finally livin the london life

sorry for the lack of post lately. we have been pretty busy the last two days, and when i wasnt busy i didnt really have much to write about. here is the recap of the past few days. (this picture is of m'kynzi and i in dublin walking back to the hostel, the river goes through the city and we crossed it everyday to get to basically everything)

on monday (july 7) we had class at Trinity College. One of the professors from the university lectured us on the history of the irish dialect--how it came to be, the influence of british english, gaelic, latin and how all of the accents are different and why. it was pretty interesting. i really liked the history part of it. in school you never really focus on irish history and im fascinated by gaelic, i think thats super cool. then we had the rest of the day to ourselves until we had to meet up to leave ireland. My friends and i went back to the bagel haven upon my request. so good once again. ive noticed lately that i have been eating more different foods that i usually wounldnt eat. maybe i need my own "new food list" like the larson kiddies. i guess im finally growing up. we then went back to the hostel and got on a coach that took us to the ferry. we were in the ferry for about 2 hours which i slept through most of, and was scared that i was going to get sea sick. i was getting flash backs of when dad and i went deep sea fishing. no bueno. once we arrived in wales we got on a train for another 2 hours. afterwards we had to get on another train. but the problem was that in between when we got off and when we had to get on the next train was about 10 mins. we were super panicky about not missing the train. we all rushed to get to the next platform to only discover that it was delayed two hours. luckily there was another train that was leaving in an hour, so we got on that. but we rushed and worried for no reason. we made it to london at about midnight. we got dropped off at metro gate apts (where half of our group is staying) and then we walked to hyde park gate (where im staying) and then discovered that we are on the 5th floor. luckily a nice boy from another university carried up my 50+ lbs bag up all flights. when we got to our flats we thought we were in another hostel. somehow everyone talked up hyde park gate a ton and we were under the impression it was going to be super nice, so we were all disappointed. but i think im just a little spoiled with lanai. the flats consist of a big commons room area, and a kitchen and then about 6 other rooms that have the beds inside of that. im in a room of four--which is the most of all the other rooms. the other rooms have only 2 girls or three and they all have a bathroom attached and then mirrors in the room, which we have neither. we got screwed! we have to walk down the hallway to the bathroom and it doesnt even close all the way. luckily we complained so it got fixed and we got a mirror.

on tuesday we got to sleep in since we got in so late. we had class at 11 and then walked around a bit. we were a bit stranded since we didnt have a tub pass yet. so we just kinda hung around and didnt know quite what to do. finally we just decided to walk to the grocery store. so lillie, m'kynzi and i brought our backpacks and walked to the store. we felt pretty lame. but i got some good food and will be able to save my money now with not eating out. since we hadnt really done much all day it kinda felt like it was a dream that i was actually in london. like i knew i was there, but there was no real proof. i kept saying that i felt like it was all a joke, that i wasnt really in london. i thought ashton was going to jump out and tell me i was being punk'd or something. to put my fears of not really being in london aside i decided we should go to like main london for the night. we took the underground and got off at westminister and it was AMAZING. as soon as you step out you see big ben. it was beautiful. i finally was able to believe that i was in london. we walked down the river thames and just hung out there for awhile until we were super tired. it was great and now im more excited than before.

today we experienced our first rain in london. it has been raining all day, but mom, dont worry i have been fine even without an official rain coat. we had class this morning but at 9am, but it is being changed to 10, much to the satisfaction of all of us. but class is so boring. im just not really interested in this stuff. my mind just doesnt work this way of figuring out how and why people talk a certain way. i like straight facts like in history. but i dont think its going to be super hard. after class we came back to our flats for lunch and then off to Kings Cross and St. Pancras Station. We went to Kings Cross for Harry Potter! They have a Platform 9 3/4 there so we had to go and take pictures. And the Station looks just like the movie, im pretty sure they filmed the movie there. it made me super excited. i love harry potter. Then we went to St. Pancras to buy our chunnel tickets to go to PARIS in a few weeks. at first we didnt think we would go cause it was so expensive but we got a good deal on them because we are under 25. the bad thing is that i was forced into buying a two day museum pass. im so mad. everyone wants to go to the freaking louvre. i almost cried i was so mad. i hate that place. but its not like im just not going to buy one, im not going to be stuck by myself while everyone else is in there for hours. yuck. im planning on just going by myself to like history parts so i dont have to look at art the whole time. everyone wants to see the mona lisa, but even though i dont remember my first trip to europe that much, seeing the mona lisa is something i distinctly remember the first time around. well then we went to the British Library for the afternoon. (is a required site for our history of the english language course). we went to the manuscripts exhibit and was able to see the magna carta. then back to our flats for dinner then off again to see the play pygmalion. (fyi its like my fair lady--which i have never seen) it was good, but i kept wanting to fall asleep during it. so its been a good couple of days. we are going to make a list of all the things we want to see in london. so that should be exciting.

sorry for the novel, im using this mostly as my journal, so i want to write everything that is going on. hope you guys dont mind.

other pictures...

our flats from the outside. the look nice. so deceiving.

the crest of london. it was so hard to get up there.