Today was our first day off in London, but what was meant to be a “day off” ended up being quite a day…
Last night the girls and I ventured out into the city to see what people do around here for fun after hours. It was a very interesting night, to say the least, but there are a lot of fun clubs, pubs and side streets here that were fun to explore and see. The nightlife here is very different than what I am used to at Elon. For one thing, everything is much further away than West End or Lighthouse, which means your dancing shoes need to also be suitable for a lot of walking around. The other thing is that the tube closes at 12:30am, so if you stay out beyond that, you need to either walk or know the bus routes well enough to get home. All and all it was a fun night – we met some English boys and they brought us to this Techno club, which was very interesting to say the least. The way people dance to techno music is kind of choppy and foreign to me, so I felt a little out of place and didn’t do too much dancing. The clubs are extremely crowded, like wall to wall people, and again, I like my American space J so it had its ups and downs, but overall was a night to remember - our first night out in London.
There are so many things I want to do and see and to be honest, knowing where to start and how to book everything on our own is really challenging. I did not expect it would be so hard to find cheap rates and knowing where to go, how to get there, planning and then adding up all the extra costs is a real task. I definitely wish I had sat down with a travel agent before leaving so that I could have had some more insight on how to organize myself, but luckily Katie is interning at a travel agency, and perhaps she will be able to get us some deals, or even just help us organize our weekend trips, and of course our fall break trip to Italy. Again, all suggestions are welcome, so please email me if you have any at all J
This morning, since we did not arrive home last night until about 3:30 am, Laura and I slept until 11:45 am – the latest I have slept in in YEARS. Our room is kind of like a cave because we only have one window, which is well covered by a dark curtain, and our flat is in the basement of the building, so we kept sleeping…and sleeping….
We finally got up and searched out a really cool café on Baker Street that has free Internet access, since out in-flat Internet is timed (we get 1000 minutes per week). We got two café lattes and settled ourselves into these big comfy couches in a nook downstairs and started the, what we now have come to find, long and stressful adventure of figuring out our travel plans.
We searched for about two hours and then met up with Andrea and Ashley and went to the first AWESOME restaurant I have been to since arriving. It was this unique and stylish place that sold a really reasonable menu of chicken items that were marinated in different spices that you could choose from. Then they had a variety of sauces (Lynn, you would have loved it), some buffalo style, others more garlic and lemon, to try on the chicken – they had sandwiches, pitas, breasts, and the sides were also amazing! Andrea got sweet potato mash that was delicious, and I had grilled corn on the cob and chips (which I learned last night are thick more potato like French fries, whereas here only the thin crispy fries are called fries…learning new things everyday :). The meal was delicious and only 5.25 pounds, which is such a deal here! The cheapest and most delicious meal I have had so far! Definitely going back J
After a late lunch, Laura and I began yet another stressful adventure to locate our internship spots before we start tomorrow. We decided to do hers first since it was further out. Well little did we know, three hours later, we would finally have been to and from her location working for Invincible Media Group located in Hackney Center on Mare St – aka, the ghetto of London. It is about an hour and half commute when you factor in waiting for the right over ground train. It is a frightening run down area, and to be honest, we were both feeling nervous just being there. But we did locate her office building, which was about a ten-minute walk from the train, only to turn right back around and travel an hour back to our tube stop. AND it wasn’t even for my internship! Ugh, that was a frustrating adventure, but I guess that is what friends are for. I would have never wanted her venturing it alone, and tomorrow she will have a couple of other Eloners who are working at the same location traveling with her – they were all just too lazy to make the effort to find it today. As usual, lazy people will bum off the efforts of others when they follow Laura directly, and without confusion, to their office tomorrow…. I guess it’s a good thing we have karma.
So by the time we did all of that, we were tired, and my internship is very close, in a great area and just a couple of tube stops away. I have clear directions and I do not have to be in until 12:30pm, so I am going to just leave myself enough time tomorrow to find it. When we came home, I had a small snacky dinner since lunch was so delicious, and then continued searching for travel plans – nothing has been accomplished except for that fact that we are more confused than ever. So I decided I needed a break, things will fall into place I am sure. Maybe all that good karma that should be coming my way will come in the form of some great plane rates or even just some great advice to organize our scattered plans.
So tomorrow is the big first day at the internship! I think I am going to detox with some friends episodes and then head to an early sleep. Wish me luck J xoxo
Love Jenny
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