A Tourist's Life

The past few days have been full of doing very touristy things. Going to the places you always see on postcards, in movies. Granted there are so many of them (and they're all so expensive!) you definitely need to pace yourself. The last two days I went to the Tower of London and the London Eye.

The Tower of London was absolutely beautiful. It's unreal how old this place really is. Being American I don't think we can quite grasp the concept of being in a building that has been around since literally 700 years before our country was even born. And getting to see the crown jewels was beyond words. There was a gold punch bowl that I'm pretty sure I could sit comfortably in. Unfortunately you're not allowed to take pictures of the jewels, it's one of the most well guarded places in England and I was not about to risk taking a picture. 

Our next stop was the London Eye. I'm not exactly a huge fan of heights but the view it gave was more then worth it. You could see everything. It was amazing to see just how large this city really is. 

I'm in the process of making a list of where else I need to go, but currently number one on the list is getting to go into Buckingham Palace, which we will be doing on Monday! Which is also the day I am beginning my classes. I guess it's kind of back to the real world soon.

"You'll do alright, you've got love in your eyes."

One of our first nights in London we went to a pub called the Nag's Head. It wasn't a very busy pub, but it was good. There were five of us sitting around talking and this very drunk, rather old man comes up to us and starts trying to talk to us. At first he couldn't quite get out what he's trying to say but the music was loud so he had a lot of trouble hearing. He just asked the normal questions, where are you from what are you studying. But then he decided to stick around. Talk to us a lot more. Even asked all of us to marry him, we all politely declined. Then he offered to buy all of us drinks, we continually said no until eventually one of the guys with us decided to say yes just to make him happy.

They stood and talked for quite some time until eventually they both (Josh especially) wanted to come back over to our table. The irishman, who we've now come to learn's name is John, turns to me and tells me how pretty my eyes are. I thank him and then he just stands there and stares at me for a moment and says "You'll be alright." I smile and nod my head as he continues, "You've got love in your eyes." At that moment I think we all kind of realized, he's not some creepy old man trying to convince all of us to marry him, he's just a genuinely nice person who maybe got a little too drunk (although according to John "What is drunk? And what is not drunk?" ) but he just wanted to talk to someone.

He also told Josh, "There's people who just want to live their life, and I am one of those people." Which is how I want this semester to be. I want to live. I want to experience everything once, whether or not I think I will like it. 

I'm living in one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been in and I want to take advantage of everything I can.

My 2nd to last night in the US

Well, the flights are booked, my bags are packed, my passport is valid through 6 months after I leave London and I am ready to go. I've gotten a lot of advice about living in London, some useful, some...not so much.

• Go to museums alone
• Everywhere is expensive unless you know where to look
• Just walk around
• Wear a different pair of rain boots every day
• Always say please and thank you when ordering at a bar
• And of course, have fun! (but not too much!)

There's a lot going through my head in the last hours of me being here, excited, nervous, anxious. Honestly, I just want to get onto that plane and start this adventure already! I've been building it up so much in my head since November of last year that I can't even believe it's here! But my time is coming soon enough, and I cannot wait. See you all in London!