A Trip to London :)

Hello World!!

     This next month for me is going to be crazy!  Not exactly crazy busy, but crazy exciting!! Here is my schedule thus far :)

    November:
15- Registration for UNI classes
17- 10 minute Group Seminar Presentation
18- 20 minute Presentation on Raphael's Cartoon Tapestry
18-20- Trip to see Chinna
24-  Introducing everyone to Thanksgiving!
25-28- Going to London to see Dacia & James
29- 500 Word essay due

 December
 1- 10 minute Group Presentation
2-4- Going to Madrid, Spain with Emily and Alysia
7- 2000 word Archaeology Essay Due
8-12-Portugal with Dani Miller
16- American Art Final
?-  Raphael.... Final
18- Leave for the US


Great Schedule isn't it?   I think so, although if I could get rid of everything but traveling I would, but since I haven't done anything so far I might as well leave the few papers.

Ok, so I guess I shall tell you about my week!   I didn't do horribly much on Wednesday, well actually I got quite a bit done but nothing that would be interesting to you.  Can you guess what that is?  Yea, Homework.  I knew that I needed to get my butt moving on it, so I continued on with my outline.  I believe that I have 5 pages of outline so far, and not even close to being done! Then I have to start breaking down my points into just key facts and not actual sentences.   That is one thing that I have learned in college, although I don't believe that they learned that over here.  I have found with people's presentations that they like to read off the paper and don't speak freely.  Ohh well, different ways to do things.  Anyway you guys don't want to hear about that, so I will continue with Thursday.  This is where all the fun begins

Thursday I headed out at 10:30 to be at the Train station by 11:30.  This was my first time traveling alone, and I did good!   I went from Hull to Doncaster then Doncaster to London Kings Cross, took the undergound to Vauxhall then the train to Ashford where Dacia came to pick me up!  It was so good to see her!  So after she picked me up we went back to her place and she showed me around.  Very nice house, I like it a lot. When we got the call that James was finished with work we went to pick him up then went out to eat at The Harvester.  The next morning Dacia took James to the airport then we had the whole weekend to ourselves!  We didn't want to do much that day so we just went to Windsor Castle. (Pictures Below)  Going through the castle you realize how big it actually is!  If felt like we were walking forever.  That was OK though, I did see some amazing paintings by Leonardo, Rubens, etc. After our touring of the castle finished, we headed out to find some place to eat.  We chose Pizza Express, mainly because Dacia printed off some coupons for us.  :) With our pizzas gone we walked around the city and looked in a few shops, got some chai tea and peanut butter hot chocolate (so good, but should not have drank it all)  After that it was getting dark out, damn winter months, so we headed home to watch Grey's and just chill. 

The next morning we tackled central London.   The first place we went to was the V&A Museum (Victoria and Albert) where I wanted to see the Raphael Cartoons for a presentation that I had to do this week.  After we wandered around the museum for a bit we finally found the Cartoons (with a little help of course).  When we were finally bored by the museum (we have very small attention spans) we went to a little bar.  This is Dacia trying to corrupt me.  Haha.  :)

When our first drink was down we walked down the street to go Ice Skating!!!

What can I say, Dacia has talent!!!  Although my photo skill were not very good on ice, we had a great time!   We only skated about 30 of the 50 minutes allowed.  The skates at first were NOT comfortable, but once we took a brake to adjust they were much better.   With the skates coming off we headed to our next destination.  Lunch.   We walked by High Park and stopped to watch a little match of roller hockey.  It made me miss rollerblading so much!   When the match was over we went to find a pub that had good food, good drinks and was reasonably priced.   Mission Accomplished.  With our bellies full we went and walked around.  We went to Picadilly Circus and while we were walking we got some roasted chestnuts.  Neither of us had had them before, so why not... we tried them.  Not bad.   Nothing spectacular, but they weren't something I would eat every day.

After a while we decided that it was time to head back to her house. We were going to lay on the couch and watch Private Practice and a movie (Our Idiot Brother, which was stupid and we only made it through half) After being bored with the movie, we went to Subway to get subs for supper.  Man was that confusing.  Haha.  When we went in I could not understand this guy and I don't think he understood me.  Enough Said.  When we got our subs we went back home and watched the X Factor then went upstairs to read.

The next morning we went out for Lunch.   I don't remember what the place was called, but it was delicious!  I had the cajun chicken calzone, yummmy :p   When we got back home it was nearly 1 and we laid on the couch and waited for Dacia to get the call from James to come pick him up from the Airport.  That time came so we loaded up and headed out.  With James in tow, we went back home and watched Rugby (well I did some homework).  A few hours later it was time for me to leave.  I had a complicated schedule to get back to Kings Cross so we made a new one.  James and Dacia were going to a comedy club that night so they dropped me off at the Richmond station on their way where I took the District line to victoria then took victoria to Kings Cross.  Much easier than going from Ashford to Richmond taking a bus to Clampton Junction then Clampton Junction to Victoria where I would take the underground to Kings Cross.  But I made it to Kings Cross with about a half hour to spare.  The funny thing was once I arrived my friend Audrey texted me and we just happened to be at the same station together!  Finally it was time to board the train to go home!  Its weird how much traveling can take out of you.

Now is the time where things start to go south and I don't just mean Texas south I mean so south that we are in South America.  Yea.  so after about 45 minutes on the train we stop in the middle of the tracks and learn that someone stole some of the cables up ahead so we were going to be stuck there for a while.   All of the trains were backed up and had to go one by one through the affected area.  If I ever find who stole them I will strangle them!  So being stopped for about an hour we are able to move again to a station where we can wait.  And of course we have to wait there again.  When we got closer to the affected area there was a cue of 7 trains that had to go ahead of us.  That took about another hour.  Finally it was our turn to go through.  Although it took a while we finally made it!  It doesn't sound as bad as it was, but spending the extra time on the train was boring and late!  So when we got to Doncaster It was 1:30.  Now be aware that I started the journey at Kings Cross at 8:05 and was suppose to be back in Hull before 11.   So since we missed all the trains to Hull from Doncaster they had to get us a cab to Hull.  There was about 20 of us that needed to go to Hull and very few taxi's.  There were 2 other Hull students that sat behind me, so we waited and went together.  One of the only good things that came out of it was that I got a full refund on my ticket and didn't have to pay for anything!  Whew.  Once I got back back home it was 3:00.  I was exhausted!

Not much has happened today and I will be doing a lot of sitting in my room doing homework.  So I should probably get to that.

So until next time!  Goodbye!  :)