SIT DOWN, MR. PEASLEY!

Ello Govna.

This weekend I was in London!! And let me tell you, I LOVEEEEDDDDD it. I really did. It was the most fun weekend I have had in Europe. Our flight landed mid-morning in London, but due to London's extreme border control that questioned me on what period of Roman art history I was studying and the exact places I'm visiting in London, we didn't get to our scary hostel until about noon. And by scary, I mean scary. I mean bunk-beds-coed-community-bathrooms-drifters-with-dreadlocks-firetruck-in-the-middle-of-the-bar-SCARY. Because of the whole co-ed community bathroom thing, there was not the slightest chance in hell I was showering in there. No way, not a chance, not now, not ever. I was not bred for hostel living. I simply wasn't made for it. However, the rest of London, I was made for that. I loved every little bit of it. The people were sooo nice and friendly to us and the city had a great vibe. Friday, we went on a tour of Westminster Abbey, which was AWESOME. So much history, but also so much modern importance. It holds the tomb of Henry the 8th and Queen Mary of the Scots and all the kings and queens but it was also where Diana's funeral was held and where William and Kate were married. It was awesome to see. We also saw the Big Ben and went to Harrods. Harrods was amazingggggggggg. The coolest, biggest, most luxurious, classiest shopping experience I have ever had. We walked around and pretended to be Blair Waldorf and took all of it's Christmas magic in. We went to Laduree and sat and had tea and macaroons and talked for about 2 hours. It was so fun and absolutely fabulous. That night we went to an English pub and talked more. Go figure. Saturday, we went to the Tower of London and saw all the old armory used by the monarchy and the fortress and the Bloody Tower and the Crown Jewels. The Crown Jewels were gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Then we went to Oxford and Regent Street which was all decorated and lit up for Christmas. It was so fun just walking around and getting in the Christmas spirit. We were supposed to go on a Jack the Ripper tour, but due to some unfortunate events, we were left sprinting through metro stops, going tube to tube, sweating profusely through our heavy winter clothes, and missing it. Everything happens for a reason though, because we ended up at a famous pub that was formerly owned by Charles Dickens' fathers. We sat there for 3 hours and ate fish and chips and talked and laughed and had a jolly good time. That night was super weird because at around 4am there were extremely drunk Scottish/English/Irish guys screaming in the hallway "JUST A WEE BIT OF WOBBLING" and "SIT DOWN, MR. PEASLEY!!!" and "YA BEING A BASTARD" over and over for an hour straight. I'm not kidding you. VERY WEIRD HOSTEL, PEOPLE. Sunday was really really scary because none of us had showered since Thursday night and we were running through London, sweating on public transportation and living in a scary hostel. I honestly feel bad for anyone who had to sit withing 20 feet of us. Sunday we went to Buckingham Palace and back to Harrods for some more shopping (sorry we ain't sorry). We then took a train to the airport. Quick side note about our train ride. So we are running to get on this train to make it to the airport on time (a lot of running happens when we travel for some reason) and I get there first opening the doors to a packed doorway with suitcases blocking the door. Then this woman standing there says in her British accent, "ohhhhh noooo, it's blocked!" and does nothing. So I threw my bag onto the train and literally climber through this woman's bags to get onto the train. I turned around to make sure Meg and G got in and as soon as I saw we were all there the train started moving. We just made it. Then we are standing there, along with many other people, and this beautiful drifter boy is sitting there with his dog who has her own separate seat. There are at least 10 people standing and this guy has his white fluffy Maltese/Schih Tzu/street rat mix in a pink collar sitting on her own seat. He kept telling everyone she was tired. Honestly, you encounter the weirdest people when you travel. All in all, it was a fabulous weekend and I could not have asked for a better last weekend trip of the semester. It was the most fun I have had all semester and it was a WONDERFUL city. I really did love it. It's sad to think it was my last trip of the semester, but I know I will be back in Europe to visit all these cities I love again.