Early Friday Morning (May 1st) I was off. My train left for Málaga at 7am and as we road through el campo, we were surrounded by fog. It was quiet and tranquil and then the sun began to peek through the clouds and I was in the sea side city of Málaga. From here there was another short train out to the airport. The weather was perfect at this point and since I was rather early for my flight I spent some time sitting outside the airport writing. At this point I was also a bit nervous of the airport because of all of the coverage in the news about the swine flu. I had purchased a face mask the day before to be prepared for the flight, but I can now happily report that over the entire weekend I did not see a single person wearing a mask. Instead the flight was easy and worry free and I arrived in Luton Airport. I was in England! I rushed past other getting off my plane in hopes of getting in the front of the passport check line. There was a rather long line when I arrived, but lucky me I did not have to wait in it. It was for UK and EU passports. There was only one person infront of me for "all other passangers." I was loving my US passport at this point. Because of this easy exit I was able to make an earlier bus into the city and met up with Jordyn and Greg 20 minutes before previously planned. It was so exciting to be greated by both of their smiling faces!After meeting at Victoria Station in London, the three of us hopped on the tube and went to Jordyn's room on the Queen Mary campus. On the way we stopped off at a coffee shop near Queen Mary for a little snack. This particular coffee shop environment is something I have been missing in Spain so I loved it. Then we continued to Jordyn's room. After settling in there and taking a bit of a break, Jordyn's friend Jillian met us. By a crazy coincidence, Jillian is from Norwalk, went to Norwalk High, and lives just on the other side of Stew Leonard's probably less than five minutes from my house. What a small world. Jillian and Jordyn lead us to a super market on our way to dinner. We were in search of pancake cooking materials. I had never realized that pancakes were a uniquely american thing. We did not find pancake mix, but did discover genaric batter mix (which we believe was meant to be for crepes). We also could not find syrup, but we got some nutella and honey. We were set for a delicious breakfast the next day and we continued to find a dinner destination for that evening. Our goal: Indian Food. Our Destination: anywhere on brick lane. It was delicious! I was so happy to have Indian as I haven't had any this entire semester. It was a great dinner with great company.
After dinner, we were walked back down Brick Lane. We passed three girls coming towards us on the sidewalk and I was shocked to see that one of them was Sarah Lewis! Out of all the people in London, we had just happened to bump into each other. For some reason the only way I could think of to get her attention was to hit her in the shoulder. Sorry about that Sarah, but it was a joyous reunion none the less. Then Sarah and her friends continued on to their dinner, Jillian headed back to Queen Mary, and Greg, Jordyn, and I went off to Kings Cross Station in search of the platform for the Hogwarts Express. That is right, platform 9 and 3/4.
After taking some lovely photographs at the platform, we went back to Queen Mary. My friend Sadie is also studying at Queen Mary. I knew I was going to meet up with Sarah and Sadie the enxt day, but we didn't have specific plans and I didn't have Sadie's phone number, so Jordyn and I found Sadie's room number and then went to find her. Before we had even reached Sadie's building, there she was walking towards us on her way to pick up her laundry. Plans made, Jordyn and I went back to the room where Greg had been waiting for us and spent some quality time on skype calling friends who are currently at Trinity. It was so fun and entertaining to talk to so many people, though it did also have the effect of making us a little bit homesick. After the calls, we just hung around the room and managed to stay up rather late despite Greg's need to get up around four to leave for the airport.
The next morning, Greg headed out and Jordyn and I caught a few extra hours of sleep (though still not enough) before our breakfast date with Jillian. Time for those pancakes! Though there were not exactly pancakes as we know and love them in the US, they were still delcious and we stuffed ourselves. Then Jordyn and I headed into the city for our site seeing London day.
We walked by the Tower of London, then down the river for great views of the Tower Bridge and the much less exciting London Bridge. Then Jordyn took me by St. Paul's Cathedral (where I took the obligatory phone booth picture that's above) and we walked over the millenium footbridge to the Globe Theater!
The Globe was something I was definitely willing to pay to enter and Jordyn had so enjoyed going there the first time she had gone that she too was willing to pay again to get a tour of this destination. I loved it! Our tour guide was amazing and the exhibition section that we could explore before the tour was quite interesting. I particularly enjoyed seeing a copy of Romeo and Juliet translated into Spanish: "Ah, Romeo, Romeo, Por qué eres Romeo?Niega a tu padre y rechaza tu nombre, o si no, júrame tu amor y ya nunca seré un Capuleto."
After the Globe we met Sarah and walked down to Borough market where we were suppose to meet Sadie for lunch. Unfortunately Sadie slept through our lunch date (don't worry we did meet up with her later), but Sarah, Jordyn, and I found some delicious chicken wraps in the market and got a chance to taste testers of amazing food in the market. It was wonderful. Then we went back out to the river and walked back down toward the globe to continue on to Parliament and Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey.
It was a gorgeous day and a nice walk along the river, past the Eye of London and over the Westminster Bridge. At Westminster Abbey we lay on the lawn outside and actually took a bit of a power nap while waiting for Sadie who was coming to meet us.
Then we were all reunited and we walked on to Trafalgar Square where I climbed on top of one of the lions, was slightly burned by how hot it was, and we witnessed a rather unenthused response to a marriage proposal (awkward). Then we went down to the crypt of St. Martin's on the Green for some tea and scones.
Our last destination of the day was the rather incredbile British Museam. It is definitely a museam that deserves more time than we dedicated to it, but once we had been walking all day, we only really had the energy for the highlights that Jordyn and Sarah could point out to me (including the InterArts throw back sighting of Kente Cloth).
After the museam we walked a bit more and then went our seperate ways. I was supposed to meet up with Sarah again later for dinner, but after getting back to Jordyn's room we realized how extremely tired we were and I decided to stay in and cook with Jordyn instead. We made some pasta and brocolli and then went back to the coffee shop for some dessert. It was a lovely laid back evening and nice to have some time with Jordyn since I won't see her again until August.
Then it was early to bed, early to rise, and off to the airport once again. It was a rather short visit and I wish I could have been there longer. Jordyn's parents arrived in London just after I left and it would have been lovely if our visits had overlapped, but oh well.
I made it back to Córdoba without any problems and caught up on some homework before going to bed. Overall it was a wonderful weekend with its only downside being how quickly it went by!
So now I am in Córdoba till the end which is only a few weeks away. I have two more weeks of classes and then finals. After finals end we have one more week in the city which is going to be filled with celebrations and Feria in Córdoba, then we are going home. Wow. I will be sad to leave, but also really excited to see everyone at home.
Miss you all and hope all is well whereever in the world you are!
Adios
The next morning, Greg headed out and Jordyn and I caught a few extra hours of sleep (though still not enough) before our breakfast date with Jillian. Time for those pancakes! Though there were not exactly pancakes as we know and love them in the US, they were still delcious and we stuffed ourselves. Then Jordyn and I headed into the city for our site seeing London day.
We walked by the Tower of London, then down the river for great views of the Tower Bridge and the much less exciting London Bridge. Then Jordyn took me by St. Paul's Cathedral (where I took the obligatory phone booth picture that's above) and we walked over the millenium footbridge to the Globe Theater!
The Globe was something I was definitely willing to pay to enter and Jordyn had so enjoyed going there the first time she had gone that she too was willing to pay again to get a tour of this destination. I loved it! Our tour guide was amazing and the exhibition section that we could explore before the tour was quite interesting. I particularly enjoyed seeing a copy of Romeo and Juliet translated into Spanish: "Ah, Romeo, Romeo, Por qué eres Romeo?Niega a tu padre y rechaza tu nombre, o si no, júrame tu amor y ya nunca seré un Capuleto."
After the Globe we met Sarah and walked down to Borough market where we were suppose to meet Sadie for lunch. Unfortunately Sadie slept through our lunch date (don't worry we did meet up with her later), but Sarah, Jordyn, and I found some delicious chicken wraps in the market and got a chance to taste testers of amazing food in the market. It was wonderful. Then we went back out to the river and walked back down toward the globe to continue on to Parliament and Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey.
It was a gorgeous day and a nice walk along the river, past the Eye of London and over the Westminster Bridge. At Westminster Abbey we lay on the lawn outside and actually took a bit of a power nap while waiting for Sadie who was coming to meet us.
Then we were all reunited and we walked on to Trafalgar Square where I climbed on top of one of the lions, was slightly burned by how hot it was, and we witnessed a rather unenthused response to a marriage proposal (awkward). Then we went down to the crypt of St. Martin's on the Green for some tea and scones.
Our last destination of the day was the rather incredbile British Museam. It is definitely a museam that deserves more time than we dedicated to it, but once we had been walking all day, we only really had the energy for the highlights that Jordyn and Sarah could point out to me (including the InterArts throw back sighting of Kente Cloth).
After the museam we walked a bit more and then went our seperate ways. I was supposed to meet up with Sarah again later for dinner, but after getting back to Jordyn's room we realized how extremely tired we were and I decided to stay in and cook with Jordyn instead. We made some pasta and brocolli and then went back to the coffee shop for some dessert. It was a lovely laid back evening and nice to have some time with Jordyn since I won't see her again until August.Then it was early to bed, early to rise, and off to the airport once again. It was a rather short visit and I wish I could have been there longer. Jordyn's parents arrived in London just after I left and it would have been lovely if our visits had overlapped, but oh well.
I made it back to Córdoba without any problems and caught up on some homework before going to bed. Overall it was a wonderful weekend with its only downside being how quickly it went by!
So now I am in Córdoba till the end which is only a few weeks away. I have two more weeks of classes and then finals. After finals end we have one more week in the city which is going to be filled with celebrations and Feria in Córdoba, then we are going home. Wow. I will be sad to leave, but also really excited to see everyone at home.
Miss you all and hope all is well whereever in the world you are!
Adios
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