Seven southern bells take London

They say that in a big city, it is easy to get lost in the crowd. Well last night, that couldn’t be further from the truth as seven girls, dressed to the nines, high heels on and make-up set went out on the town to celebrate Andrea’s 21^st birthday. Oh if you could have seen the stares we got… being American here is like being a celebrity or something. Very fun.

 

But before we jump into the evening’s festivities, let me tell you about my day!

 

Thursday is a beautiful day because we are done with our internship for the week (which actually makes me sad, because I love mine so much, and I am sad that Gordon is leaving to go on holiday) and we only have one class from 1:30 – 3pm.

 

So we slept in, which is easy to do in our dark, cave-like bedroom on a gloomy and rainy morning. Then I woke up, had some cereal and watched another Sex and the City episode on my computer (Laura is amazed at how much I need my TV, but I am so used to turning it on and watching Regis and Kelly or Ellen when I eat my breakfast in the morning, that I need something to watch!)

 

Quick side note- mentioning Ellen reminded me of a really funny story I must share. The other night, the first night we went out, I was completely sober and we were downtown at this techno bar. We were talking to these guys and one of them asked me who my favorite American comedian was. I answered, proud and loud, Ellen Degeneres, and he couldn’t stop laughing about it all night. It was very funny! They love Chris Rock over here for some reason, but he is much too crude for my taste – gotta love my girl Ellen.

 

Anyways, after breakfast I went for a walk/run around the area we live in, Little Venice. It was a rainy and cloudy day so I ventured out alone simply praying it wouldn’t downpour. I stayed out for about 45 minutes and did get myself quite lost before getting my bearings and finding the flat – all the streets look the same here and I kind of wandered aimlessly- not smart I know, but it’s a very safe neighborhood.

 

Another fun story – as I was running there was this little old lady, I mean seriously she couldn’t have been less than 85 years old. She had a walker and she was trying to cross the street and she was kind of hidden behind this car parked on the side of the street going two steps a minute. Well, this big van pulls out and the lady is completely oblivious so after running past her and then realizing this, I turned around, stopped the van and helped the lady across the street. It was a total Hollywood movie moment and I felt very proud of my good deed J It made me feel like I had a little purpose, if not to get my ass in shape then the keep this sweet lady alive!

 

After a quick shower and lunch, we headed off to our history class, which was very interesting. We learned about the early development of French and British relations and how that built up to the first World War. Our teacher smells REALLY bad though…. Like horrible BO, so we spend a lot of the class just trying to breathe fresh air J

 

For the rest of the afternoon I began doing some homework, watched some more episodes on my computer and then all the girls got ready to celebrate Andrea’s 21^st birthday.

 

The night got off to a rocky start – Laura was still at her internship (she had an extra thing to attend) and so we had to leave without her, and I was a bit worried. Then, we got off at the wrong tube stop –we were looking to go back to the same area we went to on our first night out – that awesome side street off Oxford Circus called Carnaby Street. But instead we thought it was located at Piccadilly Circus (all these circuses, it is easy for a girl to get confused), so we got off there and popped up from the tube into the REAL times square of London. It had the flashing billboards, and you might as well call it American street – it had a TGI Fridays, a Cinnabon and a Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum. It felt just like New York City, even more than Oxford Circus – but we were like – WOAH, where the heck are we. So you have seven beautiful girls (if I do say so myself) with these confused looks on their faces, lost as can be, having no recollection of ever being here (because we hadn’t) –you would have thought we were Giselle from Enchanted the way we looked so stunned to have popped up there. So after looking for the street and then realizing it simply wasn’t here, we went one tube stop back to Oxford Circus, found the street, and settled into this adorable Irish pub called O’ Neil’s.

 

We had food, wine and the most delicious Apple toffee pie, warm with vanilla ice cream (Don, you would have LOVED it). Laura also finally met up with us, which was great. After eating and tons of pictures (which I will post this weekend, promise promise Lynnie) we went to R, another club we had been too before, but it was still early so it was much more fun because it wasn’t so packed. We lounged there for a bit, tried to get into another upscale club, but failed miserably, and then went to Zimbados, a really posh bar that had a downstairs where there was music and dancing – American oldies and some new popular hits! (Lynn, I called you at one point because they played “Do you remember, it was the 21^st night of September….” Oh my gosh, I freaked and missed you SOOO much!)

 

We met some guys and danced the night away, but not the dirty way people dance in America, we really danced– like swing danced, with twirls and hand holding and rhythm. I danced for an hour or so with the sweetest British boy! Blonde hair, blue eyes, so cute J It was so much fun! His name was Jose, and he was actually from South Africa (which still gives you a British accent) and the REAL BUMMER, he was only traveling on business, so I am sure I won’t see him again – plus he might have been a bit older than me anyways…. Everyone here is stunned when I tell them I am 19 – gotta love that.

 

So it was a top night! We successfully took the bus home and had a ball! Andrea had a really good time too, which was of course, the main goal! Today (I wrote this Friday morning) we are going to do some sight seeing! It should be fun, I will write about my day tomorrow morning! I am so excited about these long weekends - no class on Friday is amazing.

 

Love and hugs,

Jenny