London Bound!!!!

YAY!!!! 

I MADE IT TO LONDON!!!! 

I have been waiting for this trip for forever! I finally went to London and got to visit two of close friends back at school in NJ! How cool is that - just studying abroad and meeting up with friends for the weekend! What luck I have and it was quite an amazing and unforgettable weekend! :)

When I first arrived in London my first thought was "It's freezing!" But, that's also because I've been living in Spain where it's 90 degrees or higher literally every single day hahaha, and talk about culture shock but everything was in ENGLISH!!!!! Oh my goodness, haha that was definitely weird. On the plane, airport, if I had a question it was english - it was like word vomit I was overwhelmed! Oh well.. Not to mention that they actually do drive on the wrong side of the road.. it's real!!

Wrong side!!!! 

Anywhos, I stayed with Erin and Rachel at their school - Regents College! It was beautiful!!!

We had a fun filled weekend with lots of site seeing and excisions. The first day I was there on Friday (since I got there really late Thursday night.) We went off to the "Tower of London" and we did a tour inside the tower. It was awesome! Loved it!! They had all different rooms and parts - one of my favorite rooms was the "Crown of Jewels," which is where they had all the Royal jewels for the ceremonies! The day was rainy, but it didn't 'rain on our parade' haha - see what I did there? ;-) I also saw the "Tower Bridge" while we were over there! 

Erin, Rachel, and I at the Tower of London :) 

Tower Bridge!!! 

The Crown of Jewels! "God save the Queen!"

Inside the Tower of London! 

It was really easy to get to and from the Tower of London -we just took the tube, which was quite easy!!! The tube is London's underground and it's color coded by which line to take - very easy, and very accessible! Totally digging it! You get a card that you put money on and use it to swipe into the underground every time and it's called an "Oyster card." Later that night we went out to a bowling event with the school, which was super fun! Bowling alleys in London are actually bowling alleys to tricks to it! 

On Saturday we went out all day and explored most of the city! We went down by the river the 'Thames' and I got to see the London Eye, Big Ben and the Palace/Parliament, double decker red bus, London bridge, and Tower bridge again!!! 

Me in front of the London Eye!

The London Eye was sooo cool, it's HUGE! We didn't go up in it - but that just means I'll have to come back to do it, which I don't mind. I remember coming out of the underground and seeing Big Ben for the first time and was shocked, completely stunned. I literally thought to myself, "Woe.. this is it" it's also HUGE! Hahahaha, it was sick to see in person and completely beautiful surrounded by Parliament! 

Big Ben is that you?! 

One of the coolest things I learned about London is that there is always something going on - walking in the street and theres a performance, someone dressed up, singing - who knows what but the city of London was like a walking show. I fell in love with the city so quickly! While we were walking down by the 'Thames' there were tons and tons of street performances, shopping booths, people dressed up all wild, and then we found it out it was "Malaysia Week 2012" WOOHOO!! Hahahaha, so we got to watch all the cool stuff as we walked around - and it was a sunny beautiful day out, so no umbrellas needed! We lucked out :)

One of the acts we got to see down by the River! Crazy cool!

Ouch.. 

Gotta love the crazies in London!

Dancing and singing performance in honor of Malaysia week!

After walking down by the Thames we continued to find this ancient pirate ship that is an original used way back when in history! It has obvisiouly been restored from the outside with the new elaborate paint colors, but it was the original ship from the "arrrrrrrgggh" days!

Erin and I in front of the pirate ship!

We also saw this beer race contest - there were groups of friends on this like table with wheels drinking beer and pedaling and it was a contest I guess, and while competing you were drinking hahaha - but they were in the streets with CARS! Another thing you'd only see in London! Gotta love it!

Another night out in London and we explored this bar/club place called "The Purple Monkey"  it was interesting to say the least, but I had fun! :) OMG! And before we got there we took the bus (which are all double decker.. so cool) there were two guys fighting - literally hitting each other and yelling and everyone was calm and all a sudden you hear the bus call out "This bus is under attack please call 999" Like what, I was literally dying. The bus is being attacked? THAT AIN'T GONNA HELP NO ONE!!!! 

Fun Facts: 

The money in London is pounds! and the cents are pents

Line = The Q

Bathrooms = Loo, Toilets

Underground = Tube 

Sunday morning rain is falling.. NOT! Sunshine again! Woohoo!! :) We didn't do too much but walk around Regrets and explored the rose gardens, and I got to shop around to buy some souvenirs, and OF COURSE take my "I'm a tourist" photo in a telephone booth.. which let me tell you what I found out - those are NOT used to make any kind of phone calls, unless it's a late night booty call or the closest bathroom! Hahaha YUCK! 

Sadly I had to make my way back to the airport though :( Back to the tube I go, and the line I was suppose to take was closed but me and my smart-ness figured out an alternate route, haha thank goodness for English in this scenario!!

Had an INCREDIBLE time in London, loved everything I  got to see, spend quality time with two fabulous friends of mine, and memories that'll last a life time! And most of all it was so nice to have a piece of home so close to me <3 Shout out to Erin and Rachel for being the best hosts ever!!!

Rachel, Erin, and I in the Rose Gardens :)

Adios! 

Ayla