Que Paso?

Whoop! Whoop! It's Barcelona time! Which means I only then have Paris, Rome and Florence to do before I'm all caught up on my travels. And I leave for home in about three days now, so it looks like there won't be any current posts, so I'll just have to keep writing about my travels even while I'm sitting at home enjoying summer break. This post will hopefully be shorter since I was only in Barcelona for two days, so let's get started shall we?

Luckily, I had no airline problems and flew in safely into the Barcelona airport where I then got into a cab (all by myself because I'm a big girl) and went to meet up with Amanda and her dad. They had been in Spain during the time I was in Amsterdam starting first in Granada and moving on to Barcelona. Her dad was nice enough to let me stay in their apartment for the two days before our voyage to Paris. I might have done some miscalculation and thought I was staying in Amsterdam for an extra two days, so Barcelona was like a little mini vacation surprise. I was super excited to go to Spain because it was suppose to be a happy and sunny little wonderland... and it was. It was so nice to go from Amsterdam, which was fairly chilly and I almost always needed my coat, to a place where the sun beat down and I could go around in just a cardigan. I like to call it sweater-weather (pronounced so both words rhyme), and it's my favorite climate. Anyway, the apartment we stayed in was my first experience with airbnb.com. If you're traveling on a budget, I highly recommend you check it out. We were in a three bedroom apartment with 1 1/2 bathrooms pretty much in the middle of Barcelona. The Sagrada Familia was basically in our back yard, and we really just walked everywhere.

After I put my bags down and breathed for two seconds, we walked right out the door to do some exploring. There's just so much neat architecture around the city so we basically just went wherever we wanted. I was just astounded by the ironwork that was everywhere. Each of the mini balconies had these intricate iron rails that I was in absolute love with. So we walked around a park and saw a triumphal arch (Europe sure is full of them). We then thought it would be nice to nip down to the beach and see the ocean. While the day started out nice and sunny, by the time we had eaten lunch and walked around a bit, it had started to rain. So we got to the beach with a few rain drops, like that's going to stop us. We then decided that an hour was long enough to wait before having dinner. So we sat outside in the sun again (way to go bipolar weather), drinking sangria and eating paella. It was really a perfectly Spanish day.

We then decided to go home and rest a bit to get ready for the next day. That is the nice thing about all this travel; we've always managed to find time for a little rest to give us that extra energy. I've never been too run-down or tired for an expedition. Anyway, we ended up staying in for the night and just talking and eating doner (don't fret, there were a lot of Donner Party jokes so everyone was having a good ol' fashion time).

Reunited and it feels so good.

The next day we got up and went exploring some more, but this time we went more in the direction of the Picasso Museum. Now I've been to the Musee Picasso in Paris (it was closed for renovation this time around) and I wanted to see how it compared. It dealt a lot with Pablo's time in Barcelona (duh) and showed a lot of things that I had never seen before. Like at the Van Gogh museum, it had a bunch of his earlier works. They were not the cubist pieces that people would recognize today, but you could definitely see his progression as an artist. Since he lived so long and had such a public, and risque, love life, I think he's  one of the most truly interesting artists. I might not always like his work, but I love him as a man.

After the Picasso Museum, we walked around, had some hot chocolate and churros, and headed into a cab over to the Park Guell. It might be a bit of a climb to see it all, but it was well worth it. It was like a mosaic shop drank too much LSD in the 60s and threw up all over the hills of Barcelona. Your eye never tired from all of the colors, mirrors, and shapes that surrounded the park. The higher you climbed, the better the view of Barcelona became. Everything was just layed out like a little jewel set against the ocean. After walking around the park a bit, we then decided to head out towards home so Amanda and I could finish packing before our flight for Paris the next morning.

For dinner we decided that we wanted paella and sangria again so Amanda and I shared a pitcher of the heavenly nectar. After our super delicious dinner, we walked back around the Sagrada Familia at night time to take it in. I'm gonna go on a little rant here so sorry about that. It's an amazing building. All of the details put into it make it look very organic and full of life. With that being said...WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG TO FINISH!!!!!!!??????? Really? You've been working on it for well over one hundred years and it's still not done. Yes it's a piece of art that is also being used daily as a worship site, but still. When people think of these grand cathedrals around Europe you know what's usually missing from their mental picture? Scaffolding and cranes. This is something the Basilica has more than enough of. You keep on wanting to take pictures of the thing, and there's just metal in the way! While I desperately want the cathedral finished, I feel like it's now a running joke so they can't finish it. If they do, the world might come to an end (hello it is 2012). Sorry, that's it. Do you have any thoughts about the slowest construction site ever? Especially with technology today! Phew. That felt good.

Let's sum it all up shall we. I loved Spain (especially the weather) and would love to spend more than just two days in Barcelona (and definitely Madrid with all of its museums). On the third morning (this was April 12th now) Amanda and I flew over to Paris to start a whole new adventure. That's the next large post I'll be putting up. Present-day Carly is actually leaving Italy in 2 days. I'm going home! I've had the time of my life while traveling, but I'm really ready to spend some time with friends and family back in the good old PA.

The Honey Badger of Europe

So I just finished my first lovely day in Rome, Italy and I'm chilling in my bed watching National Treasure (because what else would I be doing while being a college kid traveling Europe?). I thought now would be a good time to say a little something about my first trip after I finished my semester in London. The actual last days in the UK really flew by in a blur. Next thing I know, it's the night before I was to leave for Amsterdam to see my lovely sister Katie and step-grandmother Maxine. I was supposed to get on a super early flight at Gatwick Airport that departed at like 6:40 in the morning. This meant I had to get there at about 4. This early in the morning, the easiest route for me was to grab the first Gatwick Express that left at 3:30. Taking more time still I had to take a night bus to Victoria Station. Which means that I had to leave my flat fully packed and ready to go by 2:45 in the morning. Knowing me, I was packing down to the last minute. We also had this hellish meeting we had to go to to finish the program and that didn't end until 10:30 the night before. I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Oh right because I still had a bunch of laundry to do. I've never been so stressed. I might have murdered Amanda, but she took the safe route and got out of the room so I could finish. But voila! I got everything done and was out the door and onto the bus with all of the crazies to get on my train.

Calm fields during the stress

In case you missed it, that means that I got absolutely no sleep. I was traveling with all three of my large and fully stuffed bags since I was going to give them to Max and Katie to take home. I had paid for the bags before online, but after waiting in line to check-in at Easy Jet (booooo) I was informed that I apparently only paid for a total weight of 20 kilos. Each of my bags was about 23-25 kilos. I was then told that I had to pay almost 300 pounds extra for my bags! Luckily I had the money on me and was able to get through past security. I then proceeded to sob hysterically in the middle of the airport. It was just too much for my sleep-deprived brain to handle and I just wanted to go home and be with my family and not alone in an airport in London. Luckily, I was able to rally and got onto the plane and slept the entire way to Amsterdam. I then quickly found Max and Kate and we were on our way to the hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Pulitzer which was so lovely. Katie's and my room was all sorts of quaint. It was just so nice getting to spend some time with her again. Ever since I went away to college, we've grown really close and I think she's one of the coolest people I know.

Since it was still morning, we went out to grab some breakfast and headed over to a walking tour of the city. Max found this free tour company called: Sandeman's New Europe. They have other paid tours, but we decided on the free one since it would be 4 hours just walking around the city. The guides work strictly on tips, but it was a lot of fun. Full of knowledge and little quirks of Amsterdam. Sometimes the jokes were a little too off color for me to feel comfortable with my family, but they were still funny. We started through the Red Light District, and I'm going to say, not as shocking as I thought. The girls really just startled me when they all of a sudden appeared in the windows. But hey, prostitution is going to happen, so at least the city and police are there to control it. Over the tour it became more and more evident to me that Amsterdam is indeed the Honey Badger of Europe. There aren't really any rules. As long as you take responsibility for your actions and nobody sees what you're doing it's fine. No one cares. This relaxed attitude makes the entire city just fun and life-loving. It was hard not to have a great time there (and no, we did not go into any coffeeshops since I was with my Maxine and 16 year-old sister, besides we had enough good times to go around without).

The next day we drove out of the city and went to the beautiful Keukenhof Gardens. We were still pretty early in the season so it was still a little nippy, but the flowers that were already out were so wonderful. Luckily, we got there early enough to beat a majority of the large crowds. It was such a lovely walk and afforded the opportunity for a bunch of pictures with my lovely ladies as well as pretty flower. It just felt so Dutch having the tulips blooming everywhere. Definitely recommend it if you every see yourself in Amsterdam. I'm not a huge flower freak, but it was so nice being that close to the essence of spring.

After the gardens we went back into the city to do some walking around. We visited the horse stables in the city which was really fun for both Katie and I. We really bonded with this one horse named Marco who would have probably let us pet him for hours. It was a lot of fun. Then we went back home, having ice cream on the way of course, for a little lie-down before heading out to dinner. By the way, the food in Amsterdam was amazing. We had all sorts of different cuisines, and all of it was really good. I think my favorite was probably our excursion to the restaurant that translates to Wild Boar. We actually had the boar and it was absolutely fantastic.

The following day we started a bit more of a somber note with a trip to the Anne Frank House. I'm going to be completely honest. I didn't think I would be able to emotionally handle it, since I know how I personally deal with anything Holocaust related. It's just a subject that's very hard for me to deal with, and I usually feel too upset to enter any sort of Holocaust exhibit or museum because I'm pretty sure I would just break down and cry/vomit all over the place. That was not the case with the Anne Frank house. It still had that spooky, historical feel to it, but what surprised me the most was how well the museum was put together. Every room flowed into the next and held the story of these families. Sure it was crowded, but since there was a distinct route, it didn't really matter. We also bought tickets ahead of time, and I would strongly advice you do this as well since the line seemed like a mile long by the time we left. I learned a lot about the Franks that I didn't know. I read the play, not the book, in 7th grade, but you don't really get a sense of the space until you're actually there. It was definitely what I would call a deeply historical experience.

After Anne Frank, we walked had breakfast at the Pancake Bakery. Mind-blowingly good pancakes right there. They're actually more like crepes but still very delicious. Katie had a sugar and lemon pancake which tasted like eating lemonade, and Maxine and I had a cheese, tomato, and mushroom pancake. For dessert we shared a serving of Poffertjes which are these delicious, dutch, mini-pancakes that are supper puffy and super yummy. They're usually served with powdered sugar and chocolate sauce. These things were well worth the wait in line to get into the restaurant. After breakfast we walked to Rembrandt's house, and the art historical geek leaked out a bit. It's just so neat to be in the house where such a great artists lived and worked. Rembrandt is such an interesting guy. If you want to know more about the artist as both a man and genius, I highly recommend watching the movie Nightwatching starring Martin Freeman. It's one of my favorite films about artists. That night we went to see a concert at the Concertgebouw. It was a Persian pianist by the name of Pejman Akbarzadeh. He sounded like nothing I'd ever heard on the piano. There was also a Persian dancer who came out periodically to dance along with the music. It added a whole new dynamic that really just added to the performance. 

Now while the entire trip was AMAZING, I think the definite highlight was the bike tour we took on the fourth day. Amsterdam is well known for being a biking city. Seriously, most people have at least three bikes each (one for work, one for play, and one to trash on the weekends). They just zoom by like total pros cruising the canals while talking on their phone, holding hands, or (my personal favorite) walking their dogs. I was super excited, but a little nervous to be joining such a group of experienced riders. It has been years since I'd been on a bike. I wasn't afraid that I would forget, but I am definitely not what you would call a "strong" biker. Maxine found this wonderful tour group called  Joy Ride Tours  (how cute is that?). It took us about four hours of biking, and only really started and ended in the city so it was a lot less stress. Let me tell you though, those first few pedals into the streets in first gear were nightmarish. We shortly went through Vondelpark and followed the guide until we were in the actual Dutch countryside. The stops were regular, but not forced, and I really learned a lot about the history of both Amsterdam as well as the countryside. The biking itself went fairly well. No one got into any real accident and all of the roads are relatively flat so it wasn't that much strain. If I'm ever back in Amsterdam, I will definitely take another bike tour. It was just so much more fun and quicker than walking around. We saw a four hundred year-old windmill as well as a cheese/clog-making farm. The farm had baby cows as well and they were just so adorable. The actual bikes we had were touring bikes so that it was comfortable to sit upright and just survey the surroundings. If you're in the area, seriously look them up. You will not regret it. So knowledgeable and very nice. They were also in the process of training a new Dutch guide who happened to be very attractive. Hi Ralph! Ha.

After the bike tour, we even had a little steam left so we headed over to the Van Gogh museum and stayed there until it was closed. Again, I learned a lot about the artists that I didn't really know. Like how a lot of his early, early work that he did in Holland was done in a variety of grays and browns. It wasn't until he arrived in France that he started really experimenting with the colors and texture that we're familiar with today. I think my favorite piece was a yellow painting. It was a series of fruits and flowers that were all done in various shades of yellow. Now I usually don't like yellow, but the most interesting part for me was that the original frame was still attached and Van Gogh actually painted onto the frame itself to add another dimension to the painting. It was so refreshing. We had to scramble out of there since the museum was closing all around there, but I'm really glad we got to go.

Our last day was pretty low key. We went to the Rijksmuseum to see some of the old Dutch masters. That's what I really loved about Amsterdam; the amount of art and culture it had was truly astounding. There we saw Vermeers (including a painting of his of something outdoors which I didn't know existed) as well as Rembrandt's truly awe-inspiring masterpiece, The Night's Watch. I don't think I imagined it being so big, but it was really massive. I loved all of the details and how every section of the canvas told its own story about the sitters. I think Kate was pretty impressed too. She has recently been getting more "into" art. Well I'm happy to fill that void for her!

We then went back to the hotel to pack for our respective flights the next morning. I shipped off to Barcelona to stay a few days with Amanda and her dad while Maxine and Katie went back home to the states. It was really a wonderful vacation, and it was just superb spending one-on-one time with both of them. While I really love traveling right now, it's hard to be away from my family. I especially miss Kate. She's just become a really funny and interesting person over the years. But I'll talk about that later. I love you and miss you both! Amsterdam definitely has a place in my heart as one of the most wondrous cities out there.

P.S.-Sorry for the super long post. I promise that my one for Spain will be shorter since I was only there for 2 days. I just want to make sure I get everything down as a way of documenting my travels along Europe.

Not Baden-Baden

So after a tiring day of museum hopping in Paris, we're back in our apartment in Montmartre. I'm just chilling out reveling in my tiredness and listening to some wonderful music from the '60s which always puts me in a fantastic mood so I thought I would write a few blog posts so everyone can keep up to date on my comings and goings. First off we're going to take a little trip back in time to March 22 when I was whisked off to Germany to spend a long weekend with my step-mom Julie (Hi Julie!). Warning, this and the following posts are going to be long, and I apologize if I seem a bit winded.

So I actually flew Ryanair on the way in and was a little skeptical since I've heard my fair share of horror stories  about shoddy service on this airline. I was pleasantly surprised. I mean all the extra fees and fares can get you (it's like 70 bucks if you forget to print your boarding ticket before you get to the airport!) and makes it seem like any other airline instead of a "cheap" way of flying. To get on the plane was the same cluster-mess as say easy-jet, but once I got my window seat I began to inspect my surroundings. All of the seats were leather the plane felt newly detailed. I had plenty of leg room which is a huge must for me being an apparent giant at 5'8" tall. We took off and landed on time which hasn't happened to me in forever. I simply walked off the plane in Baden-Baden, got my checked bag, and got into Julie's car. Simple. My only complaint is that if you wanted to sleep, you really couldn't since there was a constant stream of Ryanair advertisements about what you could buy from the crew while you were flying thousands of feet above land. It was kind of ridiculous, but I was reading my book and just went with it.

Julie and I then went out to dinner where we shared some weiner schnitzel and this delicious type of German flat-bread called flammkuchen. It was basically just thick chunks of bacon, onions, and sour cream. Probably my dream food. We then drove back to the apartment her company rents out and basically crashed. The flat was just so cute! It felt like a German, beach house, cabin, from the 70s. There was wood everywhere as well as pretty kitchy sofas and needlepoint artwork. Kinda loved it.

source

The next day we went to the Carcalla baths right outside of the town of Baden-Baden for about three hours of awesome fun times. They were just these series of pools that were all set at a really nice temperature. There were these giant jets everywhere and it just made it for a very relaxing day. I know Julie loved the work the water did on her back. There was also these two pools where one was about hot tub temperature and next to it was a pool that was like 60 degrees. The idea was to submerge yourself in the cold water as a form of shock therapy before running (of course not running, we were at a pool!) to the warmer water before you froze. It's suppose to be a way of getting your body internally jump started, and I'm going to be honest: it felt great. There was also a steam room which I'd never tried before. It just felt so nice on my skin and felt like it opened me all up. At first it scared me a bit since the steam seemed (say that fast) to be too thick to breathe in and I couldn't comfortably open my eyes. I then relaxed and just let it pass over me. Delightful.

source

After our three hours were up, we went back to the flat to get ready for dinner. Julie originally wanted to take me to this castle (or schloss in German) on the top of the hill. So we drove the whole way up there to find it very crowded and just plain confusing to figure out where we could go to eat a nice dinner. So we quickly ran our American booties out of there. We decided to stop by a Greek restaurant she'd been to before. The food was so good, but we might have had too many appetizers and didn't have much room for our actual dinner so I took it home with us. We finished the night off with some great conversation and a shot of ouzo, which again, I'd never had. I didn't quite care for it since it just tasted like liquefied licorice and I'm not a big supporter of the stuff. It was just nice to finish off a Greek meal with a Greek drink.

The next day was going to be our busy day since we would also have to travel to Frankfurt before the day was through. We decided to first go into Baden-Baden and just walk around which seems simple enough right? Wrong. Even with the gps's "help" it took us about thirty minutes to finally get into the city-center. We kept going in and out of these wooded black forest areas and passing signs that just said Baden-Baden with a cross through it signaling that we were in fact not in Baden-Baden. It was almost to hilarious to be frustrated in. Finally, by some luck, we wound up in a parking garage and were able to get out and walk around. It was such a quaint little town and I couldn't help but sing a lot of Beauty and the Beast while walking around (and yes I realize that BnB takes place in France, but everything was just so quaint!). We stopped in some shoppes (yeah Olde English) and waltzed around the park with our ice cream before deciding that we best be heading off since our plan was to get to Hidelberg before nightfall so that we could go up and see the Schloss there. We thought we could just leave the city and get onto the highway without any of the trouble we had before. Wrong again. It took us another thirty minutes through the same backroads until we finally found the highway. We passed more and more Not Baden-Baden signs. They pretty much looked like this...

But with a red line through them. They kept cracking Julie and I up as we slowly slipped into insanity. Anyway, we were on the highway and off to Hidelberg. Yeah Autobahns! It was such a blast to just be sailing along so quickly and still having people speed past you like you were nothing. We eventually got to Hidelberg with good timing and parked at the bottom of the Schloss. It was just so great to be around that much history. I know I'm a bit of a dork, but there's something about being around a building that's older than the establishment of my home country that just sends chills up my spine. We don't have anything like these castles back home. Which is kind of a bummer. Maybe we should. Monarchy anyone? No? Well we'll discuss it later I guess. Back to the Schloss (which might be the best word in the German language).

It was a pretty grueling task to climb the whole way to the top, but I'm so glad we did. It was beautiful! We also went into the castle to see the little Museum of Pharmacy they had set up for some unknown reason. We then decided we were hungry and climbed back down to grab a bite to eat. This was what I ordered that night.

How glorious is that. It's called schweinhaxe. Now I'm going to get a little graphic here, but it is quite literally a pig's knuckle. I've had it before on a trip to Lyon, France and I've missed it. The meat is so tender and so flavorful. I'm a bit of what you would call an adventurous eater (except for peppers) and this meal was right up my alley. This is what my plate looked like after I finished.

We then drove the rest of the way to Frankfurt since we decided to stay at the hotel at the airport since our flights were fairly early the next morning and we really didn't want to have to drive that early. Julie took a few of my clothes and things back home to help with my packing at the end of the semester and then we called it a night. The next morning we had to switch our clocks one hour ahead (since day light saving's time is at a different time in Europe), but that went fairly smoothly and Julie boarded her plane back to the States as I returned to London. It was such a wonderful little excursion. I was actually just thinking that we haven't had to much one-on-one time and it was nice to have an entire weekend for girl time.

Ok. Germany done. If you're my friend on facebook, you've probably already seen these pictures and I apologize for showing some repeats, but you know how it goes. Stay tune for more of Carly's Travels: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, HOME!!!!! Phew! That was a lot, I should listen to the 60s more often since I seem to be in the productive mood.

Sorry for the Hiatus

Amanda and I in Barcelona!

Hey guys, sorry for the little hiatus I've taken on here. I've just been traveling the world and, you know, doing the usual. I'll try to get on a better schedule where I'll write before I go to sleep, but don't hold me to it. Right now I'm lying down on my bed in our apartment in Paris, but within the last week alone I've slept in both Amsterdam and Barcelona. I'll be sure to tell everyone about it so I can catch you all up on my going-ons. I think I'll first have to do a little recap on my trip to Germany a few weeks ago before I can really get into the swing of things. So bear with me while I try to sort through all of this craziness. I'll get back to you with some travel posts as well some regular item of the day sort of things. Thanks and I love you all!

Update: What's Going On

Sorry for the brief absence but that art fair took a lot out of me. It was so much fun and we did really, really well. We're hoping to move up to bigger and better galleries where some of our higher-priced artists. We also moved into an actual gallery space on Old Street. I really love it. I was a bit afraid it would be a little too industrial since we were hoping to go for a stream-lined look. It's actually very cozy. There's a couch, and a rug, and wood floors, and a rustic table. There's also a lot of light which is great for days like today where the sun finally came out to shine it's face. It's still not as warm as back home (80 degrees!) but it's slowly getting there. I was in such a good mood that on the way home I stopped by this little boutique that's right by our apartment and bought a few skirts so that I can get spring-time ready.

I probably should be packing instead of writing this little update, but there's always more time later! I'm starting to get really excited because tomorrow I leave for Germany! I'm meeting up with my step-mom Julie after she's been working there all week and we're going to spend the weekend frolicking around Baden-Baden. I'm expecting a happy atmosphere, good beer, and a lot of amazing food that will probably contain words that have "nitzel" in them or foods that start with "sp." Either way I can't wait. She told me to pack a swimsuit so it sounds like we might get some swimming/spa-ing in before my little holiday is over. Has anyone else been to the Baden region? Again, I love London, but it will be so great to have a little time away.

And next week is my birthday!!! I always get excited and this year I feel like I might actually have a little party which is a pretty big step for me. Parties usually make me anxious since I usually spend the entire time worrying if people are having a good time. Not this year. I'm just going to worry about myself and let them deal with their own amusement. I'll definitely have to keep you posted (maybe even some pictures). I might do another post, but if I don't, I hope you have a good weekend (I know I will!).

London Ho!

source

So I've been in London now a couple of days, but it feels like so much longer. This is the first time that I really feel I have time to sit back and relax! I'm only going to start out with the first day and slowly work my way through to the other days in other posts. This wasn't meant to be a travel blog, but I think since I'm living in London now there might be more posts about where I've been and where I want to go. And isn't that what documenting your life is all about? Enough existential musings.  Wowzers so much has happened. Let's start with the very beginning.

Amanda and I decided to get here a day earlier so we wouldn't have to worry about being jet lagged and exhausted when everyone else showed up. I raced to finish packing before we had to leave for our 6 o'clock plane. I finally got to the airport, said my tearful goodbye to my dad, and met Amanda and her family. Obstacle number one: I'm checking my bags at the counter and the lady informs me that I need to purchase a return ticket if I was going to London for three months. My heart literally stopped because I was really not ready to drop any serious money on another ticket. Luckily that sorted itself out since I had a visa already and could prove that I was leaving. I really turned into a day where everything worked out but in the most inconvenient way. Obstacle 2: Amanda accidentally had a tiny swiss army knife in her backpack that set off the security alarms. It definitely was not hers and they handed her bag back to her sans knife without too much worry. And then there was the plane flight itself. I'm one to pride myself on my sleeping abilities, and I can pretty much sleep anywhere. There was just something about the placement of the windows and where my head would lean against that did not mesh well. I was going to have to turn into a Tetris piece to get comfy. When I did manage to fall asleep, they would turn the lights on and it was time to eat breakfast. In my sleep deprived brain, I came up with this really great analogy comparing a plane ride to prison where everyone has to be on the same schedule in a cramped space without any real exercise outlet. But I digress.

We landed in Heathrow ahead of schedule at 6:30 am. Which would have been great if I didn't have to wait to go through immigration for the next two hours. I was so hot and miserable and uncomfortable, and cranky. I feel for Amanda in those first two hours. I was not a happy camper and she managed not to beat me senseless. Luckily we made friends with an awesome red headed american who was in front of us. We didn't get her name which is unfortunate because it would have been pretty neat to run into her and just hang. There was also this guy in line with one single dread lock and a brightly colored belt. Later that day, Amanda and I would run into him three more times in a completely different part of London. Tres bizarre. Anyway we finally made our way up to the immigration desks when news flash! We needed these papers saying that we could study abroad. Neither of us knew about such documents and we started freaking out and thinking they wouldn't let us into the country. The man I was dealing with wasn't very nice although I did flash him my best friendly smile. I guess the charm didn't work on him.

source

We finally got out of the airport after some pleading and paid a taxi to take us all the way into Bloomsbury where we were living. 70 pounds later, we were in front of the housing people's office and ready to walk inside and check in. When we entered, they looked at us like we were monsters (truthfully I felt like one). Apparently the two rooms we had booked earlier (and paid for) were not on record. That quickly blew over and they said that we could be in our flat by 2 pm that day. While I was happy to have a roof over my head, it was only 9:30 in the morning and all I wanted to do was shower and sleep. Instead we were forced to walk around our neighborhood. Now I would have originally loved a good walk to familiarize myself, but there's something about you not having a choice or say in the matter that made it seem like a chore. I was also still in my rain boots (which I wore on the plane so I didn't have to pack them). They're very comfortable, but not something I wanted to walk around in all day. Especially since I was wearing puffy short socks instead of the tall ones I should have been wearing. We started walking around Tottenham Court Road looking for a cafe and phone store so we could at least be connected. We found a Cafe Nero and hunkered down with some tea for the next half hour, but how slowly time moved. We then found our way to Oxford street which was very lively and had a whole bunch of great shops, but I was so tired by that point that I didn't want to do anything.

After some time we decided that it was probably time for us to have lunch although neither of us was hungry for food. We stopped by a pub to buy some sandwiches that neither of us really ate. By this point my rain boots were rubbing my calves raw and I was in so much pain. As we sat there the time ticked away until it was finally 2. We went to pick up our luggage, which luckily the office was holding for us until we could get into our room. They then gave us our key and we were off on the last leg of our journey. After struggling with the locks (which turn to the left here, not to the right) for a few minutes we climbed with all of our luggage up some very steep steps up to the third floor of the building where our flat was. There's also another flight of stairs in our flat, but we decided that sleep was more important than moving in. When we went up to our rooms, our beds weren't made. Not only were they not made (because I'm a big girl and can make my own bed), but there weren't any linens. This was about the time that I almost lost it. I just couldn't believe I was in a new city and all I wanted to do was feel clean and nap, and I was robbed of that liberty. I fortunately held it together and walked down to the office to ask for the linens. The man on duty said that the cleaning crew would be around shortly and do it. I just wanted the freaking linens! I would do it myself if it meant I could sleep faster. Instead I went home and luckily had a small pack towel on me (thanks daddy!) so I was able to hop in the shower and start to feel like a human being again. When I was done, the people came and made our bed. Then started the most epic nap of my life.

I slept from 4 until 11 that night. Amanda woke up and went out with our friend Kate and her boyfriend went out for drinks and I just kept sleeping. When I did eventually wake up, Amanda was downstairs and we chatted a bit before heading up to bed again. Now you might think that I wouldn't be able to sleep, but you would be sorely mistaken. I read a bit (Game of Thrones) and by 1 am I was ready to sleep for the night. We then woke up at 10 to screaming in our flat as the rest of the girls eagerly and excitedly discovered the ins and outs of our flat. There are six girls in the flat. Three from Clark, the other three from Sienna. It would have been very exciting to chat with them, but because of all of the struggle the day before, I had not consumed enough water and was severely de-hydrated. Some water fixed that, and the day started looking up.

(silly tired Amanda after our day of ordeal)

Although that first day was a big tranny hot mess, the rest of my days have been nothing but adventure and wonder. I'm almost thankful I got my worst day out of the way in the beginning of the trip so I can just enjoy all London has to offer now. This weekend we went on a few touristy trips and I even met up with a friend I haven't seen in two years. Those adventures will have to wait for another post. Sorry for all the words, but I needed to get that day out of my system. I'm just excited to experience school and my internship in this great city!