Day 1

Today is actually day 2 but since i woke up an hour earlier then i planned i'm going to take this opportunity to talk about the last 48 hours or so!

The shit hit the fan when i made the decision to not sleep the night before i left for the UK in an effort to make sure that i was so tired on the plane the next day that i would HAVE to fall asleep then thus getting on London time. This "great plan" backfired. I couldn't fall asleep. There are some people who can sleep everywhere and anytime...i am not one of these people.

SIDE NOTE

Im pretty sure the woman sitting next to me had narcolepsy. With the exception of my dad i have never seen someone fall asleep so easily who hasn't spent the night before at a marathon of some sort.

Things were going on schedule i was very tired and i had eaten dinner (pasta...yumm). I was watching "Letters to Juliet" on the little screen in front of me and i could feel nature pulling my eyelids down. It was the last 10 minutes of the movie and i was so tired that i figured i could just watch them later after i slept. So i close my eyes and feel sleep coming and that state of calm you feel just before you fall into slumber....then not one but TWO babies decide that this is when they want to scream non stop for about an hour.

All hope of sleep was basically lost then. I mean i tried every way and position that i could to fall asleep but it just wasn't happening. If i wasn't uncomfortable then the elementary school kids were running up and down the aisle. So here is the break down of what went on in the plane

sleep: 40 minutes of that half awake half asleep kinda rest

sheep counted: 463....however starting at around 230 the sheep started over the fence instead of just hopping so it got interesting

books read: halfway through "Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang"

Music listened to: Im pretty sure that i listened to "teenage dream" like 40 times and i listened to "circle the drain" so many times that i now know all the words

After the worlds longest air ride we finally landed at London Heathrow Airport! Which is one of my favorite airports in the world. We were a little early so it was 530am. I found it funny that i had to wait in line to get through immigration. I thought the whole point of getting a VISA and going through all that prior entry clearance was that i got to avoid the long line. I would complain about it but i met a woman in line who looked EXACTLY like Bea Arthur and so i found this hilariously awesome (forgot to take a picture though).

After retrieving both of my bags i lugged all 104.5 pounds of luggage (this isn't counting my backpack and duffle carry on that weighed as much as a 2 year old) I searched for the train depot!

Im taking my sweet time and just casually walking through the passage ways when i see a screen that the next train is in 5 minutes and i think...OH CRAP!! So i start..i would say running...but it was more akin to trotting because my attempts at running were slowed down by all the things i was lugging around. So while i "trotted" through the hallways looking like an idiot i read the station while the train was still there and got on as fast as i could. BUT i looked around and realized that i was in the first class car! So i got out of the train (during which i got my suitcase stuck between the train and the platform) and entered in the car behind the one i was just in only to realize that there was a door in the back of the first class car that connects the two and i could have just gone through that.

So drenched in sweat with only 40 minutes of sort of sleep under my belt i sat on the train as it took me to Paddington Station! 15 minutes later i was there. I really wish i had taken picture of it because this station is SO BEAUTIFUL. I'll make sure to do that next time i'm there i promise because it's something worth seeing.

I made my way to the taxi pick up place because the tube workers were on strike and so they were all closed. You could tell how much the tube being closed effected (affected? i'm never sure about those two) the flow of the city. First of all the line to get a taxi was HUGE. I had about 75+ people in front of me and very quickly just as many behind.

After a fun taxi ride with a man who was very excited about the fact that i was from kansas because his daughters favorite movie is "The Wizard of Oz" i arrived at the IES Residence Hall! The world isn't lying when they say that Chelsea is one of the most beautiful parts of london because every building here is just gorgeous!

So after waiting 3.5 hours to get my room because the guy who normally does it was late because of the tube strike and was thus biking here from god knows where i arrived in room 813.

Can i just say that i love my room!! I mean i have bitched for the past 3 months about how small my room is going to be but in person it's just perfect! I decided to take the half lofted bed because i like that i could use the space underneath to put all my shoes. The view is just fierce! I can see the london eye just sitting in bed looking out the window and last night i could see it all lit up. I haven't met my roommate yet but that happens later today so ill make sure to tell you how that goes. I'm really hoping she doesn't mind that i took the lofted bed!.

So after unpacking all my clothes i freshened up and took to the streets! Freshening up was a must because i swear to god everyone here looks amazing. There are no people in jeans and t shirts. They are all in leggings and tights and skirts and blouses and fashion boots! It's very intimidating to someone who has had no sleep and looks like crap but i think i freshened up just fine!

You cant tell in the picture but i have super cute boots on! So i went shopping because i needed a uk phone, toiletries, a mobile broadband stick, british vogue, and school supplies apparently cause when looked for pens i found out i brought no writing utensils whatsoever...oops!

So after a nice shopping trip i stopped in a local pub called trafalgar and had a "classic burger and fries" which i must say were AMAZING!! They make burgers better here then they do in the states! I was very impressed.

So after a jolly good shopping trip i set up my bedroom and rewarded myself by taking a 3 hour nap! It was fab!

I love naps and i honestly don't understand why i tried to avoid them as a child. Naps are like little gifts from the sleep fairy of restful bliss.

So i woke up full of energy and realized that all the shows in the west end started in an hour and so i called to see if i could get tickets to WICKED!!! I chose wicked for the following reasons

1. i was still to jet lagged to be able to make it through a drama

2. wicked and billy elliot are the closest to my dorm

3. i picked wicked because its been forever (and by forever i mean a little less then a year) since i saw it!!!

my seats were kinda amazing

I was in the 4 row and dead center!!! SCORE!!! This was by far the best production of wicked that i had ever seen. To say that Rachel Tucker was fierce would be the biggest understatement ever. She was...beyond fierce...i'm not sure what the word is but when i figure it out ill get back to you!

I ended up taking a cab to get to the theatre because the bus stop was on the other side of the road and it was busy and there are NO crosswalks so i had absolutely no idea how to get across...i still don't. It's my goal for today to figure that out!

After the show i ate some lasagna at Prezzo and tried some pink wine which should be re named piss wine cause it tasted like crap...so glad i paid like 4 pounds to drink poo! lol

I was able to work out the bus situation afterwards and i made my way home even after getting off at the wrong stop and then running back to catch the bus before it left!

Overall day 1 of london has been pretty amazing!

So at the bottom of each post i was going to keep tally of how many hott british guys i saw...but i saw SO MANY so quickly yesterday that i was overwhelmed and forgot to count! So i will start counting today(day 2) and get back to you later tonight on that!!