Well. I've done so much since my last blog. We moved to Endsleigh, my mom and dad came to visit, we went to Paris and Dublin, we saw many more plays, and we had ridiculous amounts of finals. Oh, finals. We all felt like we were locked up in the flats the last two weeks because we had so much work to get done.
Anyway, after the coach tour I moved into a flat with the lovely Miss Lydia White. My parents came to visit shortly afterward, and Jase and I got to show them all around our part of town! Later in the week, the four of us (mom, dad, Jase, and I) went to Paris for the day. We woke up early in the morning to take the Chunnel from Kings Cross Station. After getting on the train, we found that we were to be accompanied by a large group of obnoxious old Southern women. They were bedazzled from head to toe, and we overheard that they were spending the day in Paris as well. We got to the station in Paris and we could not find our "hop-on-hop-off" bus tour, though we searched for about 45 minutes. In the end, we decided to walk from the station down to Notre Dame, where we knew we could find our bus. It was quite a trek, even though we were used to all the walking. About five minutes into the walk, we realized that we weren't in the best part of town.... sex shops, sex shops everywhere. It only encouraged us to walk faster, though! Hah.
We finally arrived at Notre Dame, and we took a good look around. I had a mini debate with Jase over the accuracy of Disney's portrayal of the cathedral in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." I said that the details were amazingly accurate and felt like the artists did an amazing job, while Jase said that they portrayed it as much bigger than it actually is.
We went to lunch at a small cafe, and we had plenty of bread and cheese! (Dad only ordered cheese platters the whole day). Then we hopped on our bus (that we finally found!) and it took us all the way around the city, and we "hopped off" at the Eiffel Tower.
We decided to go all the way to the top! I'll have to admit, it was a little freaky. This thing isn't nearly as sturdy as it looks. We had to take two elevators to get to the top, and each little elevator car is suspended on one cable... we practically had to drag Mom on!
We rode around the city more after the Eiffel Tower, had some dinner, and headed back to the train station. We boarded the train, only to realize that we were still accompanied by the group of old ladies. They were even louder this time around, and Jase and I were seated right next to them. I soon found that I could do nothing but listen to their ridiculous conversations. I got so tickled at what they were saying that I began to write down my favorite one-liners:
1. "I thought that porridge was only in books." Another lady answers: "It's like grits."
2. "Honey, you hungry? I've got snickers bars and other stuff. I cared for my mother, who's a diabetic, for seven years."
3. One lady asks, "Who wants to go back to Paris ever again?" One lady, "NEVER EVER EVER AGAIN. RUDE, RUDE PEOPLE. Why go back there when there are so many nicer places to go to?"
4. "I'll gladly pay you for a beer."
5. *Talking on the phone* "We're about to go under the water, so I don't know if I can still talk to you!" Later... "I don't know if we went under water or over water!"
6. "I just want some black-eyed peas and cornbread cooking at home."
7. *telling a story* "... and his dad had diabeetus and died in '84..."
8. "I musta sat on something that really stinks!" *gets up to let friends in the seat, thrusts her butt in Jase's face in the process*
9. Referring to the bar car, disdainfully: "You know the one food that they didn't have up there? Cheeseburgers!"
10. Referring to a whole apple and orange: "I was expecting the fresh fruit to be cut up... I can't eat it like this!"
11. "I just want you to know I'm eating chicken salad with lettuce AND tomato! Feels good eating healthy!" Answer, "Proud of you!"
12. "I got you a water because they didn't have chardonnay."
13. In disbelief: "This train ain't going 200 miles an hour!!"
14. "Are Pringles not vegetarian?" Answer, "Nah, they got chicken guts in them."
15. "Most vegetarians are skinny people. It must be pretty healthy."
16. "I think the Tower of London costs 18 euros."
17. "I don't drink water good--I just don't like it." Answer, "You need to hydrynate (??)! I drink 64 ounces every day!"
Oh, 'Muricans. Love it.
Jase and I went to Dublin the next week, over Easter weekend. It was fantastic. We woke up at 3:00 am to take the buses all the way out to London City Airport for our 7:00 am flight. We got on this tiny toothpick of a plane, and landed at the Dublin airport. We then had to figure out the bus system, which was comical. We knew we got on the right bus, because the man who sold us our tickets at the airport told us which one... that was the only thing we knew. Every time the bus stopped, we frantically looked for a sign as to where we were, but none of the stops were labeled. We rode like that for about 30 minutes, and then I just asked an old lady to tell us when we should get off for our hotel. She was very sweet about it. Jase asked her how people know where their stops are, and she simply replied, "We've been here for a long time." Hahaha. We stayed at this lovely little place called the Castle Inn. It was newly restored and had a restaurant and bar in it with live music every night.
Exploring the city!
As soon as we got there, though, I started feeling ridiculously sick. My throat hurt very badly, and I had a mad case of the chills. After googling all my symptoms, I came to the conclusion that I had strep throat. However, there was no way to get medicine any time, because all doctors' offices close for the whole Easter weekend in the UK. I essentially said, Oh well. Even strep throat wasn't going to ruin my weekend in Dublin!! We were able to get a few things in... we went to the National Leprechaun Museum, attended a Good Friday service at Christchurch Cathedral, ate out plenty, went to the Writers' Museum and watched a one-man show, explored St. Stephen's Green, and a lot more! It was an amazing weekend, and I was so sad that we had to leave!
We were shrunken at the Leprechaun Museum!
Jase fell off this chair right after this picture. And by fell, I mean fell. Hard!
Favorites. Hahaha.
Jase and his first Irish coffee!
Three little old Irishmen who play in the Hotel Restaurant every night!
I loved listening to them! They were too cute.
After we got back home to London, all the studying began!! It was nice to have a break from it, though. Truthfully, we spent the last few weeks in London working hard on homework. We found a few breaks here and there to have a little more fun.
We went to the London Zoo for an afternoon, and our professors took us on a "Friday Fun Day" to the London Dungeon (a really tourist-y thing) and the London Eye!
Where the zoo scene was filmed in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"!
Hahaha.
Best picture.
These little monkeys were the best!
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London Dungeon group picture. Haha.
On the London Eye!
Gorgeous view.
We also saw "Quartermaine's Terms" and met Rowan Atkinson, aka Mr. Bean!
We even got to see "Wicked"! I loved getting to see it again!
For our last day in London, Jase, Lydia, and I headed to Leicester Square and bought tickets to see "Singin' in the Rain" that night! Jase and I then went to our last pub in Covent Garden and had a few tall ciders and a delicious lunch. We went back to Endsleigh to pack some more, and then we headed out to meet up with Lydia at the play! It was fantastic. I know it was Jase's favorite of all the plays that we saw. They used real rain in the production, and it was just fun! We had shelled out for first row mezzanine seats, so we had the best seats in the house!
I cannot even begin to say how grateful I am that I have gotten to take this trip. For both Jase and I, it has been such a growing experience, and we have learned so much. It was quite the adventure. I won't lie, it certainly leaves me wanting more! I'll be back someday. While it's great to be back home, I'm going to miss that crazy city.
