Hello everyone!! I know you´re all anxiously awaiting my post about the Royal Wedding and my weekend in London! First, let me mention how incredibly thankful I am for the safety of my friends and family back in Alabama. I am astounded and horrified by the pictures coming out of my Sweet Home, especially in the Tuscaloosa area. I was worried sick while watching the radar in the middle of the night, and I am so blessed that everyone I know is okay. Please continue to pray for the areas and people affected by this terrible disaster. I have been so touched by the way my state has been coming together.
Now, on to more exciting things! I left for London Thursday morning. Traveling was quite the experience-taking a bus to the bus station, a bus to the bus station in Malaga, and then another bus to the airport in Malaga was exhausting enough, but then I had to take a train from Gatwick into the city followed by a metro ride to meet up with Colleen (my best friend from home, studying in London) and Hunter (my roomie from school, studying in Paris)! I used so many modes of transportation in one day! Things went pretty seamlessly until I arrived at Victoria Station in downtown London. At this point, Hunter was waiting for Colleen two metro stops away, so I decided to just go meet them rather than waiting at Victoria. This was my first mistake. It was rush hour at the busiest metro station I have ever seen. Absolute craziness. I managed to get myself to Picadilly Circus station, where I was to meet Hunter and Colleen. Right as I got off the train, my phone decided to be difficult and refused to call any number...and Hunter and Colleen were nowhere to be found. After circling the station several times and nearly throwing my phone against a wall, I swallowed my pride and decided to ask for help. The nice man who worked at the metro station had them paged (Colleen was thrilled at this news, apparently people don´t get paged in the metro that often...imagine.), but they still did not appear. At this point, I am starting to lose my cool a little bit. I´m in a foreign country with no way to contact my friends and I have literally ZERO idea where Colleen´s flat is. The nice metro man came to my rescue again by letting me use his phone (seriously he had to dial the number for me because I cannot understand international calling AT ALL) and I FINALLY located Hunter and Colleen...standing literally ten feet away from the exit of the station. I was a little frazzled but we laughed it off. I was so excited to see my friends that it didn´t even matter! We departed from the metro station and walked to Colleen´s flat, passing Trafalgar Square and the building where Colleen has classes on the way. After dropping our stuff off at the flat, we headed out to a 3-story bar/club called O´Neill´s. Upon arrival, we went up to the 3rd floor where there is a live band. One of my favorite moments of the trip happened when they played Sweet Home Alabama...there is nothing like hearing an anthem about your home state with your best friend from your home state while in a foreign country. Like I said, a wonderful moment. I´m not sure if I have ever screamed ´ROLL TIDE ROLL´ that loud ever in my life! We had so much fun at O´Neill´s.
The next morning was the big day...the Royal Wedding!!! We left Colleen´s flat pretty early so that we would be able to get to where we could see something since there were so many people. We stopped in a Starbucks for coffee and a little breakfast. As we walked along the River Thames, we were surprised that much of London seemed to be completely desserted. We were equally surprised as we approached Trafalgar Square to see it completely packed. Everyone was so excited. There were huge televisions set up in the square so that everyone could watch the ceremony and celebrations. Special shout-out here to the amazing grocery store Tesco and their unbelievable Royal Wedding specials on mini bottles of wine!! We watched the wedding amidst a crowd of thrilled English people. The energy was electric, and they were truly thrilled to have a new member of the Royal Family. Kate was a beautiful bride, and William looked so handsome...although I will admit that I am more of a Harry fan myself. Wasn´t he just precious?? Anyways, the wedding was a great experience, and I did have to shed a tear or two during it. This ended up working to our advantage. We decided to buy some souvenirs--Hunter and I got Union Jack flags with Will and Kate on them while Colleen, Caitlin, and Nick bought t-shirts. When Colleen informed the Indian man that I had cried through the ceremony, he let us have them for cheaper! Too funny. We left Trafalgar Square and found ourselves in Green Park, where we stopped to feast on some much-needed sandwiches and rest our tired legs. On the way, we managed to somehow receive another batch of drinks from a street cleaner...this was so funny and I have no idea how it really happened. We enjoyed our time in the park and then walked over to Buckingham Palace, where the reception was happening. We missed the Queen´s departure by about two minutes! We headed back to Colleen´s apartment, stopping in a few shops along the way. We spent some time relaxing at Colleen´s flat before going to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a very old and cute pub in London. Needless to say, we all slept very well Friday night!
Saturday was a day full of sighseeing and shopping. Well, it started with the most delicious breakfast ever at a place called Gail's. Check out the picture below. Colleen and the other Notre Dame students had a booze cruise Saturday night, and Colleen needed shoes! It was a pretty successful trip, if I do say so myself...she got some rockin´shoes. We walked around Covenant Garden and did some shopping, including the biggest Apple store in the world! Another highlight of this morning was my new obsession...CATH KIDSTON. If you´re ever looking for something to buy me, look no further:
http://www.cathkidston.co.uk/. And yes, they do ship to America...just saying. Obsessed. Anyways, after we had our fill of shopping, we decided to walk around the touristy stuff in London. We saw Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, the London Eye, Big Ben, the House of Parliament, London Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Tower Bridge, and the Tower of London...it was quite the busy day! Our legs were TIRED. While Colleen and her friends got ready for their cruise, Hunter and I went to the grocery store to buy things to cook for dinner--something we really have missed since we used to do it almost every night back in Charleston. Our food was delicious, of course. After sufficiently stuffing our faces, we got ready and decided to head out to the club where Colleen had celebrated her 21st birthday a few weeks earlier. Tiger Tiger is a hilarious place complete with a light-up dance floor and the best dancing music I've ever heard in Europe. We tore up the dance floor...In the process of our night at Tiger Tiger, I lost a contact, Hunter lost and found his brand new blazer, and everyone was jealous of our moves. Things got rather interesting when we decided to walk home, even though we weren't 100% sure where home was. Hunter was only speaking in a British accent at this point, and he started just asking everyone we saw on the street where Colleen's flat was. My personal favorite was when he asked a group of Asians who were obviously tourists...and didn't speak English. Not to worry, we made it home safely and slept very well!!
Sunday was the day Hunter had to fly back to Paris. We grabbed a quick lunch and coffee before making sure he had all his stuff and putting him on the tube back to the airport. Colleen and I were really exhausted, so after he left we just hung around and enjoyed each other's company. After ordering Papa John's for dinner (delicious) we climbed in her bed and watched a movie. It was amazing to relax and spend time with one of my favorite girls that I haven't seen in a long time! We went to bed pretty early because I had to be up early Monday morning to come back to Granada.
I didn't have class on Monday because it was Labor Day in Spain. So, I spent this day traveling back from my lovely weekend in London. I used a lot of modes of transportation again and arrived back at my apartment shortly before 9:00 PM, completely exhausted. I did a little homework and went to bed!! I still don't think I have fully recovered...traveling really takes it out of me! This week I have class, and on Friday I will be leaving to spend the weekend in Cadiz, a beach town about 4 hours away. This is a trip with my study abroad program, so all of my friends will be going! I'm very excited. I will return Sunday, only to leave again on Thursday for Paris. So much traveling in the next week and a half!! It is hard to believe that I will be on a plane 3 weeks from today. I have such mixed feelings that I cannot even handle it. On one hand, I am anxious and ecstatic to be coming home to see my family and friends. On the other hand, leaving Spain will be so sad! Plus, leaving means having to take exams, pack, and be on a plane for a long time...no thank you. I'm sure these feelings will only get more intense as my departure date gets closer.
Thanks for reading!! Love and miss you all so much.
Besos,
Shannon
 |
Royal Wedding Festivities |
 |
STARBUCKS |
 |
They are so cute. |
 |
Cheers, Tesco! |
 |
She is so pretty! |
 |
More Royal Wedding :) |
 |
My best friends in London! |
 |
Green Park |
 |
Buckingham Palace |
 |
Coffee at Gail's |
 |
Gail's, the best breakfast ever |
 |
Kate and William Foreva and Eva |
 |
Covenant Garden |
 |
Entrance to the mall |
 |
Westminster Abbey |
 |
London Eye |
 |
Best friends with Big Ben |
 |
St. Paul's Cathedral |
 |
Shakespeare's Globe Theater |
 |
Tower Bridge |