England: The First Few Days

Wednesday:

Wednesday was a weird day. And by weird, I mean unpleasant.

Morning: hiked about 4 miles away from our home in Trastevere thanks to our awesome teacher's horrible communication skills. Tiring and annoying.

Afternoon: sat in class for 2 hours, doing things none of us really cared about. Bring on another paper- this time 10 pages. As therapy, I bought myself a new duffle since mine broke on the way home from Berlin.

Evening: left for England. The plane didn't start boarding until 9:10, which was our departure time. Italians were yelling, which was an experience. We then sat on the runway for 30 minutes, and left at 10:10. Slightly irritated; continues my rant about Italian efficiency. When I arrived in London, we had to go to the complete opposite side of the airport, but luckily there was shuttle. At customs, the Brit asked me about 27394 questions, all of which were slightly ridiculous. ("What is the address of the place you are staying? Are you planning to buy anything? What will you be doing here? Do you have a boarding pass to get home? Since you don't, how are you planning to get one?") I knew I was giving him a look, which he then proceeded to say, "These are all pretty standard questions, and you are looking at me like I'm stupid." To which I replied, "Okay". Yes, I do think these are stupid questions. Get off my back.

I found Lynnea and slept like a rock that night. Without earplugs :)

Thursday:

We headed down to Kingston with her two kids, Sianna (4) and Roman (1). We took Lynnea's "shortcut" through Bushey Park, which turned out to be pretty long and was complete with stinging nettles- all in pursuit of Hampton Court Palace. Hampton Court Palace is where Henry VIII lived, as well as William II and Mary II. Side note: I wish royalty would have been creative with their names instead of using the same names with different numbers. I had a little over an hour, to which everyone working there was like "Oh my, you're late!" Thanks, just let me in. I got to see the important stuff, like Henry's kitchen and dining room and William and Mary's apartments. William was a snob- he had a throne in every room! He also had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, two closets... What? Does this guy have an alternate personality that he needs to share all his stuff with? But I guess when you are royalty, extravagance is key. Took a ferry ride back and ate at an Asian restaurant called Wagamamas which is huge here. It was delicious!

Friday:

We went to Stonehenge! Now, I like history and amazingly cool things, and Stonehenge was really cool, but there's only so much time you can spend there before it looks like a bunch of big rocks. Every picture looks the same. But I can cross it off my bucket list. We had a little picnic there, which was nice and relaxing. England looks a lot like PA in terms of weather, land, etc, so it was nice just sitting in the middle of nothing and greennesss and looking forward to going back to the States.

That evening, Lynnea took me out in London. We went to a "proper" British pub ("proper" is the adjective of choice here; used in many contexts) where the World Cup game was on. I loved it! But yet again I am a sucker for sports and sports fanatics. We then headed to grab some pizza since we didn't have dinner, and then off to a dance club called The Langley. We then met up with Lynnea's sister, Katrina, and her friends which was awesome! We went into a tavern and just relaxes, which was so nice. Then Katrina took us to the bar where her boyfriend works as a bartender. There were three behind the counter making drinks, and everyone kept telling me that these three have been voted time and time again as the top bartenders in the UK, with Victor (Katrina's bf) always in the top 15. They were mesmorizing to watch- they made it an art! Very memorable :)

Saturday:

Lynnea took me down to Brighton Beach, which is a major tourist attraction. We had proper (see?! always used!) fish and chips, which was delicious although I felt like I needed to run 15 miles afterwards. We then played on the beach with Sianna and Roman, which was adorable. The beach is covered in stones, which I love because that meant it wouldn't jam up my camera like sand does. Then we walked along the pier and got Rock Candy, which is only found along the coast in England. All you need to know is it's lots of sugar. This day is when I discovered how crappy England's weather is- it was freezing! And really cloudy, then sunny, oh- then it looked like the apocolypse was coming, and then it was gorgeous again! Then I got to meet Nikke, Lynnea's friend, and then we headed home for a chill night. We Skyped with the Holdcroft kids, which was awesome for Lynnea because she doesn't get to see them a lot. After, we made Grandma Arnold's black bean dip. Best thing ever.

Sunday:

It was Father's Day here in England too, as well as Saher's (Lynnea's husband) birthday, so we all headed out to London. We went to Camden Town; Lynnea said it best: "This is the only place in the city were you can dress like a total freak and still fit in." It was the "alternative" part of town, complete with punks, goths, etc., but there were tons and tons (or "loads and loads" as they say here) of markets. It was so much busier than Rome or Berlin, which was awesome. Also, there are TONS of Spaniards in London, and although my minor is Spanish, I couldn't understand them because of the way they speak!

After that, we saw Big Ben and walked along the Thames. We saw tons of different things, like the arts center, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (sweet!!), London Bridge, Tower Bridge, St. Peter's Cathedral, etc. Thoroughly exhausting, but amazing nonetheless.

Right now I'm being a bum. It's a free day for me, so I could head back into London, which would take an hour or so, or hang around here in Leatherhead. I'm feeling run into the ground physically, mentally, and socially, and my bank account is feeling the brunt of the cost of being in England (it's so darn expensive!!), so although I want to see Buckingham palace, I may just stay here. Since I have been here, a reoccuring theme of my thoughts has been about human existence. Sure, these places are old, but where are these people now? Six feet underground. And that's what is going to happen to me as well. In the end, will it matter that I spent load of money to see all these things? No, it won't, which is why I don't feel a passion to see any more buildings. What will matter, as reiterated by my devotions this morning, is that I was God's hands and feet everyday and I made an impact to someone that needs it. It doesn't matter if it's the the guides in the historical places, the woman at the coffee shop, or the man driving the bus. Everyone needs God and His love. Period.