YAY ENGLAND YAY

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be able to go to England for a weekend, having found MAD cheap tickets on Ryanair. It was quite a trip- I had to take a hour-long bus (or train) to the airport, fly there, take an hour and a half bus ride to London, and then another hour and a half bus ride to Oxford, arriving at approximately 3:30am. And then I had to do the same thing in reverse to get back. But it was totally worth it.

Oxford was beautiful but even more so it was great to see Andi again. We got to hang out all of Friday. We went to Starbucks and sat there talking for hours and it was grey and cloudy outside and it felt just like home. Plus people speak English in England. Unlike here. Totally cool. We walked around a bit, I got to go to a formal dinner in the dining hall (which was reminiscent of Harry Potter!), and then we played cards (of course). Late that night Amanda came, it was really nice to see her as well, and Andi and Amanda got along famously and we had chips and it was great. Andi and I explained (some of) the eccentricities of the soccer girls/parents to Amanda. Or at least we tried. And it was great. And that was Friday.

Saturday Andi had a soccer game. I got to watch and explain the game of soccer to Amanda. Super cool. Then we walked around Oxford. Andi's card got us into a lot of the colleges relatively hassel-free. Oxford was lovely. We got to see a lot of Harry Potter-like places, and we found a deer park with real deer in it, and saw the Alice in Wonderland candy shop, and went to Starbucks again. Then Amanda and I went to see The Prestige (SUCH a good movie) while Andi studied a bit (she is at Oxford, after all). Then more hanging out, and then bed. And that was Saturday.

Sunday we got up really early to head into London, and it was GREAT. It happened to be Remembrance Day, so there were memorial things going on, but it was cool to see that too. We took a double-decker tour bus and hit all the essential places. Buckingham Palace, where Andi was told to not climb on the statues while lying under one of the big lions, Tower Bridge, and The Tower of London, where the Yeoman Warders told me to "go away and get a life" (best quote of my life) much to the amusement of Andi and Amanda. We had lunch sitting on the base of the really tall thing in Trafalgar Square, took some pictures on the lions, went to Parliament and Westminster Abbey, and got a Peter Pan picture in front of Big Ben. Then we rode the bus some more, went to Starbucks again (do you sense a theme?), and soon headed back. It was a great trip. Andi and I spent some more time together before I had to leave at the unfortunate hour of 2 AM. But all in all, the trip was AMAZING. Right up until I left my luggage on the bus.

Yes, that's right, I left it on the bus. Fortunately, it was the Oxford-London bus and Andi was able to get it and ship it to me. But still. And of course it had important things in it like the book for the paper I was supposed to be writing, the charger for my dead cell phone, and my peanut butter. I will never learn to pack the important thing in my carry-on. But hey, it was 3:30 AM, what do you want from me? Even a very expensive mistake such as that couldn't ruin the trip though. I had some consolation Starbucks at the airport and eventually made it back, albeit luggage-less. But eventually it came, and all's well that ends well. It was still a great, great trip.

I'll be sure to put up pictures just as soon as I get a replacement charger for my dead computer. This semester is proving to be very deadly for my electronic devices.