London was amazing. I could have easily spent another week in that city, and I have a lot to say about it from the 5 days I was there, so brace yourselves :)
First of all, if you are in Paris, never fly to London, take the train. Worst idea ever. The RER took about an hour to get to the airport, and then our plane was super late, and we didn't get into Luton until around 11. And Luton is about an hour outside of London by bus. So we didn't actually get in to the city until after midnight. At which point, the girls with whom I was traveling (but not staying with) decided to take a cab to where they were staying and leave me at the Tube station by myself. At first I was kind of nervous because I've never used the Tube before, let alone been in London. At least they speak English there, so I went up to the window and the lady helped me find where I needed to go. Lucky I got there when I did because it was about to stop running for the night and I was across the city. Also, if we had taken the train I would have been one Tube stop away from Amber's place.... Anyway, it all worked out and she came to pick me up and it was SOOOO great to see her :) Her dorm is really cute and cozy haha. At this point it was way after midnight, so we just went to sleep.
The next morning, I had made plans with the other girls to meet up at the British museum, so Amber and I got up and got traditional English breakfast, which was delicious and probably took a few years off my life. But worth it. Then we headed over to the museum and on the way we got coffee at this place called Camera Café, which is a camera store with a coffee shop in the back, it was kind of awesome. Then, we were waiting at the museum, and the girls called me and said they were gonna be late, so Amber and I just hung out outside for awhile until she had to go pick up her friend Becky from the airport. When they finally got there we went inside and started walking around. It. Was. Awesome. They literally have the history of the world in there. So legit. The mummies were probably the coolest things I've ever seen. And they had a bunch of deformed bones with descriptions of what was wrong with them, so I got to pretend to be Bones again and find the defects :) They also have the Rosetta stone, which is legit. And they also have a ton of random stuff you wouldn't think would be interesting, but I was totally geeking out about, like the history of money and the evolution of clocks. 
I probably could have spent all day there. About halfway through, the other girls got hungry so they went to get lunch while I saw more of the museum. After that, we walked around for awhile and saw Piccadilly Circus (nothing special), Buckingham Palace and Green Park next to it, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben and Parliament. I know it's cliché, but Big Ben was so beautiful. Everything on the Thames is gorgeous. I love the lights reflecting on the water as the sun is setting. That night, after a very long trek through the city to pick up the tickets, we went to the football match between the French and English national teams. It was soooo much fun. The Tube on the way could have been less crowded and gone a little faster, but it was so legit. The other girls were bored I think, and they left at half-time, so I made friends with the people sitting around me and stayed for the rest of the game. France won and totally dominated the entire game, so I cheered quietly from my seat so no drunk England fans would beat me up. Also, for some inexplicable reason, there were the remains of the logos for the Broncos and Giants (I think) on the field. Not sure what those teams were doing all the way in London where no one cares about American football and when there are plenty of stadiums in the states. Anyone know what that was about? I left with a few minutes left to try and beat the mad rush of over 85,000 people to the Tube, and I was semi-successful. I at least made it past the horses that were preventing people from cramming into the tube station. It's about a 10 minute walk from the station to the stadium, and it was jam-packed with people the entire way. On the platform, they were trying to get people to move all the way down to the end, and the announcer guy was like, "Keep walking towards the end, you'll have more space on the train. Move alllll the way down the platform, free coffee and hot chocolate at the end!" Then, when the train got there, the guy standing next to me looked at me and was like, "Are you ready?" and when the doors opened he kind of scooped me up and helped me onto the train. I thought that was pretty funny. I got back to Amber's pretty late, and at this point I was freezing and starving (hadn't eaten since breakfast since I didn't get lunch with the other girls and then they got food at the stadium when they got drinks while I was in the seats). I showered and ate and met Amber's friend Becky who was great, too. It was just so good to be with people from home.The next day, we got up and walked over to Fleet Street to see where all the lawyers work (not the sketchy end where Sweeney Todd had his barber shop). We went to the National Portrait Gallery, which has a bunch of portraits of the British Monarchy and a bunch of important people in British history. Clearly I need to take another class in that subject, it seems fascinating. Then there was a room with more contemporary stuff, including this sculpture made of feathers and taxidermied animals which cast a shadow that looked like a woman wearing a hat. Pretty cool. There was also a cast of a head into which the artist had injected his own blood. 
I would have been OK with not seeing that. Kind of really disturbing. After walking around there for a while, we went to the Crypt at St. Martin in the Fields for lunch. It was really bizarre - they've converted the crypt into a restaurant. After lunch, we went to Trafalgar Square to film our super awk "8 clap around the world" for SAA for Blue and Gold Week back at UCLA. After that, Amber went to class and Becky had to do some work, so I went to the National Gallery, where I spent the next three hours. There was so much to see I couldn't even believe it. I got to see so many amazing works of art I had learned about in high school. It makes such a difference when you can see them in person. I saw van Eyck's Arnolfini Wedding, which is really cool because there is a mirror behind the couple into which he painted his own reflection as if he were standing where the viewer is standing. I also saw Holbein's The Ambassadors, which has a huge distorted skull painted in the foreground. There was an elementary school class sitting there learning about it, so I stopped and listened for a little while. I loved listening to the suggestions the kids had for why the skull was painted there and what it means. I also saw Massys's The Ugly Duchess, and man is she ugly. They have van Gogh's Sunflowers, Monet's Water Lilies, and Seurat's Bathers at Asnières, which I did a project on in high school. There was such an amazing variety of art there. If I wasn't exhausted I could have stayed there for an entire day. Something about walking around museums just makes me so tired. I went to a book store so I could stock up on books in English and ended up walking out with four new books for only 20 pounds. Then I went to a coffee shop nearby to read and pass the time until I had to go meet Amber and Becky for dinner. I ended up talking to a kid sitting next to me for about an hour and a half. Yay random strangers! For dinner, we went to this Korean restaurant, which was delicious. Then we got some chocolate and went back to Amber's to change into PJs and watch Glee haha. Even though it took forever to actually watch Glee because she and Becky had to pack for Paris since they were leaving at 4am the next day. But Glee was great, as usual. The story was just OK but I loved the music! Just after we had fallen asleep, one of my other friends called me. I answered and Amber threatened to kill me because I had woken her up, which she had no recollection of doing the next morning which was kind of funny. But my friends were calling to inform me that the tickets they had bought for Harry Potter were for a theater in Scotland. Not London. Still not really sure how that happened. They said they were able to get tickets for the next day still, but we would have to go a little bit earlier, which was fine with me as long as I got to see the movie. Amber and Becky left so early, I remember waking up, but not really much else even though I was sitting up and talking and stuff. Such a weird feeling.
I got up the next morning to go meet the other girls at their Tube station. They said to meet at McDonald's, so I assumed they were going to eat there, so I got a bagel and tea before meeting up with them. Turns out it was just a meeting place, so I just ended up sitting with them when they got breakfast later. We went to pick up our tickets for the movie at the theater, and they informed us that they had bought more tickets for a theater outside of London. Yes, second fail. It wasn't a problem to get them transferred to this theater, but I just about died. We walked around until the movie started, and then settled into our (assigned) seats in the huge theater.
I thought it was weird that they hadn't had a midnight showing or anything, but I was just glad to be seeing it. When the lights dimmed and the previews finally ended, the curtain closed and you could feel the excitement. The curtain opened and everyone started clapping and cheering. It was awesome. There are no words for the next three hours. I laughed...I cried...I was just in awe. Best HP yet. It was unbelievable. When it was over, I was ready to hit rewind and watch it again. I would have gladly sat there for another three hours if they had released the second part, too. I can't wait for the next one :) After the movie, we just talked about it for awhile as we walked towards Millennium Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, and the Tate Modern. 
The bridge is so cool. I was kind of obsessed with the design and also the fact that it was destroyed by Death Eaters in the 6th movie.... St. Paul's was also amazing. The dome from the inside was gorgeous, and everything was so beautifully lit and shiny haha. After that, we started heading back towards the bridge towards the Tate Modern, but the other girls said they were planning on doing all of that the next day so I went by myself. It was a Friday so the museum closed late, so I went to find food first since I was, once again, starving since I had just eaten that bagel early that morning. I walked over to Borough Market, which is a huge market with tons of booths. You can get any kind of food or treats you want, or meat and fish and cheese and all that, too. I got fish and chips because you kind of have to when you're in London. It was amazing. I pretty much inhaled it, though, because I was so hungry, which in hindsight wasn't the best idea. 
But it was so good. Then I headed back over to the Tate and walked around in there for a couple hours. Most of the art was really cool, especially the Liechtenstein and Warhol stuff. Other pieces I could have done without. Like the video of a naked woman covering herself in blood and then rolling around in bird feathers. Don't really understand stuff like that. After walking around for a while, I realized how tired I was and decided to go home and go to sleep. I looked at my watch, and it was about 7pm. Stupid sun sets at 4pm there. Really throws me off. I headed home anyway so I could get a good night's sleep before meeting up with Mara and her friends the next day. Someone in Amber's hall was playing "Only Girl in the World" or whatever it's called on repeat for like three hours straight. I watched Bones and passed out. YOWZA!
The next morning, I headed out to meet up with Mara and her friends at the train station. Again, it was SOO great to see someone from home. And all her friends were amazing. They were all so nice and easy to talk to and get along with. The day was kind of unorganized, but really fun :)
We went back to Borough Market for food, and then we walked over to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London because I hadn't seen it yet and they didn't really have plans. We also went to Oxford Street to go to this store called Primark, which is a lot like Target but just clothes. It's all really cheap, but it was also extremely crowded. Since there is no Thanksgiving here, there is no specific day when people start Christmas shopping, and it was in full swing. We were really overwhelmed by all the people, so we just went to get coffee. But not before one of the girls went through a revolving door the wrong way and almost took out the person on the other side, who kind of freaked out when she came out the other side. It was kind of funny. After shopping, we hung out at their hostel for a little bit while they all got ready for their Thanksgiving dinner that night. Then we went to Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland for a little while, but apparently we went to the wrong part. We were in the carnival area, but I guess there was another part that was mostly just lights and more calm. Oops. Then I had to go meet up with the other girls for dinner and the show we got tickets to. Mara's entire group walked me to the Tube station and helped me find it, it was so nice! When I left, Mara was like, "See you back in LA." It was so weird to think about that. Only five more weeks! When I met back up with the other girls we found an Indian restaurant and it was amazing. I had never had Indian food before, and it may be my new favorite thing ever. Delicious. 
Then we went to the theater for the play. It was called "Deathtrap," and Jonathon Groff from Glee was in it. It was really entertaining, but I still kind of wish we had seen a musical since EVERYTHING is playing there right now. If I had known that beforehand I would have planned for a show every night. This play was "a comedy thriller," which I think is a good description. It was kind of funny at times, and also made me jump out of my chair more than once. The story is really hard to explain because essentially the two main characters are playwrights who are kind of writing the play as it's unfolding. It was pretty cool. After the play, we waited outside the stage door, but Jonathon Groff didn't come out. The other actors in the play did, but he didn't Lost a few points in my book...it's not even like there were a bunch of people waiting. There were only about 15 of us. Oh well, we tried. I headed back to Amber's and went to sleep, since I had to get up at 4am to take the night bus to the train station to take the other bus to the airport to get back to Paris. As I was leaving, some really drunk kids were walking into the building carrying huge traffic cones and the guy at reception was kind of freaking out about it. All par for the course for 4am in a dorm. Glad to see not much is different across the world. I took one of the double decker buses to the train station, and I sat in front on the second level. It was soooo much fun! Kind of scary being so high up and on the wrong side of the road, but still awesome. At the train station, apparently I was walking the wrong way because some random stranger stopped me and asked if I was looking for Victoria Station and told me that it was the other direction. So considerate! Especially for 5:30 in the morning. I passed out on the bus on the way to the airport, and kind of blindly made my way to security since my contacts felt like they were glued to my eyes from sleeping on the bus. You can only take one bag, not even a suitcase and a purse, so I was holding all my books that didn't fit into my suitcase. As I was waiting in line there was a little boy who had run away from his mom and gotten to the other side of security. His mom couldn't reach him and one of the guards stood up and yelled, "Breach!" and went to go help, it was so funny. I put all my stuff in the plastic bin to put through the scanner, and someone put more of the plastic bins onto the pile, and in doing so knocked my whole bin off the tracks. It was way too early in the morning to impress people with my reflexes. Then, another one of the guards commented on all the books I had with me: "That's a lot of reading material for one flight." I told her there's not exactly a surplus or wide selection of books in English in Paris. Anyway, my impression is that English people are very cheerful and friendly in the morning :) The flight was uneventful besides the kid behind me who kind of stared at me the entire flight. Reading, he was staring, woke up from my nap, he was staring. Kind of disconcerting. The RER back into Paris was long and I was so tired at this point. I got home, got to eat, and then had to leave again to go tutor the French student I'm helping with English. Then I met up with Amber and Becky for dinner and to give them back their keys. We got French Onion soup first and I can't believe I haven't had that yet. Sooooo delicious. Then we had our main dinner and then the most amazing dessert ever. Chocolate mousse and crème brulée. For the chocolate mousse, they brought out a HUGE bowl from which they served us, but first they just left the huge bowl there and we were like hyperventilating. It was all so delicious. I couldn't really move after, but it was totally worth it. Also, it had been raining and I was wearing my Converse so my feet were wet and freezing. By the time I got home I couldn't feel my big toe at all. Not a fun (lack of) feeling. I took a hot shower and could feel it again though so that was good.
Anyway, I think that's all for now. I'll probably remember more things from my trip later that I forgot to write about, but until then, bye for now! Strasbourg this weekend and Bordeaux the next!!
I would have been OK with not seeing that. Kind of really disturbing. After walking around there for a while, we went to the Crypt at St. Martin in the Fields for lunch. It was really bizarre - they've converted the crypt into a restaurant. After lunch, we went to Trafalgar Square to film our super awk "8 clap around the world" for SAA for Blue and Gold Week back at UCLA. After that, Amber went to class and Becky had to do some work, so I went to the National Gallery, where I spent the next three hours. There was so much to see I couldn't even believe it. I got to see so many amazing works of art I had learned about in high school. It makes such a difference when you can see them in person. I saw van Eyck's Arnolfini Wedding, which is really cool because there is a mirror behind the couple into which he painted his own reflection as if he were standing where the viewer is standing. I also saw Holbein's The Ambassadors, which has a huge distorted skull painted in the foreground. There was an elementary school class sitting there learning about it, so I stopped and listened for a little while. I loved listening to the suggestions the kids had for why the skull was painted there and what it means. I also saw Massys's The Ugly Duchess, and man is she ugly. They have van Gogh's Sunflowers, Monet's Water Lilies, and Seurat's Bathers at Asnières, which I did a project on in high school. There was such an amazing variety of art there. If I wasn't exhausted I could have stayed there for an entire day. Something about walking around museums just makes me so tired. I went to a book store so I could stock up on books in English and ended up walking out with four new books for only 20 pounds. Then I went to a coffee shop nearby to read and pass the time until I had to go meet Amber and Becky for dinner. I ended up talking to a kid sitting next to me for about an hour and a half. Yay random strangers! For dinner, we went to this Korean restaurant, which was delicious. Then we got some chocolate and went back to Amber's to change into PJs and watch Glee haha. Even though it took forever to actually watch Glee because she and Becky had to pack for Paris since they were leaving at 4am the next day. But Glee was great, as usual. The story was just OK but I loved the music! Just after we had fallen asleep, one of my other friends called me. I answered and Amber threatened to kill me because I had woken her up, which she had no recollection of doing the next morning which was kind of funny. But my friends were calling to inform me that the tickets they had bought for Harry Potter were for a theater in Scotland. Not London. Still not really sure how that happened. They said they were able to get tickets for the next day still, but we would have to go a little bit earlier, which was fine with me as long as I got to see the movie. Amber and Becky left so early, I remember waking up, but not really much else even though I was sitting up and talking and stuff. Such a weird feeling.I got up the next morning to go meet the other girls at their Tube station. They said to meet at McDonald's, so I assumed they were going to eat there, so I got a bagel and tea before meeting up with them. Turns out it was just a meeting place, so I just ended up sitting with them when they got breakfast later. We went to pick up our tickets for the movie at the theater, and they informed us that they had bought more tickets for a theater outside of London. Yes, second fail. It wasn't a problem to get them transferred to this theater, but I just about died. We walked around until the movie started, and then settled into our (assigned) seats in the huge theater.
I thought it was weird that they hadn't had a midnight showing or anything, but I was just glad to be seeing it. When the lights dimmed and the previews finally ended, the curtain closed and you could feel the excitement. The curtain opened and everyone started clapping and cheering. It was awesome. There are no words for the next three hours. I laughed...I cried...I was just in awe. Best HP yet. It was unbelievable. When it was over, I was ready to hit rewind and watch it again. I would have gladly sat there for another three hours if they had released the second part, too. I can't wait for the next one :) After the movie, we just talked about it for awhile as we walked towards Millennium Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, and the Tate Modern. 
The bridge is so cool. I was kind of obsessed with the design and also the fact that it was destroyed by Death Eaters in the 6th movie.... St. Paul's was also amazing. The dome from the inside was gorgeous, and everything was so beautifully lit and shiny haha. After that, we started heading back towards the bridge towards the Tate Modern, but the other girls said they were planning on doing all of that the next day so I went by myself. It was a Friday so the museum closed late, so I went to find food first since I was, once again, starving since I had just eaten that bagel early that morning. I walked over to Borough Market, which is a huge market with tons of booths. You can get any kind of food or treats you want, or meat and fish and cheese and all that, too. I got fish and chips because you kind of have to when you're in London. It was amazing. I pretty much inhaled it, though, because I was so hungry, which in hindsight wasn't the best idea. 
But it was so good. Then I headed back over to the Tate and walked around in there for a couple hours. Most of the art was really cool, especially the Liechtenstein and Warhol stuff. Other pieces I could have done without. Like the video of a naked woman covering herself in blood and then rolling around in bird feathers. Don't really understand stuff like that. After walking around for a while, I realized how tired I was and decided to go home and go to sleep. I looked at my watch, and it was about 7pm. Stupid sun sets at 4pm there. Really throws me off. I headed home anyway so I could get a good night's sleep before meeting up with Mara and her friends the next day. Someone in Amber's hall was playing "Only Girl in the World" or whatever it's called on repeat for like three hours straight. I watched Bones and passed out. YOWZA!The next morning, I headed out to meet up with Mara and her friends at the train station. Again, it was SOO great to see someone from home. And all her friends were amazing. They were all so nice and easy to talk to and get along with. The day was kind of unorganized, but really fun :)
We went back to Borough Market for food, and then we walked over to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London because I hadn't seen it yet and they didn't really have plans. We also went to Oxford Street to go to this store called Primark, which is a lot like Target but just clothes. It's all really cheap, but it was also extremely crowded. Since there is no Thanksgiving here, there is no specific day when people start Christmas shopping, and it was in full swing. We were really overwhelmed by all the people, so we just went to get coffee. But not before one of the girls went through a revolving door the wrong way and almost took out the person on the other side, who kind of freaked out when she came out the other side. It was kind of funny. After shopping, we hung out at their hostel for a little bit while they all got ready for their Thanksgiving dinner that night. Then we went to Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland for a little while, but apparently we went to the wrong part. We were in the carnival area, but I guess there was another part that was mostly just lights and more calm. Oops. Then I had to go meet up with the other girls for dinner and the show we got tickets to. Mara's entire group walked me to the Tube station and helped me find it, it was so nice! When I left, Mara was like, "See you back in LA." It was so weird to think about that. Only five more weeks! When I met back up with the other girls we found an Indian restaurant and it was amazing. I had never had Indian food before, and it may be my new favorite thing ever. Delicious. 
Then we went to the theater for the play. It was called "Deathtrap," and Jonathon Groff from Glee was in it. It was really entertaining, but I still kind of wish we had seen a musical since EVERYTHING is playing there right now. If I had known that beforehand I would have planned for a show every night. This play was "a comedy thriller," which I think is a good description. It was kind of funny at times, and also made me jump out of my chair more than once. The story is really hard to explain because essentially the two main characters are playwrights who are kind of writing the play as it's unfolding. It was pretty cool. After the play, we waited outside the stage door, but Jonathon Groff didn't come out. The other actors in the play did, but he didn't Lost a few points in my book...it's not even like there were a bunch of people waiting. There were only about 15 of us. Oh well, we tried. I headed back to Amber's and went to sleep, since I had to get up at 4am to take the night bus to the train station to take the other bus to the airport to get back to Paris. As I was leaving, some really drunk kids were walking into the building carrying huge traffic cones and the guy at reception was kind of freaking out about it. All par for the course for 4am in a dorm. Glad to see not much is different across the world. I took one of the double decker buses to the train station, and I sat in front on the second level. It was soooo much fun! Kind of scary being so high up and on the wrong side of the road, but still awesome. At the train station, apparently I was walking the wrong way because some random stranger stopped me and asked if I was looking for Victoria Station and told me that it was the other direction. So considerate! Especially for 5:30 in the morning. I passed out on the bus on the way to the airport, and kind of blindly made my way to security since my contacts felt like they were glued to my eyes from sleeping on the bus. You can only take one bag, not even a suitcase and a purse, so I was holding all my books that didn't fit into my suitcase. As I was waiting in line there was a little boy who had run away from his mom and gotten to the other side of security. His mom couldn't reach him and one of the guards stood up and yelled, "Breach!" and went to go help, it was so funny. I put all my stuff in the plastic bin to put through the scanner, and someone put more of the plastic bins onto the pile, and in doing so knocked my whole bin off the tracks. It was way too early in the morning to impress people with my reflexes. Then, another one of the guards commented on all the books I had with me: "That's a lot of reading material for one flight." I told her there's not exactly a surplus or wide selection of books in English in Paris. Anyway, my impression is that English people are very cheerful and friendly in the morning :) The flight was uneventful besides the kid behind me who kind of stared at me the entire flight. Reading, he was staring, woke up from my nap, he was staring. Kind of disconcerting. The RER back into Paris was long and I was so tired at this point. I got home, got to eat, and then had to leave again to go tutor the French student I'm helping with English. Then I met up with Amber and Becky for dinner and to give them back their keys. We got French Onion soup first and I can't believe I haven't had that yet. Sooooo delicious. Then we had our main dinner and then the most amazing dessert ever. Chocolate mousse and crème brulée. For the chocolate mousse, they brought out a HUGE bowl from which they served us, but first they just left the huge bowl there and we were like hyperventilating. It was all so delicious. I couldn't really move after, but it was totally worth it. Also, it had been raining and I was wearing my Converse so my feet were wet and freezing. By the time I got home I couldn't feel my big toe at all. Not a fun (lack of) feeling. I took a hot shower and could feel it again though so that was good.I had a test on Monday morning, but I hadn't really studied or spoken French for the entire preceding week, so I think I did as well as I could have given the circumstances. Oh well, doesn't really matter anyway. Then, in class, I was talking to one of my friends about how excited I am for Thanksgiving, and this kid (from Canada) who I really can't stand was like: (copied from G-chat convo because I didn't want to retype it):"why does everyone like thanksgiving so much" i don't get it. you just eat and, what?"and then he said, "it's nothing special in canada, and you don't even get the day off so you have to start cooking after work and by then there's no point"
so i couldn't take it anymore
and i was like "wow, sounds like you're just a little bitter about it.
and he looked at me
and i was like "so, you really seem not to like anything, is there anything you DO like?"
and he just kept staring at me He is the most pessimistic person I know, and I can't take it anymore, so I've started calling him out on it. And it feels good. Even if everyone starts thinking I'm a beeze I don't even care at this point if he'll just get over himself.
and i was like "wow, sounds like you're just a little bitter about it.
and he looked at me
and i was like "so, you really seem not to like anything, is there anything you DO like?"
and he just kept staring at me He is the most pessimistic person I know, and I can't take it anymore, so I've started calling him out on it. And it feels good. Even if everyone starts thinking I'm a beeze I don't even care at this point if he'll just get over himself.
Anyway, I think that's all for now. I'll probably remember more things from my trip later that I forgot to write about, but until then, bye for now! Strasbourg this weekend and Bordeaux the next!!
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