AMURRICA COMES TO LONDONTOWN

Alrighty guys, this is gonna be a long post! But after this, I will finally be up to date with my blogging! It certainly took me long enough. This past week was GREAT!

After returning from Italy on Friday, Saturday we did some unpacking and cleaning to get ready for the arrival of Juice and Noah! I couldn’t believe that Juice and I had been talking about her coming to visit me since I decided I was going to London and now the week was finally here! It definitely made the fact that we had to leave Italy a little easier to accept.

Sunday morning, we awoke bright and early. Although I had gone out with Miguel and some of his friends the night before, I was so excited that I couldn’t even feel how tired I was! Chelsea and I blasted some music while we got ready, I finalized my welcome sign for Juice and we were off to Heathrow!

By the time we got to the airport, I thought I was gonna pass out I was so excited! I was so giddy and was actually shaking from all the adrenaline running through me. As we waited with all the other people waiting for arrivals, Chelsea and I inched up as far as we could so we could see them the moment they walked through the door. Juice was the first one to walk through the door and I actually yelped. I could not contain myself and I ran to her and gave her a huge hug! After Chelsea and Noah said their hellos, I gave Noah a giant hug and still could not believe they were here in London!

We got them their oyster cards and we headed back to Fulham. After a few transfers, we arrived and headed to our flat. Not only were Juice and Noah exhausted, but so was I. We all took a nap for a bit before rallying and getting ready for the day/night. I told Juice that while she was here, she didn’t have an excuse and we would be going out and experiencing some of the London nightlife. Noah checked into the hotel and when they came back, we got some food and some drinks and decided to head to Havana. Of course on a Sunday night, there weren’t too many people there, but we still had a fun time with just the four of us.

I had asked to work from home with flexible hours for the week, but my supervisor said we were too busy for that so I could take off Monday but would still have to go in on Tuesday. So on Monday, we decided to head over to Westminster to do Big Ben, The Eye and the Aquarium. It was an absolutely beautiful day so we went for a wonderful look along the Thames and had great views on the Eye. Some people find the Eye disappointing, but I’ve done it twice and loved it both times. Maybe it is just because I love taking in the city that I have literally fallen in love with (as incredibly cheesy as that sounds). We bought a combo pack that gave us tickets for the eye, the aquarium and Madame Tussauds. After feeling some starfish, towering over London and checking the time with Big Ben, we decided we would save Madame Tussaud’s for another day. We thought it would be cool to take them for their first Primark experience and naturally, Chelsea and I are always down for some Primark shopping.

After some shopping, we stopped at a pub and had some food and a beer (obviously). It was delicious. We headed home and got ready to go to Ice bar!

Ice Bar is one of the things that I knew I had to do before I left London. It is a bar that you reserve a time slot for 40 minutes and they entire place is made of ice. When you walk in, they give you a poncho to keep you warm and you get a free drink (in a glass made of ice of course). It is such a cool experience (get it? Cool? Haha)! After Ice Bar, we headed back to maybe grab a few drinks at Belushi’s but they close at 11 on Mondays apparently so we opted for some Fulham Fried Chicken instead.

Tuesday, I woke up early and headed to my internship. I was quite unhappy about leaving Juice at home, but I knew I had to do it. While there, Chelsea took Noah and Juice to the Natural History Museum to check out some dinos. They apparently had a blast so I’m a little jealous I was cooped up in an office all day. By the time I got home I was in quite a cranky mood because a number of little things had driven me nuts during my commute home. I also had to stop by school for a meeting with my coordinator for my internship. Although moody, I was pretty excited to go out to this bar called “The Rocket” with Jenna and Ben and some other people.

My friend Sam was Hey Telling (Hey Tell is an iPhone app that is like a walkie talkie. You send brief voice clips and can talk as if you are talking on a walkie talkie. I use it a lot to communicate with my friends at home) me and asking what I was doing that night and if I was going to be with Ben and whatnot. Since I was already cranky, I kept biting his head off and asking why he was obsessed with me hanging out with Ben.

We were finally on our way to Ben and Jenna’s and we were running kind of late so I felt bad and we were rushing. We finally arrived and when I walked in the door, I was apologizing and saying that I just had to go to the bathroom real quick and then I’d be ready to go. All of a sudden, someone grabs me from behind and covers my eyes. After a brief moment of “who is this?” I realize, IT’S SAM! I was like “THIS IS NOT SAM GELMAN!” He let go and I start hitting him and yelling and hugging him. Sam transferred to Ithaca last semester but was a really good friend of my friend TJ’s. He has become one of my best friends so having him here in London was just the best surprise ever. I always say that I love surprises but I never get them, so this was just mindblowing. We all headed out to the Rocket and it was really cheap and so fun. There were tons of students there so it was awesome. We were drinking Snakebites all night at our table in the corner. It was difficult to walk through the crowd of people, but it was awesome and I definitely want to go back.

We grabbed a cab home since it was pretty complicated to get there and the tubes were closed by the time we left. Somehow in the passing of my camera from myself to Chelsea, all of the pictures got deleted. We were all freaking out, but somehow, Chelsea saved the day and recovered them all! What a relief.

Wednesday, we woke up and got ready for the day. We grabbed some breakfast at Moosh which is an organic type restaurant/café near our flat. I unfortunately couldn’t enjoy my waffles with frozen yogurt and fresh fruit because of my wisdom teeth that had been growing in (still are by the way!) We decided that we would take Noah and Juice to see Westfield, the largest shopping mall in Europe, as well as the Olympic Stadium, which is right next to it. We decided to check out the stadium first. We took some pics, looked at this cool mosaic exhibit and then just looked around for a bit. After that, we went to Westfield and did a little bit of shopping and of course I grabbed a cinnamon sugar pretzel which wasn’t too difficult to eat with my teeth.

Noah had hear Soho was pretty cool and I had never been officially there, so we went to check that out. Basically it was strip clubs and sex shops and some really trippy costume places. That is Soho in a nutshell.

 After that, we headed back to Fulham and decided to try out this pub restaurant in the tube station. There was a Chelsea game that night so only season ticket holders were allowed to eat there so we grudgingly decided to try out another restaurant, also in the tube station. Man oh man are we glad Chelsea fans forbid us from the pub. Tex Mex was this absolutely delicious restaurant that we could not believe we hadn’t discovered before. We had some drinks and some Mexican and Barbecue food. My mouth was watering and I could not be bothered to stop because of the tooth pain. We INHALED it and then wanted more even though we had food babies. It was absolutely amazing.

After that, we got ready to go out because we were gonna meet up with some friends at a club in Piccadilly called Tiger Tiger. Juice and I met up with Miguel and his friend Fran first to grab some cheap drinks at a bar and then I convinced them to come with us to Tiger Tiger. Upon arriving, we found everyone sitting in a huge leather booth. There was barely anyone there but we still managed to have a fun time. The drinks were absolutely ridiculously overpriced so we decided after a while that we would go and try to find another club. Miguel, Fran, Sam, Juice and I were the only ones who wanted to stay out so we set out to find another place. We ended up bargaining for a reduced cover charge into Rumba. We had a blast and then decided to all head home since it was getting pretty late.

Sam stayed at the flat with Juice and I and the next morning was a bit rough since we wanted to get up and see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. As you can see in our pictures, we were feeling a little exhausted, but we rallied and made it just in time! There were so many people at the Palace that it was difficult to get a good view. We saw it and took some pictures and it was another beautiful day so then we started walking around. We decided we would try and go to Windsor Castle but after about 45 minutes or so we decided it was too much effort to do today so we grabbed some food and headed to the Tower Bridge. We did some more walking around and than sat by the bridge for a while. We grabbed a pint in a bar and then walked across the bridge in order to head home.

That night, we went for our Thursday night at Havana for half priced drinks. John (my flatmate) decided to join us as well as Sam and so did Miguel and a friend from earlier in my trip, Josch. We had a pretty good time, but decided to head in early. Sam slept over again instead of navigating his way home late at night. Juice, Sam and I watched Sky High and then passed out.

Friday Morning, Juice and I headed to check out Platform 9 ¾. The “platform” is at Kings Cross Station. We took the traditional tourist cliché pictures of us attempting to get to Hogwarts. After the platform, we headed to Harrod’s. Harrod’s will always hold a special place in my heart as I have mentioned previously so I was so excited to take Juicey there. We did a little souvenir and food shopping before we headed to meet up with Noah and Chelsea to go to Madame Tussaud’s. We grabbed some delicious pizza and then went to go bond with some fake celebs. Unfortunately, we were unable to get in because they were going to be closing soon so we decided to save it until we had time to enjoy it.

After that fail, Juice and I went to go check out Abbey Road. Although it was cool to see a piece of music history, it was a bit anticlimactic. The wall outside the studios was really cool though. So many people wrote Beatles lyrics and signed their names and whatnot. Unfortunately, once again, I didn’t have a marker. Some asian man offered to take our picture crossing the busy crosswalk.. but unfortunately he was a moron and got the worst shots in the history of the world. It’s all good though cause Juice and I stalked ourselves on the website and found a video of us being derpy.

Saturday morning Juice and I went to the Protobello Market, FINALLY! Unfortunately, it was just about the only rainy day of the week. That didn’t stop us though. We headed to Notting Hill and did some shopping. The Market was adorable. There were so many stands and shops and food and just everything. I ate a donut the size of my face and got a red velvet cupcake from a cute little bakery for later. It was so fun even though the weather was gross.

We then met up with Chelsea and Noah and finally got into Madame Tussaud’s. It was so cool! Originally I didn’t think it would be much different from the NYC one, but it was! There were way less wax figures, but more things to do. There was a “scream” exhibition which was basically like a haunted house. Then there was a $D Marvel Superhero show, which just like “A Bug’s Life” in Disney World, freaked me out a bit. Then the last part before they force you out through the giftshop, there is a little History of London Ride where you appear to be sitting in the backseat of a taxi. It was totally worth the wait and I’m so happy we didn’t rush through it on Friday.

Saturday night, we originally were going to go out with Raquel’s friend from London Eoin, but it didn’t quite work out so we ended up going out with Miguel and a few of his friends again. We met them at a bar/club type thing and I had my first full pint of Guinness! It was St. Patrick’s Day after all. After a few drinks, we headed to an affiliate bar where we could get in for free since we paid the cover charge at the first place. We were having a great time until I reached for my phone and realized it was gone. SOMEONE STOLE MY iPHONE. NOT MY PIECE OF CRAP PAY AS YOU GO PHONE (which I had lost a few days before at a restaurant) BUT MY iPHONE. All I had was my new nifty pink flip phone so luckily one of Miguel’s friends let me borrow his phone to call my dad who said he’d take care of it since we have insurance. I was so upset that I started crying. For all of you that know me well, you know I am addicted to my phone, and especially being abroad, I use it to talk to people from home, it’s my iPod as well as a GPS that I use almost everyday. Hopefully, it’ll be here by Monday so I can reconnect!

Sunday, Juice and I laid in bed all day. Literally all day. We then freshened up a little bit and went to Oxford Circus to grab some dinner and do a pub crawl. After dinner, we hit one pub, had one pint and then decided we were too exhausted to continue. We grabbed some fries at Fulham Fried Chicken, watched a little TV and then passed out.

Monday morning I had my internship so I had to be home all day. We grabbed a quick breakfast at Moosh and then just hung out at the flat until Noah and Juicey departed around 1ish. It was sad to see them go, but I know it’s not going to be too long until we’re reunited once again! I can’t believe that both Spring Break AND their visit are over. This semester has been a whirlwind and I’m loving absolutely every second of it.

My internet is a little slow here at the hotel in Dublin, so here’s the link to the facebook album of their trip, but I’ll be sure to put some on here soon!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150627949674842.390576.636564841&type=3&l=bb3261ccbd