Londres

We got to London late Thursday afternoon and we decided to stay with some of Kristen's friends from Colorado who are studying there this semester to save some money.  London is an EXTREMELY expensive city.  Also, the exchange rate between the dollar and the pound is awful.  1 pound= about 1.6 dollars.  Kristen's friends had a ton of people visiting them from Colorado that weekend because it was their Spring break, so needless to say, it was a bit cramped, but it worked out alright!

The next day, we met up with Kristen's friends again and walked through the Borough Market.  It reminded me a lot of the Farmer's Market in Madison but with more meal-type foods rather than produce.  While at the market, I was told that a part of Harry Potter was filmed in front of the store in the picture of the right.  I got super excited and naturally had to take a picture with it.  The girl who told me this didn't know what scene, so I guess I'm going to have to watch the movies all over again to find out!

After that, I met up with my friends, Jason and Raymond and they brought me to all the touristy sites of London.  They showed me St. Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, London Eye, London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, and the Tower of London.  Below is a picture of me and Raymond in front of Big Ben and a picture of me and Jason in Hyde Park.

On Saturday we went to another market called the Portobello market.  This market sold little gifts and jewelry rather than a lot of food.  We also tried going to the National Gallery, but it was closed when we got there.  The National Gallery is in Trafalgar Square, so at least we got to see that!  There was also a huge Olympic Countdown in the Square and it really got me excited for the games this summer!

That night I met up with Jason and Raymond again and we watched the Barcelona- Athletic Bilbao fútbol game at a pub.  This was actually the first fútbol game I have watched since coming to Europe and I really enjoyed it.  I can't wait to go to a Betis game in Sevilla! 

The next day we went on a tour of the Tower of London.  This was one of my favorite parts of the trip!    Except the majority of the tour was spent talking about the different types of torture they used to use in London.  That was pretty disturbing.  The Crown Jewels are kept inside the Tower, which was amazing to see!  I cannot imagine how much those are worth.  Below is a picture of me and Kristen with the Tower of London in the background.

That night we went on an adventure to find one of the only Chipotles in Europe!  For those who don't know (aka my mom), Chipotle is a Mexican restaurant chain in the U.S. that college students are obsessed with.  Me and Kristen have been craving Chipotle all semester, so we HAD to take a trip there.  It was absolutely amazing.  I can't wait to get another burrito when I get back to the U.S.!  After that I met up with one of my best friends from school, Carly.  We are rooming together in Madison next year.  She is studying in London this semester but I barely got to see her because she had a 7,500 word essay due for a class on Wednesday. It was really good to see her though, even though it was only for a little while! 

On Monday, me and Kristen went extremely out of our way to make it to Platform 9 and 3/4 at King's Cross Station.  And let me tell you, it was worth it!  I had to do something Harry Potter related while in London!

After that we decided to get high tea at Kensington Palace.  High tea consists of tea, crumpets, finger sandwiches, and desserts.  It was so cute!  It was 18 pounds per person though, so we decided to share one serving to save some money.  On the left is a picture of Kristen with our food!

After that I met up with my friends Carly, Michelle, Jason, Raymond, and a bunch of AKPsi people at a restaurant called "Slug and Lettuce."  On Mondays they have half-priced pub food, so it was a very popular place that night!  I got a bacon and cheddar burger (since burgers are NOT the same in Spain) and it was delicious!  After dinner I went to Michelle's flat (Jason, Ray, and everybody live there too) and was able to see my friend Danielle as well!

On the way home, I had my first ever issues with travel this semester.  Usually everything goes fairly smoothly, but this trip was a bit of a struggle.  We didn't go to sleep until 1:00 AM because there were people watching TV in the room we were going to sleep in.  Then we had to wake up at 3:00 AM to catch a 3:45 AM bus to the airport.  The airport was really far from where we were staying and once we got to the airport, me and Kristen both got searched in the airport, which also took forever.  They took out everything from our suitcases and examined it very carefully.  They also made Kristen throw out a bunch of her liquids.  Security is sooooo much more intense in the UK than in any other country I have ever experienced.  After Ryanair was already late letting us onto our plane, our 7:00 AM got delayed 2 hours because of the huelga (strike) in Spain.  We were sitting on the plane for close to 5 hours instead of the 2 and a half hours it was supposed to take.  When we got off the plane, the buses weren't running as frequently from the airport, so we had to wait EVEN longer to get back.  I did not get home until 2:00 PM!!  That was quite stressful, but I got home and was able to sleep all afternoon.

This week is Semana Santa (or Holy Week), so we have the entire week off of school.  I will blog about that after this weekend, because it is HUGE celebration in Sevilla and there are tons of processions.