Central Parks

So today was crazy! We didn't have scheduled breakfast at eight, but we still had a full day ahead of us. Since I'm such a deep sleeper, everyone was already awake and dressed for the day before I got up. Nobody knows how this is possible, since my bunk is in the center of the room and parallel to their closets hehe!

We went and got these amazing smoothies at Crussh, which is like Jamba Juice, but better. I got some peach one, with peaches, bananas, and orange juice. Bliss. Then we rushed to get on the tube and ran to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was so crowded! But we got to see all of the little men with their crazy hats marching down the streets and hear all of the ceremonial music. From there, we did a walk through all of London's Central Parks for our "London Walks" class. We started by Buckingham Palace, walked through St. James's Park where they used to keep elephants, saw the Wellington Arch, a First World War memorial, we walked through Green Park, walked the length of the Serpentine, then walked through Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens where we even got to see the Peter Pan statue.

By the end of this 4 mile walk, we were quite tired and cold, so my new friend Jamie and I took a little break in the center for a little while. But the day was nowhere near over… A group of us hopped onto the tube together so we could be on time to “The Lady in Black.” (It’s this scary play with only two actors in the whole show. You’d think it would be weird, or even boring with only two actors, but it was incredible well done. Seriously, it was way scary.) But on our way there, our train totally just stops in the middle of this tunnel right before our stop. Aka stranded. It was only there a few minutes, but we were already rushing to be on time since some of our girls walk so slow. We finally get out of the tube, and run up to find that the theatre wasn’t in sight. Our professor told us it was right there, but if you didn’t see it, to just ask anyone and they could point it out. Lies. Nowhere to be seen. Nobody knew where it was. We seriously sprinted around the streets trying to find it. It was embarrassing to be late, but it was fine. The show must go on, right?

When we got out of our matinee, it was totally dark outside, as always. It gets dark so early here!! I joined with a different group and we explored this Covent Gardens/Central market until we found this great little pizza place for dinner. They wouldn’t let us order tap water since there were five of us sharing two pizzas (mean waitress… too bad we still tipped her super well) but it was still really fun. And Brady, we even got Ben’s cookies. Yummmmmy!

I feel like I have been here for weeks, since we have crammed so much into such a small amount of time! Seriously, I couldn’t even tell you what I did last night or who I was with 24 hours ago. All I know is that everyone here is wonderful. I am so excited to have classes with one of the professors here, Professor Crowe. He is absolutely adorable and you would all love him. Yes, I just added him as a friend on Facebook. Judge me.