Hello again everyone!
I have now officially recovered from my carpal tunnel syndrome from my last entry and now I can share with you my amazing and slightly crazy adventures of my London visits.
Nov 4, 2013 - Nov 6, 2013
Alrighty, my first excursion into London began on Monday November 4. I packed all my stuff into two bags, which I thought was quite a fete and then I walked the mile and a half to the train station. Everyone at the train station was super friendly and helpful and they told me exactly where I needed to go. When I got on the train, I was shocked at how fancy it was! I had a table all to myself with a little electronic doo-hickey that said my seat was reserved which made me feel very special. Once the train started moving though, I was immediately motion sick to the point where I thought I was going to be sick. Thankfully, I was not so you all can stop making gagging faces. Although, I am pretty sure part of the reason I was so ill was because I was determined to finish the free read book I was reading so I just kept going even when that little voice in my head was like "you would feel better if you stopped reading":P
Any who, once I got to London, it was already 11:30 at night so all I wanted to do was get to my hotel and shower and then hit the hay. I took a cab to my hotel which was only a few blocks away from the graduate school I was visiting the next day, so that was nice. On my way to the hotel we crossed the London Bridge and it was awesome! It was all lit up and blue plus the "Eye of London" was right next to it which made it doubly exciting. The funny thing is the thing that passed through my mind while on the bridge was the nursery rhyme "London Bridge is Falling Down". I could not help but wonder where that came from and why was the bridge falling down and what did it have to do with a fair lady. Any way I digress. The hotel was very nice and the service was great. They even had a guy carry my bags to my room and turn my heat on and everything and of course I had that awkward moment where I was like do I tip him or just thank him. It is so weird with tips here, I never know what to do. I just ended up asking him and he said that I did not tip him, but that still felt weird! The room was very nice a little small, but it was only meant for one person so it was all good. I absolutely loved my bed, it was by far softer than my bed in flat so I got the best night's sleep that I have had in a long time. I did not want to get up in the morning, but alas I did because we had to check out by 11 or was it 10 I don't remember! It felt early though! :P
After I checked out of the hotel I thought it would be a good idea to explore the surrounding area and see where I was suppose to meet for visit day to Camberwell College of the Arts. I thought that it would be super easy to find since it was only a few blocks away. Well, I can safely tell you dad that I did not pick up on your map skills because I walked almost a mile in the wrong direction before I realized my error. Gosh sometimes I am just so silly. By the time I headed back to where I was suppose to be, I was hungry for lunch so I stopped in a cafe and ate then I was super lame and did some homework that was due that week. Time flew by and before I knew it was time to head to the college. The facility was quite small, but it was nice. We had a tour of the place and I think the thing that I liked most about it was all the traditional equipment they used to make prints and develop photos, it was very neat. However, their main focus for conservation is paper and books, so I do not think that is what I am looking for, I am very interested in painting and sculpture conservation so I do not think that that is the place for me.
We were done with the tour and presentation a little after 6pm so I called a cab and he came and got me. I did not think it would be a big deal getting to the train station since the night before it took a little less than 20 min. I, however, was forgetting the important fact that it was November 5th which a big holiday in Great Britain. It is more commonly known as bonfire night where people light bonfires in remembrance of the failed assassination attempt of King James 1 of England by a man named Guy Fawkes. Well, that is where it originated from now it is a night where people wear masks from the movie V for Vendetta and they protest things that they feel are wrong about the goverment. Oh ya and there is a lot of drinking involved as well. Any way the reason this is important is because the Police literally closed every rode to the train station for the festivities, so I ended up missing my train! I hopped out of my cab and decided to walk towards the station to see if there was another train, however I started to use my head and decided that I should check to see if another train was actually going to run tonight before I made the trek to the station. Therefore, I called one of the people that I can always count on: my daddy! (Love you dad!) I did not have access to internet so I had no way of using gps or finding times out on my phone, so I knew that my dad was at the computer at the moment in time so I knew he could help. He told me that there was not another train, but there was a bus from the Victoria Coach station. So I was really happy to hear that because I needed to get back in order to go to my lab on Wednesday. My happy state was however dampened when I heard how far it was to the bus station! It was almost 5 miles away but I did not have much choice but to walk since traffic was still at a stand still. I decided to make the most of it though and think of it like an adventure. I walked past a lot of the must see sights of London including, Buckingham Palace, the National Gallery, Big Ben and the school that I was going to visit on my next trip. I met a lot of nice people a long the way though who were very helpful in pointing me in the right direction so I really appreciated that. Once I finally did arrive at the bus station around 9:45 pm or so, I almost cried because the guy at the ticket booth told me that the bus I wanted was not running! I was so freaking out because I had no where to stay and I needed to get back by 2 the next day for lab! Thankfully, he said another bus was running and it would get into Glasgow at 7:30am. I jumped on it even though it was more expensive than the one I had hoped to take! By this point I was also starving because I had not eaten anything since lunch, sadly the only thing open at the Bus Station was a Burger King so I ate a burger for dinner, but hey desperate times calls for desperate measures right? :P Eventually, I got on the bus and enjoyed a lovely 8 hour ride back to Glasgow and might I add that was longer than the plane ride from the States to Glasgow! When I got back all I wanted to do was collapse in my bed, unfortunately I still had a mile and a half walk back to my flat, but once I did get back, I can assure you that I collapsed on my bed and slept for a few hours before lab. It was lovely. Any way I think that is all for now and I shall tell you about my next London visit, which took place that Thursday, when I next post. Ta ta for now!
Here are some picture I took with my phone of the hotel and my walk to the bus station!
okay. . . for some reasons the pictures are not sending from my phone! I shall look into it and post them as soon as I can! Sorry to disappoint! :(
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