Easy Jet > Ryanair.

Friday 26 November 2010

I woke up early this morning to pack for my weekend in Switzerland. I actually made a list last night of essential things to pack (passport, boarding pass, extra credit card, etc.) so I would not be stressing this morning.  I was just too tired to pack last night.

I had creative writing class this morning. The English playwright, Ben Musgrave, taught our class. He wrote the play, “Pretend you Have Big Buildings.”  The slightly graying haired man wore a collared polo under a bulky dark blue sweater with dark denim jeans. It was obvious to me that he was a creative writer by the way he talked. All of his words seemed so eloquent and planned like everything he was saying was a masterpiece. He just danced around what he was trying to say so it would sound descriptive and beautiful. I felt like his words were a tiptoe and I just wanted a run; you had to have a lot of patience to listen to his speak. Does that make sense? I had to leave class a little early to catch a train to the airport to leave for Switzerland.

Right now, I am in Switzerland at the airport. I can hear some cheery violin music playing in the café next to me while I wait for Meredith’s plane to arrive at the airport. I should only be waiting a half hour more or so and then we are off in search of our hostel!  Meredith did all the research and found one that includes a transportation and breakfast which will be sweet.  I thought I would use this time to figure out how to get to the center of Geneva from here and asked the tourist information desk. She was not kind or amiable. She pointed me in the direction of the train, using two words, “that way” and motioned to my left. I don’t like that I can’t speak the language to communicate in other countries and I understand that it is annoying. As part of her job, isn't it her responsibility to at least be somewhat pleasant to visitors.

I like to sit by the window on flights so I can see the skyline as the plane is landing. It was gorgeous tonight. The sun was setting and the lights were on in all the villages. Geneva is on the water so we flew in over the Lake Leman. It reminded me of flying into NYC when you can see the statue of liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge from the air. Both are just so pretty and really cool to see from so far away. This flight was so much smoother than when I have flown with Ryanair. The staff was more friendly and the seats were more comfortable.  I'm not going anywhere the rest of the semester but when I come back to Europe (Olympics, anyone?? I think yes!) I will be much more inclined to book with Easy Jet because it was just a much better experience.

As I was walking from my plane to passport control, I knew we were in the land of luxury watches because more than half of the poster sized adverts were for premium watches. After I got through all of that, I withdrew 50 Franks from the ATM and I meandered into a convenience store and bought a couple Swiss chocolate bars. Yummm. 

The candy bars weren’t high priced or expensive chocolate but they were so delicious. So much better than the chocolate bars I have tried in Britain. I don’t know if it’s because I have high expectations for the chocolate here (and I planned to enjoy a lot of chocolate this weekend!) or if it really that much tastier. Either way, I enjoyed it. 

Meredith finally arrived and we found each other quickly and easily. Her flight was about an hour late but I did not mind because I got to catch up on the blog. Finally. FINALLY. After reuniting with a big, obnoxious friend hug we sorted out how to get to our hostel via train and then via tram. It was a pretty painless process. The city is not big at all, so that’s convenient. I keep comparing everything to London’s size which is just ridiculously huge and no city in the world is even comparable in size. London just engulfs everything remotely close to it, I feel like.

I can’t even tell you how much more comfortable that bed was than my bed in Harrow. The mattress is completely foam, which is exceptionally more comfortable than my bed with springs grinding into my sides all night. I can not wait to sleep in my own bed at home in Indy. Twill be a glorious night of sleep.

The hostel was huge. Apparently, it was under construction and only half of the rooms are available. There are 250 rooms now. Wow. Biggest hostel I have ever stayed in. The receptionist recommended an ‘inexpensive’ restaurant upon our request for a good place to eat. Ha. We found it and it was about 20 Franks per person. The Frank is about the same as a dollar; it’s like $.95 for one Frank right now. We decided that restaurant is going to be our splurge restaurant of the trip. Geneva is the most expensive city in Switzerland which is the one of the most expensive countries in Europe. Dandy. It was fine, I’m only going to study abroad once in my life, so I haven’t really been worried about money this entire semester. Why start in Switzerland, right?

Meredith and I walked around a bit more and wondered into the shady part of town. Yikes. We walked by a few gentlemen’s club and saw a woman wearing close to nothing on display staring out a glass window modeling herself for passerbys. Not what you want. The two of us quickly retraced our steps back to our hostel. We decided on a pizzeria a few blocks from where we are staying. We split one so it wasn’t too expensive.

We came back to our hostel and walked around, then got ready for bed. I am looking for tomorrow for more adventures!

Saturday 27 November 2010

Apparently people go to sleep early and wake up extra early here because breakfast in our hostel was served from 6:30am to 9am (from the point of view of a college kids, this is early!). We did not want to miss it since it was included in the price of our hostel. Meredith set our alarm for 7:45am so we would have time to get downstairs before the food was gone. Good choice. I stuffed myself so I could have a small lunch since everything is so expensive here. (More details will come later.. I had cereal, yogurt, three slices of bread and jam, a glass of orange juice and cup of hot chocolate. It was delicious. I could go for another glass of juice right now, actually.

When we finished we lingered in the kitchen for awhile hoping our roommates would be awake so we could turn the light on. We were so wrong. They were all soundly asleep despite their alarms that were set before ours. What’s the deal with that? Anyway, we get back and get ourselves ready for the day in our community bathroom next door. You have to use your room key to enter our bedroom, use our personal lockers and the bathroom. After we get ready, we head downstairs and ask the receptionist for recommended places to visit in Geneva. She was helpful and pointed out some places we needed to see.

We started off our morning at 9:30am; that was early for college kids to be exploring. The receptionist recommended we take the bus to the United Nations building but we weren’t having that. She said it’s about a twenty-five minute walk and we figured we would rather see the city in person that peering through a cloudy bus window.

I'm so glad we decided to walk because the views were gorgeous! It began snowing pretty steadily during breakfast and by the time we started our walk it was already sticking to the ground. We walked through a really nice park, La Perle du Lac (I assume it translates to Park on the Lake....just made that up though) just off Lake Leman. The paths were so even and manicured with the trees covered in a blanket of snow. The perfect desination for a romantic walk with Caleb through this peaceful park in Switzerland. We moseyed through the park and eventually turned left and headed up Avenue de France to get to the UN building. A random bus pulled up and when we approached it, we asked the driver which routes we would take us to our destination. We waited about fifteen minutes and no bus came.  Our hands were frozen. I felt like my toes could fall off at any moment and I wouldn’t even notice because they were numb from being so cold. I just wanted to be inside. Meredith urged we walk up the road (a hill) to the UN Building and that was probably the best idea because it wasn’t far of a walk after all. We made it to the top of the hill after fifteen minutes probably.

La Perle du Lac

 La Perle du Lac

La Perle du Lac

La Perle du Lac

 

La Perle du Lac

La Perle du Lac

La Perle du Lac

La Perle du Lac

Love this!

We asked a police officer for directions to the Red Cross Museum and somehow he understood what we were asking even though he obviously spoke French. He pointed us in the right direction for the Red Cross Museum. The international headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland. Meredith’s sister, Katie had been to Geneva before and recommended we check it out. I’m so glad we did because later in the day when we were in the more "touristy" part of town, cheesy Red Cross souvenirs were everywhere. I guess it’s the thing to do in Geneva.

As I was taking pictures in the museum, I really felt like one of my sorority sisters, Katie Day. She studied abroad last semester and she took a bunch of pictures in museums she went to. She love exploring and document every moment of her adventures. Katie, if you are reading this, I hope you are laughing to yourself. :)

We saw this before we went inside. It's across the street from the UN Building. We were unsure of what it was for, but when we were in the museum I saw a poster with this image from a few decades ago, warning kids about landmines.

Millions of files (there was another whole row of cabinents about double this size) of prisoners of war documents from World War I. Meredith found one cabinet with a version of her mother's maiden name on the front.

The gold circle is a replica of the fist Nobel Peace Prize granted to Henry Dunant and Frederic Passy in 1901 for humanitarian works and founding Geneva Convention which later evolved into the Red Cross.

Surgical kit used for amputations in 1870

There were a ton of tapestries that lined the walls. These giants sheets of fabric formed a path to follow around the museum. Each had a picture and a description. It felt like I was walking through a virtual storybook.

We jumped on a tram back to the center of town and got off near the train station. We figured there would be some cheap food for lunch. Wrong. Again. We walked into McDonald’s because it couldn’t be too expensive? Bah. I bought two cheeseburgers for 5 Franks. An order of fries was almost 4 Franks. Not what you want.

Waiting for the tram

$5 worth of food? "I'm not in America" Part 7,654.

We walked around for a bit, popping into a few stores. Mere had to use the bathroom and we tried to go in the train station but it cost 2 Franks. Also, not what you want. We waited for a tram to take us back to our hostel so we could use the toilet for free. Not real life. Waiting for the tram took about an hour.

Also, there was a VERY sketchy woman in our hostel. She was sleeping when we left at about 10am and when we got there about 2pm she was still asleep. We walked in and turned the lights on without knowing she was curled up in her bed. I thought to myself, "C’mon lady! You are in Switzerland…you should be exploring!"  She first pulled the covers over her head to shield the light. After a few minutes she scurried out of bed and was wearing no pants! What?! We stayed in the room to warm up a bit more and then left for "Old Town".

Down the street from our hostel where we waited for the tram

Down the street from our hostel where we waited for the tram

This was the more "urban" part of town if that is even possible in this tiny city. It took us well over an hour to get there even though it was not far away at all. We probably could have walked there faster, even in the snow. Public transport was unreliable and waited over 20 minutes for a bus to old town. That wouldn't happen in London, whatsoever. Plus, it was just so cold out. We were frozen and getting on the bus seemed like a great way to avoid that. Once we got on, it was so crowded. I'm talkin' so squished that I was propped up against people on all sides to keep my balanced. Then, when people needed to get out they would just barrel past you knocking over people. The woman behind me was literally resting her shopping bag on my boot. Meredith and I just lost it and were laughing so hard we couldn't breathe! I don't know why it was so hilarious to us, but it was. Maybe it's the kind of screnario when you know you aren't supposed to be laughing so it's so much more difficult to stop. You know?

We somehow made it to Old Town and deboarded the tram and walked around. We headed to Jardin Anglais (tranlates to English Garden). Meredith wanted to see a flower clock that's famous in Geneva. We never found it. I'm convinced it was a ground clock and covered in all the snow. We did get some beautiful pictures (which I was so thrilled about!) and got to play in the snow. After playing, we headed back to the main street and popped into some shops and walked through the market. The market was no competition compared to London's I am proud to say. :)

People were using umbrellas as if was raining....Europeans are weird.

Tram time.

Sweet street lamp, yo.

Chocolate shop. Don't really know what these were exactly, but they were expensive. The smallest was 10 Franks.

Streets of Geneva

Jardin Anglais

Best Friends traveling the world together. So blessed.

Jardin Anglais was on the water so we had a beautiful view of the lake as we walked through the park.

This part of town was designed using as little straight lines as possible...pretty cool, huh?

Grand Rue as the sun goes down (the main street in Old Town).

 Just off Grand Rue, a bit blurry, but still pretty cool.

The toy store we had to go into. For obvious reasons.

Market time.

We headed to the local grocery, Coop, and picked up some snacks. I'm always hungry. It's constant. Anyway, then we waited for the tram and headed in the direction of our hostel so we could walk back to the restaurant from the night before. We wanted to check it out since it was a personal recommendation for the receptionist at our hostel. The food was for sure worth the wait. It was so delicious. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Yummmm.  I got homemade ravoli and Mere got lasagna. We got bread with the meal. The restaurant (I'm annoyed at myself because I can't remember the name of it now), was adorable, so cute.

After dinner, we were pretty tired from the long, cold day so we headed back to the hostel to warm up and fall asleep.

Dear Hillsong, Come back with me to Indy, please?

Sunday 21 November 2010

Meredith left about 9am and I chose to stay in bed and continue sleeping. It was well worth it because I felt refreshed when I woke up. I slept in until almost noon, but after a long weekend I was absolutely exhausted. After I woke up I showered, had lunch and left for Hillsong.

I love going to HIllsong. I’ve never actually looked forward to going to church until now. It’s less about being ‘churchy’ and more about knowing that Jesus saved and loving people and your community. I love that. I just feel so welcome whenever I walk in the doors. It’s really cool to me, how I walk into The Dominion Theatre and I immediately feel revived and relaxed. I absolutely love it. The music is incredible; the singers are so talented and it’s like being at a concert during worship. The lights are shining different colors and people are jumping in unison to the rythym (not me usually, I’m typically always off beat…not shocking if you really know me) and the singers are bouncing around on stage. I always thought our music at Indian Creek was phenomenal but after going to Hillsong I’m not sure anything will compare. I will be quite, quite sad when I leave my last service at Hillsong in a couple weeks. It probably sounds crazy, but I have been seriously considering applying for an internship in NYC next summer so I can continue going to church there. They have a branch in New York and I would love to be a part of it. The ‘parent’ branch is in Syndey and hopefully someday I will get to go to a service there as well. We’ll see. I think it will happen if I really want it to.  Just writing about this is getting me excited about being at Hillsong. That is crazy. I’ve never experience church like this before and I don’t think I ever want it to stop.

After church, I had made plans to meet my roommate from freshmen year at Butler, Caitlin, and her sorority sister Nicole. They are both studying in Limerick, Ireland and were in London for the weekend for the Harry Potter premiere. I decided to show them Covent Garden. It’s an area in Central that has lots of shops and restaurants. It’s a bit touristy but a lot of locals hang here as well. Covent Garden was decorated for Christmas which was beautiful. Huge candy apple red decorative ornaments hung from the ceiling. We briefly walked around and soon decided to eat dinner at an Indian place in the lower part of the shopping center. There was a mini orchestra playing and the music drew us to the restaurant. Nice public relations event, huh?  I got a chicken and rice meal that was pretty good. I don’t think I had ever had real, authentic Indian food before.  It was decent but nothing to write home about. It was really nice to get to chat with friends about Butler and hear stories of their study abroad experience.  I enjoyed the evening.  Afterward Caitlin and Nicole headed back to their hostel and I went back to Harrow.

Monday 22 November 2010

When I arrived at work, I received an email from Lucette saying she was working from home and she emailed me tasks to do.  I had to dedupe two email lists and manually delete the multiples. Once I finished, I continued my efforts of researching all of the Olympic sponsors and creating a briefing on each one. I am almost halfway done now. Can’t wait to be finished with this project!

After I got home from work, Elizabeth and I walked to Tesco (grocery store) and did a speed shop. I only had a couple hours to shop and get back to my flat because Christine and I arranged to get drinks later than night. I love grocery shopping, especially since I know where everything is in the store now and I can do it quickly and efficiently. I have finally graduated from eating sandwiches literally EVERY meal so going to the grocery is also much more exciting. I’ve “learned” how to make pasta. Meaning, I know to boil water and dump the noodles in for ten minutes. Elizabeth and I also found this really delicious pasta sauce that you just heat up and add to the noodles. So good. I’ve still got a ton to learn about how to actually cook but I am happy to eat something other than a sandwich. I have been content with them because they are fast and always tasty.

When I got home and fixed some pasta (yum time) and then changed out of my work clothes and hopped on the tube to meet Christine and Baker Street. We left shortly after to go to Zoo Bar in Leicester Square. It’s student nights on Monday and if you are on the guest list you can get in free. Sounds glamorous, but all you have to do to get on the “guest list” is email them. Haha. We emailed them and it was great.

We met these two men that work in advertising in London. They seemed really nice and told a about what they do since that it's a field Christine and I are both interested in. Christine is a communications major. We stayed a few hours at the bar talking to them. The atmosphere was cool and it was a fun night.

Tuesday 23 November 2010

I had class Branding class in the morning. I was feel a little sick all day so after class I took it easy and just rested in my room. I worked on homework and tried to catch up on the blog. Pretty boring day, but I guess not every day in London has to be incredible. Normal days are expected sometimes.

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Today was another day on the job at Canary Wharf. My boss was with clients all day so I was given work via email. I had to compare two GIANT email lists and delete the name of clients who were on both lists. I just feel like there has to be  software to do that for us…I don’t see how that was a valuable use of my time to spend 4 hours on that. It’s done. One list was clients who have RSVPed to an event in a couple weeks and the other multiple lists (several hundred names in all) were of people we invited but have not RSVPed. We are sending a reminder email and don’t want to send it again to the people who have already committed. Felt like a waste of time, but Lucette said it needed to be done, so I did it.  After that, I had  to add a piece of data to nearly 150 Chinese companies in our database. What a joy that was.

After work, I headed back to Harrow and spent the rest of the evening at Harrow blogging, doing some homework and Skyping with the fam.

Thursday 25 November 2010

I had class all day for DesignComm and I finally have got my act together for that class. We had group tutorials with Colin, the module leader (the word professor doesn’t exist here) and discussed ideas for the final project. It was really helpful for me. I had two ideas for my project: one about the tube (pictures were posted a couple days ago) and one about how people eat meals in a certain order. For example, Elizabeth and I were at McDonald’s a couple weeks ago and she ate her hamburger around the outside, leaving the middle and then consumed all her fries. So weird to me. Anyway, that gave me an idea for this “Journey” project. I ended up choosing the tube project mostly and had already taken 120+ pictures for it. I started working on it yesterday afternoon. I probably spent almost 3 hours on it. But this morning, when I went to class, I was thinking about my assignments and realized I never took my flashdrive out of the computer. I saved all my work on that flashdrive and I’m pretty sure it’s gone forever. So annoyed at myself. I had already left Harrow when I realized and wouldn’t be returning until Sunday. I texted my friend Hannah and asked if she could check. She did and couldn’t find it. So, basically I just wasted 3 hours of London time for absolutely nothing. It’s fine. I’ll redo it, but still so mad at myself. I was hurrying to leave the computer lab to Skype and just wasn’t thinking about it. Maybe it will turn up, maybe.

For dinner I experience my first Thanksgiving in an English pub and it was strange. We had a planned dinner with our IFSA group at Smollensky’s near Trafalgar Square in an area called “The Strand”. It was a really nice area of town with lots of people about. This area has lots of hotels, restaurants and a few theatres. We asked a police officer for directions (because Elizabeth’s sense of direction isn’t great, and she loves leading the pack). The police officer told us one way and a guy he was talking to said another and the homeless man on the side of the street started cussing out the police officer. All at the same time. I love London. We figured it out and made it to the restaurant about 15 minutes late. It didn’t matter because late doesn’t really exist here even though people say it does. Let’s just say we sat at our table for about an hour and a half before we were served. Granted, there were over 60 people in our group, but why in the world would you tell us to get there at 5:30pm if the food isn’t going to be ready until well after 7pm. The delicious food made up for the wait, though! Or, maybe we were just way to hungry. Not sure. I had spicy black bean soup which was so good. When I ordered it, I figured it would actually have beans in it, no. It had the consistency of a thick broth but it was quite tasty. I also ordered steak which was absolutely delicious! I was nervous because my Dad warned that typically English steak is very well done and I probably wouldn’t like it since I order mine, medium rare. I was delightfully surprised when the steak had a warm, pink center. It was so filling. The steak was served with chips (fries) and cooked Portobello mushroom and tomato. Very good. I’m so glad I didn’t order the turkey, I knew it would not be what I think of as turkey. I don’t think people outside of America can imitate American food. Elizabeth was disappointed with her turkey. I knew she would be. For dessert, I had the most amazing peanut butter cheesecake. So much delicious on that plate. I’d never had it before but it was amazing! I’ll for sure have to get it again!

After the three hour meal, I returned back to Harrow to watch Love Actually with Elizabeth and her friend Katrina who was visiting from the States. I can’t believe I fell asleep but I guess I was really tired. I had been looking forward to watching it all semester since it takes place in London, but I just could not keep my eyes open. Oh well, it will still be the same movie when I get home and I'll still recognize all the scenes from London. I just love watching movies knowing you have been to the place it was filmed. It’s almost like you are a part of the movie since you have seen it and experienced that place in real life.

Alpha Chi comes to London.

Thursdsay 18 November 2010

I had class in the morning for Design as Communication. It was a normal class and I started working on my my sketchbook that is due in a couple weeks. I have completed all the required material but it’s just not organized or in my sketchbook to turn in. It’s just a formality, but I’ll have to spend a few hours getting everything together for submission. That’s the way it is and I knew that from the beginning so I will have to deal. Class ended at 3pm.

I had heard about “Christmas on Bond Street” through Think London. Our company had free tickets to the hospitality suite. I, unfortunately, was too late to respond to the email so I didn’t get the tickets. However, it was a free, public event so Elizabeth and I decided to head into Central to check it out.

The streets in London have been lit up for quite some time, I guess this was just the official unveiling event. We got a late start heading into Central because Elizabeth had class and we wanted to eat dinner before we left to avoid spending money since we have tons of food in the flat.

When we got there, we heard musicians andwatched street performers. It was packed as usual. I think after living in London, I feel a sense of calm in a crowded place. I’m not sure if that makes sense, but now I really enjoy being in crowded places. The energy and atmosphere is just irreplaceable. We got to take lots of sweet photos of the city at night, which I was excited for!

Christmas is a comin'!

Love this!

Two of my sorority sisters from Butler came to visit for the weekned. Maggy is studying in Spain and her flight got in late Thursday night. Meredith is studying in Italy and she arrived on Friday evening. Picking up Maggy was an adventure in itself. She had to rebuy her train tickets at the airport due to a credit card issue and the station I wanted her to meet me at wasn't available on the ticket machines so we were conversing over phone trying to find a meeting place. We figured it out and decided to meet at King's Cross St. Pancras. It wasn't really convenient to get to back to Harrow but that's the best we could do.

We found each other with no problems because I asked around to see where trains from Luton airport arrive at King's Cross station. We also somehow managed to make the very last train back to Harrow. because of her flight's late arrival, I was really worried about this and that's why we were going to meet another station to catch the night bus. The last Metropolitan Line tube only went to Wembley park which is a few stations away from my flat. We got off the tube and walked to the nearest store. I asked how far of a walk it would be and if it would even be safe considering I did not know the way home whatsover. The very nice gentlement working said we should definitely call a cab because it's quite far and a bit sketchy. He gave us the number of a cheap cab company. We hit up an ATM for Mags and then waited at a nearby McDonald's for the driver to pick us up. I'm so thankful we called a cab because it was about a fifteen minute drive. It was only ten pounds for the cab and so much more convenient than walking.

After getting back to my flat, we got ready for bed and went to sleep. We stayed up for probably an hour catching up on each other's lives before drifting off to sleep.

Friday 19 November 2010

I woke up before Maggy because I had class in Central. I had a one-on-one tutorial session with Rowena (my Creative Writing professor) at Regents Campus. I submitted two EXTREMELY rough drafts of our final papers. We have to write one dialogue piece and one creative writing story. Maybe I’ll post them after they are done. Maybe. We’ll see how I feel about them when I turn them in. The dialogue piece is a fabrication of the conversation I had with the Pakistani man on the train to Birmingham about a month ago. The story is a fictional piece I made up about a pickpocket on the tube. Rowena gave me some valuable feedback. Now, all I need is willpower and motivation to finish the essay.

Maggy met me and Elizabeth at Oxford Circus tube stop (where class is). We hopped on a bus toward Camden Town. It’s a giant market in London. One of my favorites. I loved how I say that I have so many ‘favorites’ in London. I just love everywhere. Anyway, it was probably about a 35 minute bus ride, not too bad. We got off and spent a few hours shopping, walking though and having lunch. I bought a Christmas gift for Steph, Grant, Daniel and Mom. Get excited you guys! You’re going to love ‘em! For lunch, I had a Mexcian burrito that was phenomenal. At these markets, they have so many authentic food stalls from around the world. Maggy had Thai food and Elizabeth had Indian food.

We entered through a different part of Camden Market and I had never seen this route before. Of course, I took copious amount of pictures.

We had a couple hours to kill before meeting Meredith from her flight. We stopped at a proper (very British) English pub for a couple beers and chatting. I introduced her to Foster’s beer which has become another one of my favorites (I just have sooo many!) since being here. She enjoyed it.

We met Mere at Tottenham Hale Underground station.  Then we headed to Benito’s Hat, also my new favorite Mexican restaurant in the city. Christine and I found it a while back and it’s just delicious (and not to mention, the only Mexican resturant that tastes remotely similiar to America tex mex food!). I’ll be quite sad when I can’t dine here anymore. I presume I will be back a few more times before I leave London. It was so crowded we had to sit outside on the curb. Not real life. To me, it was worth it because it’s so yummy. While we were on the curb, the woman who lived in the flat behind us had to squeeze through us to get to her apartment. It was an awkward and moment to share with Mere and Maggy.

We headed to my flat in Harrow after dinner and got ready for a night out in the town. We did the whole shebang; got dressed up, walked through town and visited a mega-club in Piccadilly. We went to a nightclub called ‘On Anon’ and danced for hours. Fun times! After we left, we hit up the nearby McDonald’s for a late night snack and hopped on the night bus back to Harrow. It was quite a long, long bus ride. I'm talkin' nearly an hour and a half. We made it back safely and were exhausted.

Saturday 20 November 2010

We got back pretty late on Friday night/Saturday morning so we slept in until about 10:30am. After getting ready I took the girls to Borough Market near London Bridge. I knew they would love it. This market is unique to London and has so much energy with hundreds of people exploring the booths. I love this place in the city. Maggy tried a hamburger and the three of us each got our own cup of vegetable soup; it was full of rich flavor and sort of warmed my soul on such a chilly day.

Then, we hopped back on the Jubilee Line and went a few stops east to Canary Wharf. I wanted to show Maggy and Meredith my office at Canada Square. I think they were pretty surprised that I work there. It’s very metropolitan and a high profile part  of town because it is the banking part of the city. I guess seeing my office from their point of view gave me a new appreciation for it.

Meredith was adamant about seeing the 9 ¾ platform at King’s Cross station. It’s on one of the Harry Potter movies (or books?? I’m not really sure…) and since this was a truly "Potter Weekend" we had to make her dreams come true. It was unbelievable how many people were there to take pictures of a wall. I guess J.K. Rowling has done pretty well for herself considering her writing can get people this excited about a wall with a cart attached! I sort of want to see whichever movie this is in just so I can see it on the big screen. Hah. Anyway, we saw it and got our token, obligatory tourist pictures. I had been to the platform once before with my friends Christine and Mark but it was cool to see it again and to see Meredith get so excited about it. It is a bit difficult to find in the tube station because it's tucked between two platforms far away from the ticket booth. The first time I went we probably looked for fifteen minutes for it.

All the goons in line to have their pictures taken...

We had to pick up Meredith’s train ticket at Victoria Station so she could leave in the morning. I had put it on my credit card and she had paid me back. Since you need the card to print the ticket we needed to do it while I was with her. I did not plan on going with her to the station in the morning so this worked out well.  We passed the Wicked Theatre again and continued walking toward South Bank. I was pleasantly surprised at how well I knew my way around this part of town considering I don’t go to this side of the city much. I didn’t get us lost on our way to South Bank at all. Win. We stopped for a snack at McD’s and continued walking past Westminster Abbey and towards Houses of Parliament/Big Ben. We stopped for some key pictures.

Westminster Abbey

We continued on our stroll on South Bank across from the London Eye as I tried to get us to Embankment tube station, but failed a little because we walked past it. We were aiming to get to Tottenham Court Road and there was a direct tube from Embankment. It wasn’t a big deal and we just got on at the next station we passed. We walked by Herman Melville's house, which I had not seen before so that was a pleasant surprise.

We made it to Tottenham Court and stopped in T.K. Maxx (Not T.J., I add for emphasis) for a quick browse. Just down the road was Chipotle Mexican Grill, which Maggy had been looking forward to for a couple weeks now.  She was so excited when we walked into the restaurant that her eyes started to tear up. Not kidding here. She was that ecstatic about Mexican food. Of course, I was stoked because I absolutely LOVE it and miss it so much in London.

This was finally the few hours Meredith had been looking forward to since Spring of last year. When I had mentioned studying in London this fall, Meredith had already decided she was going to visit this weekend to see the Harry Potter premiere in London. We left Chipotle in plenty of time to get to the Odeon Theatre in Leicester (pronounced ‘lester’) Square. This is where the actual premiere screening of the film took place, so I wanted to buy tickets for Mere and us to see it here.

Potter Mania

Well, that didn’t quite work out according to plan. I try to print my tickets from the self-help machine and it didn’t work. It didn’t recognize my credit card. I wasn’t alarmed at all because British credit cards have a chip inside them that's used to read cards in machines like this. American cards don’t have the chip inside, so some machines/restaurants/stores won’t accept American cards. I go to the counter and show the attendant my card and booking confirmation number. Come to find out, I had actually looked the tickets for Leicester, England, which is a four-hour car ride away. I was so irritated at myself for making such a crucial mistake. I know my city. I know what things are called. I couldn’t believe I did this. More than that, I couldn’t believe that I screwed up this experience for Meredith to see her beloved Daniel Radcliffe in London. The attendant was quite nice and said I could get a refund and that this sort of thing happens a lot. I hastily asked where we could go in London to see the film tonight. It was crucial. She said Tottenham Court Road Odeon had tickets still. I asked if she could reserve them for us at this time, but she said she couldn’t. Ughh.

Nearly running to the tube, Maggy and Meredith followed me through the station to the Central Line so we could get to Tottenham Court. I stopped and asked for directions to the theatre and walked as quickly as I could. I was praying the entire time that they would still have tickets. Maggy and Meredith were struggling to catch up to me during this twenty minute process. I was not slowing down. I get inside and Maggy asks if there is tickets available, while I am on the phone trying to get a refund. I did get the money back on my card. And thanks to God, there were exactly three seats available in the theatre. Incredible! None of them were seated anywhere near each other, but I was just so relieved that Meredith would get to see it. It was a chaotic twenty minutes for me until I heard those words. I think Meredith’s dreams were crushed when we learned I screwed up the booking.

Mags had to go to the bathroom so we used the toilets and then were headed to a internet café to get her transportation to Luton Airport sorted out. We are leaving the theater when the woman tells us two seats miraculously (my words, not hers) opened up next to one of our seats. So somehow, by the grace of God we all got to sit together. It was absolutely perfect timing. Hallelujah!!! We exchanged the tickets and then walked to the internet café. Maggy had to change her original plan since we were seeing Potter an hour later than we thought. We figured out two options, take a (notably unreliable, but cheap) bus from Finchley Road (3 stops from my dorm) or a more expensive train ticket from King’s Cross. The wrench in the plan was that the tube would be closed and if Mere and I went into Central to help her find King’s Cross if the bus didn’t show we may not be able to get back to Harrow without paying for a cab for an hour and a half. To me, that just seemed dumb. Maggy wanted to take the cheaper bus so that is what we decided. We stopped at a grocery to buy some snacks for the movie and then went to the theatre.

The worker on the right was highly annoyed at us for taking pictures, well mostly me. Mere wasn't having it and wasn't keen on cooperating. That's cool. I still like her.

Mere was super excited for the show; Maggy and I were indifferent but glad she was happy.  As for how, I liked/disliked the film…I remember feeling like it was not something I would particularly want to watch again. The villain, Voldemort, is just gross to look at and one of the good characters is an elf that dies, but he is also just gruesome looking. As I am writing this, I can feel my face flinch as I’m thinking about how they look. The elf is tiny and frail with an abnormally large bald head. He’s wrinkly and his voice is squeaky. Voldemort’s skin is the color of chalk and his nose is stretched out the length of his face. It almost looks like it’s mashed against his skin.  There was one part of the movie where Ron’s arm is sevored and Hermione uses a potion to heal it. The sound effects were sizzling, like skin frying. Another time, an enormous snake “eats” the screen which is just gross to me. I don’t know, it just wasn’t cheery and delightful like I was expecting.  I don’t like seeing that kind of stuff and I during the scenes with those characters, I could feel myself looking away.

After the movie, we hurried back on the tube toward Harrow. I decided I was going to get off at Finchley Road and investigate the bus situation while Mere and Maggy went back to my flat to get her things. I wanted to save a few minutes by figuring out where the bus stop was in comparison to the tube station and find out when the last tube went back to Harrow. I found it, no problem and found out we had an hour and a half until the last tube to my stop. Whew. So relieved. Those two got back about two minutes after the bus was supposed to come. It hadn’t yet and I was glad. We briskly walked (mostly, I briskly walked , they just followed) and we got to the stop about two minutes before the coach pulled up. I paid for Maggy’s ticket because she had no more pounds and she will pay me back in American dollars next semester. No big deal. I was just glad that she was going to get on the bus. Little did we know, this wasn’t the bus we looked up online so it was almost seventeen pounds ($25) instead of seven. I already bought the ticket for her when she yelled, “Wait” but it was too late. This was easier and the bus was here. She got on. She ended up spending a few extra pounds than she would have if she would have taken the train, but oh well. This was stressful on me trying to figure it all out before everything closed. At this point in my time abroad, I have found that is almost always more worth it to spend the extra money and just know everything will work out rather than trying to save ten bucks and just hoping/stressing that things will come together. To me, it’s worth the extra money to buy a train you know will be on time as opposed to a cheap bus that sometimes just skips stops, or to buy a lock for your things at a hostel knowing your stuff will be safe instead of keeping your $3 dollars. It’s just worth it.

After Maggy left, Meredith and I walked into a Subway for a ‘snack.’ Hah. It was midnight and I definitely ordered a six inch sub and ate it all in about three minutes. That’s my way,I  guess. I’m in college, my body can handle it. Meredith loves Subway and she can’t get it in Italy so this was her chance. Win again for her. We chatted for a bit during our snack and then went back to Harrow for the night. Once again, it was a late night and we were ready to pass out when we walked in the door. I let Meredith sleep on my bed and I snuggled on the floor. I’m getting too old for lounging on the floor, I can tell you that!