Fell in love

LONDON LONDON LONDON

:)

I can't even describe how much fun I had... :) It was seriously some of the best 3 days of my life. I will never forget these memories

Now... to share with you a bit. Which I feel will be nothing compared to living it and being there but I will try my best.

So my Thursday started off with me getting up at 5 AM to go catch a train to Namur where everyone from Rotary was catching the bus (yes - a bus. I detest buses). We drove From Namur to Calais, France - where we caught a ferry to Dover, Enlgand. There were about 60 Rotary Students from all over Belgium and the whole trip was organized by Rotexs (which are "kids" who have already done a year abroad and live in Belgium and are normally 20ish) The ferry was really fun. It turned out to be a sunny day so we all just hung out on the deck and it was so windy - it was somewhat ridiculous. After about an hour of getting our hair tossed by the English Channel, everyone went inside and pretty much just sat there out of exhaustion. It was so nice to get off the boat!! Then when we were in Dover we drove about an hour or two to Canterbury. The famous Canterbury Church was epic - we had these hearing tour guides that I actually enjoyed. Which I guess nobody is surprised about that - I have read (and sung - shout out to my AP English class junior year) so many things on Canterbury it was nice to actually be there. It was impressive. Then we had free time to just wander the city - it was so tiny but cute! The typical English town :) Around mid-afternoon we hopped back on the nasty bus and were in London in time for dinner. With the weird time change here, it gets dark around 4 so it was already dark in London around then and everything was all lit up and pretty! It was a nice introduction to the city when you saw Big Ben all lit up and reflecting off the Thames River. We were starving so a group of 7 of us headed into the city with our 10 pounds and found a cute, little restaurant off the main road. It served English Breakfast all day so we went in and enjoyed ordering in English (felt weird - I must admit that I continued to accidently say "merci") and eating beans, sunny-side up eggs, toast, sausage, bacon, french fries, and milk for dinner!! Then we drove to our hotel - which was 30 mins from the city - and everyone pretty much crashed. I had the best roommates :) I think we may have all three been separated at birth. We are all from the same area in the States - Mollie from Manhattan, KS, Me from Kansas City, MO, and Margaret from St. Louis, MO. I love how close we were in the States and only in a different life do we get the opportunity to be friends and such. It is weird but I consider these girls some of my best friends and I have only known them for a month or so - my mind has no concept of time anymore. Just a tid bit on that - we were inseparatable all trip :)

Then we got up around 7 on Friday and went to Windsor Castle!! My first Enlgish Castle :) It was gorgeous and huge - and even better on the inside. I saw a mini changing of the gaurds - which so did not live up to my expectations. I also never saw any of the gaurds in the red uniforms with the weird tall, black hats - my only let down of the trip. After Windsor Castle we had lunch at this cute little café in town and enjoyed just talking in Enlish and not getting stared at oddly. After this we headed into London to go see Madame Tussand's wax museum - which was another epic visit!! I was soooo impressed with all the wax people!! They had everything from Will Smith to Barack Obama to The Queen of England to Hitler! I kept taking pictures and the pictures and the wax people looked so real that I almost got giddy like I ACTUALLY DID meet Marilyn Monroe and Brad Pitt - it was crazy. After this we went to an early dinner at the Hard Rock Café - finally enjoyed a cheeseburger. It was cool to all eat together - since normally we have free time during the meals to do what we want to do. Then after we went to a musical called "Blood Brothers" - which I must say I was not to keen on going to on a Friday night in London but it turned out to be one of the best musicals I have ever seen (third after Mama Mia and Wicked ofcourse). I'm not going to explain it because I will just look like a babbling idiot so let's just say that I laughed, cried, and felt stupid for not wanting to go. That night was fun with the other Rotary students :)

Then Saturday we got up nice and early again and I walked all over London for a legit 5 hours (from 7 AM breakfast until lunch at 2). It was cool to just be walking around London stopping at all the well known places and enjoying the unknown places as well - but my feet and back were hating me by the end of the day. From 3 until 10:30 we had an Oyster Pass (where you can go anywhere in London on the Underground all day) and do whatever we wanted - it was beyondddd amazing. I went with my new besties and friend from Canada (Christian) to the art museum, shopping which includes making a stop in Burberry and sadly forgetting to go to Harrod's, fish and chips for dinner, pub stops (including being carded and happily showing my Belgian ID and later being asked if English was my 5th Language because I apparantly speak awful English), tea stops, grocery shopping for snacks on the bus, etc. It was one of the best nights of my life to just go around London on a Saturday night via the Underground (thanks to Margaret) and just living it up completely enjoying every minute.

It came to a halt at 10:30, when we left London and got on the bus ... then the ferry (which we missed the first one and had to take another around 2 in the morning). Everyone was so exhausted and I'm pretty sure on the ferry I slept in two chairs like a bathtub - great sleep ... not. It was sadly better than the bus - which smelled like feet and sweaty bodies. Ugh. It was gross then we got to Namur around 8 in the morning... and Liege around 9. I looked like a hot mess I'm sure when Larry picked me up and I'm sure my French was an epic fail. When I got home I went straight to the shower then slept from 10 until 4 - ridiculous. I had school today - which was actually not bad since everyone had something to talk about. It also helped that today was my only school day of the week (I'm missing Tuesday and Wednesday and then Thursday and Friday are holidays - again). I'm so excited I get to go back to England tomorrow!! For those of you not up to speed - I had planned to just go early or stay after the Rotary trip in England to visit my family in Cambridge and my great aunt visiting but Rotary denied this. So I had to come home and travel alone if I really wanted to go - so thus I am here for 2 nights and I am back to England again :) Everyone was very confused at school when I kept saying "See you Monday" (in french) and the would all respond by saying "Mallory, today is Monday tomorrow is Tuesday." It was kind of funny because it really is ridiculous that I am going back after 2 days. Love it.

Well I'm off! Kind of nervous to be traveling alone - but just another experience and challenge :)
Talk to you soon!!
Mallo