I am much overdue for a blog update!!! My life has just been so insane that I haven't had a chance! My first two assignments of the term were due this week and last so I was working on those which took up a lot of time! But now I don't have anything due until March 8th, albeit I have 2 papers due the 8th and one the 9th so I should be getting busy on those now also, but at least I have a month to do it.
So since my last post I have traveled to LONDON! That was our first real trip planned by ourselves our of Edinburgh. We thought London would be a good first round. I traveled with my five other closest friends here--Carolyn, Annie, Natalie, Sara, and Nora. Carolyn and Annie had class on friday so they met us there friday night while Natalie, Sara, Nora and I took the 7am train out of Edinburgh and arrived at London's King Cross at noon! The train ride was wonderful!! We went by the coast for a little bit and all through the country, I loved it. It was also great bonding time with my friends. I cannot believe how lucky I am to have met the girls I have here, I keep hearing horror stories of other people abroad who are really lonely and struggling--usually that's me!! So God has definitely blessed me.
I cannot stress how smoothly this entire trip went. Everything was just perfect!! We arrived in London and just got on the tube at King's Cross and had about a 15 minute ride to the stop our hotel was at!! We went their first, hoping they would store our luggage for us since check-in wasn't until 3pm, and both rooms were ready!!! So we dropped our stuff off and went to find some lunch. Our hotel was kind of situated in an area we coined "Little Saudi Arabia" but whatever, it was perfectly fine. We were only 5 minutes from hyde park and the marble arch so we walked over there and found this adorable italian place called "Fino's" off a side street. We had a fabulous lunch, the four of us. We were in no rush since we didn't want to do too much without Carolyn and Annie so ate lots of fun and had lots of fun conversation that included topics such as what names we are naming our children, why we were named the names we were, and other little fun personal stories that I love hearing. I love how we are all on the same page. We all click so well!! I had a yummy salad and then an entire cheese pizza that was absolutely delish. After our very satisfying lunch we decided to head towards leicester square to find out information on getting broadway tickets. However, it took us about 3 hours because we went down Oxford Street and ended up making some memorable stops. First, we discovered Selfridges. I had read that Selfridges was the local's Harrod's. And let me just tell you if I had to choose one place in the entire world to be stuck for the rest of my life, this would be it. It was THE department store of all department stores. Better than Harrod's in my opinion. So we got lost in there for a solid chunk of time freaking out at everything we were seeing. We were like literally like little kids in a candy store.
We continued down Oxford Street, which we were beginning to become obsessed with, and started to smell the most wonderful smell in the entire world--words cannot describe. Then we finally apprach what we were smelling--a WONDER WAFFLE STAND. Even though I was so stuffed from lunch there was no way I was walking away from this heavenly scent without a freaking wonder waffle. You could choose all kinds of toppings and I got chocolate and whip cream. THE most AMAZING thing I've ever eaten in my entire life--best 3 pounds spent EVER. I know I sound ridiculous right now but you just don't understand how good these things were. I'm not kidding.
So after everyone pried me away from the wonder waffle stand, we finally got to Leicester Square, which was also so lovely, and found out how to get discount theatre tickets in the morning. We then mosied on over to Trafalgar Square which was beautiful at sunset!!! Even though I've been to London several times, I had never really seen this area, or walked it atleast, so I was just loving taking in a different part! London really is one of my favorite places on Earth, I could totally live there, and I just might...
After taking loads of pictures at Trafalgar Square we went into the British National Museum (free!). I am so glad we did this. I am finally at the age where I actually appreciate this kind of stuff and I think the fact that I'm choosing to do it makes a huge difference as well. I took an art history class on European Art in the 19th Century and this museum was packed with paintings I studied!! I was in such awe, it was one of the coolest things this kind of artwork in person. My favorites were Renoir's "At The Theatre," Van Gogh's "Sunflowers," and Monet's "The Water Lily Pond" and "The Thames below Westminster." I am not an artsy person, but I love looking at Historical Art such as these. I am now even more excited to go to Paris and go to more art museums!
Natalie and I
Sara and I
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437148286791822962" />Trafalgar Square!
We walked through the side streets and down the mall a little bit around Trafalgar Square. The direct view we had of Big Ben was incredible!! I swear all four of us had smiles plastered on our face the entire day. It was unforgettable. We regrouped at a little coffee shop then decided to walk back and grab some sushi for dinner before meeting up with Annie and Carolyn at the hotel! Our sushi experience was interesting. We had some questions regarding the menu and each person we asked had to ask someone else for the answer--we went through like 5 waiters. No one really knew what they were doing haha but it all worked out. At dinner we got to hear some crazy stories of each others--especially my friend Nora whose lived in Australia and India--it's been so great hearing everyone's backgrounds and stories from their lives. I've been so lucky in my life to have met so many different kinds of people with all kinds of experiences that are a part of who they are know and its interesting to see how those things define us. I'm learning so much more about myself through them as well. It's quite difficult to explain, but hopefully you get where I'm trying to go :) I think it's healthy to situate yourself in different parts of the world around different kinds of people from different backgrounds because thats who makes up the world in which we live in--not the bubble we trap ourselves into. It has especially helped me understand and accept people for who they are and to be much less judgmental. I have gotten so deep, haven't I?..
So anyways, Annie and Carolyn made it to the hotel around 10pm and were starving so we ventured out of the hotel into little saudi arabia to grab some late night pizza!! We had two triple rooms, but we decided to pack all 6 of us in one room!!! it was SO FUN. I forgot what slumber parties felt like. All I remember doing is laughing so hard I was crying as we were having "pillow talk." It's nice to have that kind of laughter back in my life, I had felt like it had been a while before I got here!
We were up and ready to go BEFORE scheduled which we all thought was quite amazing with 6 girls in one room with one bathroom! We are pretty much the best travelers. We had planned to go down Oxford Street and introduce Carolyn and Annie with WONDER WAFFLES but they were CLOSED!! womp womp... but its ok we took them there later.. so we just grabbed starbucks for breakfast instead and headed to leicester square to pick up our half-priced WICKED tickets for that night!!! We then took the tube over to buckingham palace to catch the changing of the guards where we like to pretend we saw prince william and prince harry walk in the palace even though we're pretty sure it was just random other people.
After the guards, we walked down to the River to hit Big Ben and Westminster Abby. The park by the palace that we walked through was beautiful with ponds full of ducks and swans. So lovely.
We had such a great view of Ben approaching also. He always looks so surreal to me, every time!! We took the typical Big Ben pictures with the phone booth in it and all that.. then did the tour in Westminster Abby, which I have also done several times but love it more each time. I noticed that the "Coronation Chair" was on a platform much higher than I remember it when I was there with my Mema years ago. I know this because when I was with her she kept telling me to touch it, because you weren't allowed to, but I was too scared then she said "just touch the damn chair!" so then I did. And that is probably why it is know at an untouchable height!!
It's always so fascinating (and kind of morbid, I suppose) to be in the same spot where so many famous, influential and royal people from British history are buried!! I find it cool though to be in the same exact spot that they are in the entire world--like Charles Dickens, Mary Queen of Scots, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, and Jane Austen--All people who have influenced my life.
After Westminster Abby, a couple of girls went to ride the Eye, while Natalie, Nora, Sara, and I grabbed some bagels for lunch at this yummy deli since we had already done it. There was the most adorable little boy, probably about 2 years old, with his dad for a lunch date. SO cute, he had peanut butter all over his face. I love the children here with their little accents.
It was mid afternoon by now so after Carolyn, Annie, and Kristy, My flatmate who was in London as well and met up with us for a bit, finished on the Eye, we walked back to the hotel to get ready for our night out! We, of course, as previously mentioned, stopped at wonder waffle to make our day just that much better.
Wicked was playing at the Apollo Theatre at Victoria Station so we took the tube over in our fancy outfits and grabbed dinner at a cafe before hand. Our seats for Wicked were so good!! we were at the front of the top tier and in the center. I didn't really know what to expect with Wicked. I knew some songs that my mom had made me listen to as she sang along like crying to every word, which I did not understand at the time. None of us had seen it, except for Natalie, who is obsessed, so she was getting us excited for it.
From beginning to end, Wicked was AMAZING. We are like bawling at the end. The cutest thing was to learn down and see Natalie in the middle of "As Long As Your Mine" singing along! Now I know why my mom was crying to the songs, now it's me! I want to see it like over and over now...I have definitely gotten my moneys worth out of the soundtrack that I bought FIRST THING after returning to Edinburgh sunday!! We left on cloud 9 that night. I'm pretty sure we were the last ones out of the theatre we were just so worked up!! I'm so glad I saw it with these girls because that made it just that much better since we were so ecstatic!!!
After finally leaving the theatre, we decided to take the tube back to the Westminster bridge to see it at night!!! I didn't really think this was worth doing until we got over there and it was SO beautiful!!! I had never seen it at night! We got there right at 11pm when Big Ben was chiming, it was really cool to hear that, I felt like I was in a movie or something. We had a lot of fun taking jumping pictures with Ben. We were just having a ball even though it was FREEZING!
Back to Ventures (our hotel) after our photoshoot! We were so tired, but had another fun night in our one room!!! More laughs and stories... we played all those hypothetical question games and so on... very entertaining!!
Sunday morning we got up and packed everything up to take to King's Cross luggage storage while we did some last minute stops. It was so easy getting there and storing our luggage--worked out perfectly!! So from there, we went to Kensington Palace-one of my favorite places in London!! All the girls LOVED the Diana exhibit. We spent so much time looking at her dresses and the books on her, love her. That palace is just so elegant and classy. They had a neat Debutante exhibit which was also very interesting with pretty dresses on display!! Oh how I wish men acted as gentlemen as they did back then!! We practiced our curtsying and dancing, just in case.
After taking more jumping pictures in the Kensington Gardens we walked through Hyde park and down Kensington Road to Harrod's!!!! Such a pretty walk. And, if you can believe it, my friend Natalie, is just as big of a friend's fan as I am SO... we definitely had to get a picture of us "going into the map" as Joey did when they were in London. Now you will only get that if you are a Friends fan so if not, don't worry, but it was really hilarious and I love how I have someone to say, "omg, this is like on friends when...." because that happens about 50 times a day. You can relate any situation to Friends!!
anyways, If I could live anywhere in London, it would be along this street. Harrod's was obviously amazing, as it always is. We had some french sandwiches in the food court then explored. It's insanely overwhelming, but I love it. We found the Sundae Bar which was very dangerous. I got my own Chocolate Fudge Sundae and ate every lick and it was so worth it.
After getting lost in Harrod's, we stopped in a few other shops in the knightsbridge area, including French Connection where I got an incredible deal on my "valentine's day" dress!! can't wait to wear it. I'm all about the deals here. The night before I went to London I got an INCREDIBLE deal on a Ted Baker leather Tote--was 300 pounds ($500) and bought it for 80 pounds ($120)!!!!!!!!!!! I wish someone was with me to witness the fit I was having over the reality of the situation.
Anyways!--after Harrod's, it was unfortunately time to go back and get our luggage and hop on the train. We were saying how bummed we were to leave this amazing weekend, but then we were like "well we are going back to edinburgh, which is still vacation, so its ok!!" so that was definitely a reassuring thought. I love traveling by train--so easy!!
To sum up this memorable weekend--we basically laughed the whole time, walking through a beautiful city, visiting amazing historical/shopping sites AND seeing the best show ever. It really couldn't have been any more perfect.
Right now I am working on future plans, including spring break!! It's all coming into place, I'm getting very excited. Next trip I am taking is through Scotland to the northernest tip of Great Britain!!! And yes, it will be 4 girls in 1 RENTAL car hahah it will be QUITE the adventure!!! More updates coming soon!! Will be better about posting!!!!
Thank you for all your prayers and support--you have no idea how much I appreciate it!
-Em
