The next night we had another school event at a club called Heaven, but the name of the event was called 'Club Neon.' Basically everyone dressed up in bright neon clothes and brought glowsticks and whatnot. There was free UV paint, but I was too busy dancing the night away to notice. They had a stage on one side, but they kept kicking everyone off and then letting them back on so it got confusing. It was a lot of fun though! We actually went back to that club later, on a normal night, and it is really cool. They have a sort of pyramid in the middle that you can dance on. It was another really big place!
On Wednesday, we had our reception for everyone in the psychology department. I'll just say, it was one of the most fun/ridiculous things I have ever done with school. There were two kegs. This was a school sponsored event - and there were kegs. And many bottles of wine. We just couldn't stop laughing at the fact that this was our welcome event. Lots of friends in the psychology department now! They were really impressed with my vast knowledge of all things pop culture.
We finally got around to some sightseeing on Thursday! Buckingham Palace was only open until Friday so we decided we had to get a look before it closed for the year. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, I'm pretty sure because it would've taken us hours to walk through because we were taking so many pictures. I have never seen any place so extravagant and elegant. Every room looked like it was out of a fairy tale. And to think - someone technically lives there! There really was not corner that was not magnificent. There were even secret passages! I need a place like that.
outside the gates of my future home
back of my future home
front of future home
I also got to see the throne room! It was pretty intense. That was where people get knighted and where the queen officially opens Parliament. The inside was just so unbelievably beautiful, I wish i could've gotten some photos! At pretty much all the sights in London they give you a headset with information about what you're seeing and they're very helpful. You may see me wearing some in pictures - don't judge.
We continued our walk through London towards the houses of Parliament and Big Ben. It's not as big as I thought it would be! But I guess everything seems bigger when you're younger. My brother Ben is really excited for me to add these pictures to Facebook because he insists that I tag him as Big Ben. That might give you an idea of what he is like.
found him!
Parliament - intimidating looking
me + Ben = bros
Westminster Abbey is across the street so we took some pictures of it. We didn't go inside yet because that was more money and we had already paid 15 pounds for the Palace! Westminster was absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait to go inside - it must be beautiful!
lots of important people in here
can't wait to go inside!
That was pretty much all the sightseeing we did that day but I forgot what we had done an earlier day! We walked around the Thames and saw Tower Bridge, London Bridge, and the Tower of London! I have to say - the London Bridge was a huge letdown. Not only was it not falling down, no one would have even cared if it did (assuming no lives were lost). It is the most boring bridge ever. Tower Bridge, on the other hand, is beautiful! I heard a rumor that the London Bridge from the song is actually in America, but if it is, why even come to this continent?!?!?
Tower of London - will enter later
Tower Bridge - bridge that is actually cool
tower again
this bridge has a song dedicated to it and I don't? whatever
So that has been the majority of our London sightseeing! Last Friday was out big, ambitious, touristy day though. We did Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath all in one shot! It was a very, very long day but I will just start from the beginning.
So we were up at 6:30 and at the tube by 7:30 to get our coach bus from Victoria Station at 8:30. We got on the bus and we loved our tour guide! He was an older guy but he was really funny. I think his name was Nick? I forget already, but he was cool. Should have gotten a picture with him. Anyway, we went through London a little bit and saw the outside of some of the museums. AMAZING. The Victoria and Albert Museum looks like a castle (and must have been at some point) and I have class there on Monday! I have so many museums and galleries to go to it's ridiculous! I don't have class on Tuesdays, so I'm going to use that as my gallery/museum day (except for today because the fire alarm has been going off all morning and I need to sleep because I have tennis tryouts tomorrow).
So our first stop was Windsor Castle, which is the other official residence of the queen and the longest inhabited castle in the world. Let me just say, this queen has got it made. Buckingham Palace had 600 rooms - Windsor Castle has 950! The place was gargantuan - our tour guide told us we probably wouldn't really be able to get a picture of it because there is really no place where you can see it all at one time. You can't take pictures there either but we got a few shots outside.
let's go!
finally home
the queen is pretty lucky
man with a cowboy hat!
the weather took a turn for the worse
us at the castle!
workin' the headset
Another stunning place to see! Unfortunately we didn't have that much time to stroll through, but you could definitely get a feel for the castle from the time we had. Our next stop was Stonehenge. Also unfortunately, as you can tell from the umbrella picture, this is where the weather took a turn for the worse. It was cold and rainy when we got to Stonehenge. Like, very cold and rainy. We basically ran around it and then ran back to the bus. Oh, I forgot to mention who I was with! My new travel companions I had met at the local pub one night (everyone on campus goes there). The girl with the man in the cowboy hat is Erin, who goes to Cornell and lives a few floors up. The boy is Matt, who goes to Delaware and lives nearby, and the shorter girl is his friend from home Bari, who also lives nearby and goes to Emory.
Stonehenge was undoubtedly the most random sight I had ever seen. In the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fields (and herds of sheep), is this stone formation. It's fascinating when you think about it. Where did they come from? How did they arrange them? Some of the rock are 50 tons! Due to the bad weather we didn't spend much time thinking about any of this but we got a few pics in!
Where did it come from?!?
loving the weather
important rock
freaky
They sold "rock cake" at the concession stand on site. We got a good laugh out of that. They also had headsets, but it was so windy that we couldn't hear them anyway. We didn't spend too much time looking - it was just so miserable! We were all starving at this point so we stopped at a pub in Lacock for lunch. Naturally, this being an authentic English experience, we all got fish and chips and cider. The pub that we went to was the oldest licensed pub in England. It's something like 800 years old. There was a wheel in there that a dog used to run around to do something. To be honest, I have no idea what that dog was doing running around that wheel because I couldn't keep my eyes open when he was talking, but apparently it's cool.
pub older than time
a dog ran around this wheel. significance unknown
So, full on fish and chips, we were off to our next stop! There was horrible traffic so we barely made it to the Roman Baths on time! We only had about 45 minutes to walk around but we still got to see a lot. I wish we could've walked around Bath a little bit more because it looks beautiful but we had to make our bus home. The Romans really knew how to build some nice places! I had a hard time understanding exactly how they made this bath but it seemed like a pretty impressive feat. Here is a little look!
people used to bathe here
gettin' ready to go for a dip
more bathing locations
us with the bath!
our tour guide- a Roman with a British accent...funny..
The Bath Abbey was gorgeous as well! I really wish we had had the chance to spend a little more time there. Johnny Depp has a home there I heard!
beautiful churches everywhere on this continent
Finally, we had hit all of our destinations! We still had a two and a half hour bus ride home though! I have to say though, the beginning of the ride home may have been my favorite part of the whole trip. We had an absolutely gorgeous view of the English countryside. I wasn't sitting on a good side, and a picture could never really show it, but it was breathtaking. Then the rain stopped and there was a rainbow! It was a nice end to an exhausting day.
gorgeous
wanted to spend the whole day here
rainbow!
We finally got back to UCL at around 9:30. We had left fourteen hours before! Here's a little indicator of how I was feeling at that point:
who's ready to dance it out?
I actually did end up going out that night to a club called "Debut." It used to be warehouse and was also giant. I was pretty dead tired though so I was out of there fast! Alright I need to continue this on another post because this has gotten out of control! Hope you enjoyed!
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