom, you’ll need to let him get through.” The woman then gave a surprised expression, nodded her head, and mouthed the words “oh, okay,” and it then became apparent that she didn’t know very much english at all. She then promptly tucked her feet as close as she could to her chair and sat back. I decided this was queue enough for me to just make my way over her lap and into my seat.

As we prepared to take off, the loud deep bass of the engines sped up and slowed down repetitively, while the little girl in front of me sang “If you’re happy and you know it.” It was like a dubstep remix of the children’s song and one I do not recommend listening to. Once we took to the air, Mrs. Magnificent slowly trolleyed her way down the aisle, giving drinks to each passenger, until she got to the last 10 rows. At this point she realized she didn’t have very much time left before landing, so she sped the pace up. As she pushed the trolley cart with increased vigor and speed to the last section of passengers, she rammed it into the guy’s knee opposite of the aisle from me. Mrs. Magnificent apologized for that then just started pouring water for everyone and handing them a cup, saying “Take it or don’t. We are landing and I don’t have time to serve you.” I took my cup of water and started to sip it. She pulled the trolley cart back to the front and before I was even half way done drinking the water, she was back with the garbage back asking for the cup. I swallowed the rest of the water in one last gulp, thankful to replenish all the water I sweated out in the heat and gave her my cup. I was glad the flight was coming to a close.

Once I made it to my next terminal to wait for my real flight, I started hanging out my laundry to dry. I staked out a couple of seats in the back to hang my wet shirts that I changed out of on. As my clothes dried, I ate my good ‘ol last American meal: Wendy’s. I then sat and relaxed until I boarded my second flight.

I knew once I was seated on this plane, that it would be a much better flight. My only complaint though, would be that I happened to get seated in a seat whose AC didn’t work again. This didn’t turn out to be a problem, but many of you know how much I like the wind, even if it is just a small bit. After two movies, an hour of music, one bathroom break, two meals, two micro naps, and one brief conversation, I arrived in Heathro. I was told to prepare for a long line and wait for getting through customs, but I think I did it in record time. We landed a little after 7 in the morning and I was at the train station by 8. The next train didn’t come for another 12 minutes, so I was able to sit and relax for a bit. Little did I know that would be the last time I got to relax and see a clock. After I got off the train, I carried my backpack and duffel bag on my shoulders to the Tube, and took the Tube. It was very crowded, and I was very hot for having been carrying all that weight. I made my way out of the Tube at my stop and finally rose up into the streets of London. The cool air was refreshing at first touch, but then I had to continue to lug my belongings around. After determining, aha, I make my way East to 97 Cromwell Road to my hotel I set off. Then after I passed 101 Whatever Street, I realized, crap, this was the wrong way. So I made my back back and after another glance at the map, determined I was silly and then truly made my way to 97 Cromwell Road.

By the time I made it into the hotel lobby, I was dripping with sweat. I felt bad because everything I touched instantly became wet. When I had to sign my check-in paper, I left my wet hand print on it too. The lady helping me asked me if I wanted breakfast. I politely declined, explaining that I was going to get breakfast to go tomorrow morning. She then asked, if I wanted breakfast right then. I was a little surprised. Breakfast this late in the day? I declined that as well. She then asked if I was going back out. I was confused at this point. She told me that check-in wasn’t until 2 and was wondering if I was going to have breakfast while I waited. It was at this point I had no idea what time it was. I saw a clock on the wall behind her which read to be something around 10. Not wanting to go back into the city, lugging all my stuff around, nor sit for 4 hours, I asked her if there was any way to check in earlier. There was. The early-bird check-in. It cost 20 pounds and would mean my room would be ready for me in 40 minutes, plus it came with a breakfast. It looks like she finally was able to sell me a breakfast after all.

Once I got to my room, I emptied my pockets, dropped all my stuff, and took off my wet shirt. I was about to take a shower but wanted to check the time to make sure it wasn’t getting too late before I set off to go buy a cell phone. To my surprise, no clock in the room. I still had no idea what time it was. All I knew was that it was somewhere roughly 40 minutes after some time near 10. I took my shower regardless and turned on my computer, just to figure it out once and for all. And now here I am. It is noon now, but feels like it should be much later.

Well, after having this moment’s relaxation, typing up this blog entree, I must set out to purchase a cell phone and finally then I will have a portable means of knowing what time it is.