To LONDON!

Gosh it feels like ages since I've updated this blog-it's becoming quite the chore! I'm just too busy galavanting around haha

Last weekend, I went with my program to London, England. Even though I was only there for 3 days, it felt like I was there for an entire week-there is SO much to do!

Friday: woke up at 4am and caught the bus with my fellow study abroad

ers to the Shannon airport. Our flight didnt leave until 7:30, so while we were waiting around we saw a mass influx of American soldiers, and isn't it funny? We ALL instantly felt safer, even though we had nothing to feel unsafe about. We struck up a conversation with one of the soldiers and found out that they were all returning from their two week leave in the states-imagine, two weeks with your family and then the REST of the year fighting in a foreign country? I definitely felt guilty about taking a weekend trip to London

after he told us that...Anyways we had a very enlightening conversation with him, and then headed to our gate to board.

We arrived in the Heathrow airport around 9am and took a bus to South Kensington, where we stayed for the weekend. Apparently, S. Kensington is the ritzy side of town-I figured that one out when the front desk workers at the hotel gave us masked scowls while checking us in. After dropping our luggage off, we went to a little Italian cafe down the street and had a DELICIOUS lunch. I love Ireland, don't get me wrong, but the food here is...boring, for lack of a better word.

After devouring our Italian meal, we set out to explore the streets of London and hit up some of the famous fashion shops. We explored Harrods for a while (if you don't know what I'm talking about, look it up-it's pretty incredible). After some shopping--more like after looking at the prices of everything and NOT shopping--I went back to the hotel to take a short nap before dinner. Let's just say that that nap was the most restful sleep I got all weekend..

When I woke up, I went to Rachel and Mo's room, and we all decided (Rachel, Mo, Kate, Julia, and I) that we wanted to have a chill night, so we walked down to the fancy hotel restaurant clad in our best PJ's and ordered some dinner. They were having a cocktail special (buy 2 get 1 free), and since we were only going to be in London once, we decided to go for it. What started out as a chill night ended up being a night of shenanigans in the hotel, ridiculously expensive taxi rides into the heart of London, a club, and more ridiculous taxi cabs. AND, there is full visual documentation. Too many pictures from that night haha

Saturday: I woke up bright and early to the sound of bustling London stree

t-life and got ready for a morning bus tour. We all piled into a grand tour bus and trekked around the city, seeing famous sites like Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, the famous London bridge, and lots of other exciting things. London is wonderful, however, to me it is just another

big city. While I appreciated the history and the sites, I honestly was more excited to go back to the hotel, have a bubble bath, and watch TV. Crazy, I know.

Saturday evening was by far my favorite part of the weekend. It started out by blaring the UK top 40 music mix and getting dolled up to go to the theatre. GREASE: is the word. Mo, Rachel, Ciera, Becky, Julia, Ryan, and I all went out for a nice dinner near Picadilly circus before heading to Picadilly theatre to see Grease the musical. We had a blast! The musical was great and our seats were fantastic. After the show we headed back to South Kensington and Mo, Rachel, Julia, Catherine, and I had a fun girls night complete with junk foo

d, cheesy music videos, and massages. SO fun.

Sunday: I ended up sleeping in Mo and Rachel's room Saturday night (Rachel hijacked my bed from the other room and dragged it down the hall...), so Mo and I woke up and got ready for the day while Rachel headed to Buckingham Palace. Mo, Catherine, Kate, Ryan, and I walked to the Natural History Museum (pictured bottom right) and had a BLAST exploring the dino exhibit, the ecology exhibit, and my personal favorite: the biology exhibit!! (total nerd alert) Catherine and I split from the group and walked around London, hopping in and out of store fronts and taking loads of pictures along the way. We went to an accessories shop where I proceeded to make EVERYTHING difficult: I wanted this purse that happened to be basically on the ceiling of the store front window, and it was the last purse in stock, and I made this poor lady get up there and get the purse for me. And to top it all off, the purse was made in India--the one item that I'm most excited to get in London, the fashion capital of the world, is a purse made in INDIA. Oh well :) After shopping, Catherine and I ate sushi and a really hip sushi bar, then popped into the Victoria and Albert museum to kill time before our flight back to Ireland. We shamelessly took pictures of everything, even the jewelry in the ONE exhibit that doesn't allow picture-taking. We both got in trouble, but it was so worth it :)

We got back to Ireland around 9:30 Sunday night, and before we could even get our suitcases in the door, our Irish friends swagger over and try to persuade us to have a night on the town with them. The Irish never stop partying. NEVER. I politely declined, and left them standing at our door haha. Sunday night we all had girl talk in my room (unrestrained gossip sessions that occur basically every night in House 6), then went to sleep.

This week is pretty low-key for me--just trying to stay on top of schoolwork and plan some trips. Tonight I'm going on a night cycle either in the forest or on a mountain with the mountain biking club. I'm slightly scared, but definitely excited.

This weekend I'm going on a Ring of Kerry tour, which includes a Ceili Dancing Class, tour of Valentia Island, hilltop walking, St. Finian's Bay, Skellig experience center, Ballinskelligs beach and castle, walking tour of Cahersiveen and stone forts, among other things. I'll post some pictures of my adventures next week! Until then:

May good luck be your friend

in whatever you do,

And may trouble be always

a stranger to you.

Lindsey