Day 22 – Goodbye London, Hello Family

My parent’s were coming today!!! Yayayyayay. I was super super excited to see them. In the morning, I said my goodbyes to my friends. Then, I finished up my packing and headed downstairs to checkout and wait at the café near my dorm, The Juggler. Luckily, a staff member was on his way up to clean the rooms when I was coming down with my gigantic heavy bag and he carried it down for me without me even asking. Love nice people, especially when they are strong. :)

I waited in the Juggler, had an iced café, and read Harry Potter. It was coming closet to about 12 and my devices were unfortunately dying.

But then I saw a reflection of a short guy in a yellow shirt in the window of the café. I thought that might be my dad. And then, another guy, taller, in a flannel type shirt and black-framed glasses. Yup. Suchir. I ran out and said “Hi guys!!” They were looking around for me and I walked up them all and gave them hugs. I was really happy to see them and they were happy to see me. We packed the car, which was quite difficult with all of our bags and my huge bag, but we got it to work. We set off for Stonehenge and Salisbury.

On our way out of the city, we needed up driving through everything. I saw it all one last time. The Eye, St. Paul’s, the Houses of Parliament, Memorial Bridge, Bond Street, Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus, the whole London package. I couldn’t keep my eyes away from the window. I was really really sad to be leaving London. I had such a great time here the past three weeks. I’ll definitely come back again.

We later stopped at a small rest area for some drinks and a small snack. I couldn’t stop talking about

We were staying at the Holiday Inn, about 2 miles from Stonehenge. It was a nice hotel with a really cool exterior. We freshened up and drove into Salisbury for dinner. We ate at Cactus Jacks, a Mexican restaurant. It was yummy :)

Of course, we played bukharo (an Indian card game) till almost midnight that night. Couldn’t resist. This is what happens on my family vacations!

I’m sad my London experience is over, but I’m really excited for my upcoming adventures with my family. 

Leia Mais…

Conclusion

I just really need to write a post right now. Be prepared for the sappyness. It’s officially my last day (half day) here. It’s bittersweet. My room is packed, and my flat building is pretty much empty. My fridge is empty too. I’m sitting here writing this post while eating my last Activa peach yogurt. Sad story. I made some good friends on this trip that I will miss and I made memories that will last a lifetime. At times I feel like 3 weeks wasn’t enough, but sometimes I feel like it was just the right amount of time. I needed to get away, and that’s exactly what  I did. I have a whole new appreciation and love for this city and I will never look at it the same way again. I do want to come back. I love it here. I feel like I can comfortably live here. Grad school at LSE perhaps? Who knows where my path will take me, I just hope it brings me back here at some point. London has not only been my current city the past few weeks, but my home. I feel connected to everything about it. My dorm, my district, the people, the sights, the tube, everything. I’m sad. I’m going to miss it. I’m going to miss my daily route from Old Street to Euston to Goodge Street. I’m going to miss the University of Westminster. I’ll miss seeing the Big Ben, the London Eye, and St. Paul’s almost every day. I’ll miss my class. I’ll miss my friends. I’ll miss shopping in Camden Town, Covent Garden, Oxford Street, and Bond Street. I’ll miss the food. I’ll miss Brighton and Greenwich. I’ll miss all of the adventures I’ve had. I’ll even miss the workers at the halal place and liquor store next door. 

I’m going to cherish all of these memories from this unique experience.

I’m also excited though. My parents should be here within the next hour and we are going to have some family adventures of our own. Maybe I haven’t miss this that much, but now that they are coming, I’m really really excited. This is our next trip:

Life goes on, it really does. When one door closes, another opens. 

It’s been real.

And with that,

Goodbye London, I’ll love you forever. Oh, and I'll be back :) <3

Leia Mais…

Day 20 Pictures: London Eye, London at Night

Leia Mais…

Day 20: My Last Night in London

My friends and I went out for one last lunch to Café Concerto. Of course, I had tea – Bombay Chai this time. And the usual mozzarella tomato and basil panini. On our way home, we went to some street markets near Old Street that were kind of similar to the ones I went to in Greenwich. They were selling foods of all different types, fruits, and desserts.  It was very lively.  I wish I would have known about it earlier because I definitely would have gone there more often during my stay! On our way home, we saw someone selling fruit. I got a whole bowl – four peaches, two oranges, an apple, and two bananas all for only one pound! It was great, and I knew my mom would be happy to eat some when she was arriving the next day.

I spent the rest of the day doing laundry and packing; It took me almost until about 6 or 7 pm. The ISA kids decided to get together and order some pizza and eat together one last time. It was nice to spend time with everyone. We said our goodbyes. I wasn’t really that sad yet because I hadn’t spent much time with them.
The sadness came later that night.

We went to the London Eye at around 9:30. We wanted to see London lit up at night. It was a little pricey, about 20 pounds, but I can definitely say it was worth it. As we went up I started to think about my past three weeks in London. I thought about St. Paul’s, Tower Bridge, Parliament, Harrods, and all of the other wonderful places I had visited. I was able to see it all from the Eye.  It was a breathtaking view. Everything was right in front of me and it made me feel a little nostalgic and emotional. We were all really excited during the first half, but I think as we approached the top we started thinking the same types of things. The rest of the ride was pretty much silent.

When we came back, we had quite an interesting tube ride. Probably the most interesting I’ve had so far. We got onto the line with a giant group of drunken people. The guys were really loud and the one got up and started speaking to the entire cabin about Jesus or something. They kept giggling and it was all so weird. But okay, that’s normal. It’s Friday night. Then, at the next stop, a whole other group of drunken people got on the tube, on the other side. We were kind of just kind of awkwardly chilling in the middle of these two rowdy groups. It was pretty funny. It’s okay, normal. Friday night right. Then, when those people got off, a bunch of drunken moms got on, which was really weird. We were like – what’s happening? So we got off at Euston (Because according to my friend, King’s Cross is way too big and crowded) and went on the Northern Line branch via Bank for Old Street. When we got on, there was this couple and the lady was sitting on the guys lap. So, my friend was like okay, I’ll just take the empty seat next to them. Then, the lady like tried to get off and was about to practically sit on her before she squeezed her way out and scurried to another seat across from us. It was the funniest thing ever.  Definitely a memorable last tube ride.

 We finally got to Old Street and were in the mood for some milkshakes. one of my friends was leaving the next day, so we convinced her to come with us. By the time she finally came down and we walked to The Diner, they weren’t serving anymore. So we walked around for a bit but nothing was really open. They went to the store and got some stuff and we all just hung out in club kitchen for the rest of the night.

Said my goodbyes and went to bed.

Leia Mais…

Day 19 Pictures: Last Day of Class July 4 Boat Party

Leia Mais…

Day 19: Last Day of Class! Happy July 4!

So I was in class for about 45 minutes yesterday. It was great. Then, I came home and made some lunch - trying to get rid of the food in my fridge! 

Then, I started getting ready for the river boat party for the students sponsored by the University of Westminster. I wore my new dress that I got from Camden Town the other day. It had birds on it! :) 

We had a mini photo shoot. It was really funny. GR8. We headed off to Tower Hill, the meeting point. It was really funny and we were all happy.

The boat was cool, it had three levels and a DJ. It was funny because we set off, but then had to turn around and come back because we forgot the food. It was really really awesome, we had a beautiful view of Tower Bridge and life just felt unreal. We kept shouting "AMURRRCA!!!" We were all just hanging out for the first half, but then the music got awesome and we had a dance party. It was so much fun. I got super super sweaty and icky, but it was worth it. The party went till about 9pm. Then we headed back to the station whilst singing the national anthem really really loudly.

We didn't want the party to end. We came home to change and freshen up and went to Club Kitchen (B13) to hang for a bit. We ended up going out again to some place called Cargo. It was actually really really cool. 

Overall it was a fun night and a really great way to end my time here. 

Leia Mais…

Day 18 - Class, ISA Farewell Dinner

On Wednesdays, class usually goes till 5. However, since I was practically done with my magazine and my individual log, I was really hoping that she would let Amara and I out early. Things weren’t looking great. She kept on giving us more tasks and making it seem like she wasn’t going to let us go. I was really annoyed because ISA was having a river boat party and a farewell dinner that all started at 3. I didn’t think I was going to be able to go ): My friend and I talked to our InDesign helper, Val, and told her our situation. We had done so much work for this magazine and it simply wasn’t fair. She agreed and convinced Petsa to let us out early. 

So I ran home and got ready. My friends had just gotten home and still wanted to freshen up, so we skipped the river boat ride and just went to the dinner. Turns out, it was in Greenwich. I was happy I got to go there again. We had dinner in this little Greek restaurant. The owner of the restaurant was this old Greek guy. It was really funny and my friends and I were delirious as always.

It ended up being a chill night.

Leia Mais…

Day 17 Pictures: Harry Potter Tour!

Leia Mais…

Day 17: Class Struggles, and Harry Potter!

The day actually started off really badly.

When I got to class, I tried to open my InDesign file that I had been working on the night before. Turns out, the trial on my laptop is the latest version and the computers at school have an older version. It wouldn't open. This was really frustrating because I forgot to take my flash drive to class the day before so I was unproductive. I figured I could download the trial of the newest version on the school computers, open my file, and save it as a file that can be opened on the old version. In order to do this, you need the adminstrator's password. So, I went to the IT department to ask for help. The guy didn't know what to do, but he knew someone who did. However, this person wasn't in yet, so I had to wait. When he finally got the information, he took me to another lab and signed me on the the administrator's account. Then, I went to download the trial. It said it was already up to date and it didn't let me download it! I was so frustrated. I went back to class and my teacher said that she needed the printed versions that day no matter what. She wanted me to start over. I told her I could run back to my room really quickly, get my laptop, and come back. So I ran. I literally made record time with my commute. In order to get to class by 10 every morning I usually leave at about 9:15. I left class at 11:35, was in my room at 12, and back in class at 12:25. It was crazy. Yes, I was that crazy girl running up the escalators and through the tube station in between closing doors. I know, I'm cool. So once I finally got everything printed and figured out, I headed home again.

Luckily, my evening was going to be fantastic. I was going to the Warner Brother's Harry Potter Studio Tour! My friend and I headed out at about 4:30. We had to go pretty sure, so we took the tube to Euston, and then the overground train to Watford Junction. Once we got there, we had to get on the studio tour bus, which was an extra cost. This is so stupid because everyone literally has to get on this bus and the tickets were already over priced. Stupid money makers. The bus was really cool though. It had Harry Potter music playing, which set me in the mood right away. I was so so so excited! I was a little nervous though because out tour was to be at 6 and it looked like we were going to get there at like 6:05. I literally ran to the kiosk when we got there to print our tickets.

 All was well and the tour began. It was soo soo soo wonderful. It started with a couple movies, and then we entered the huge doors of Hogwarts into the Great Hall. I can't even begin to describe the feelings I was having. It was crazy. The real deal. The real props, real sets, real costumes. I was living in the magical wizarding world of Harry Potter and I was loving it. We then headed into a large studio room where we saw many of the props in the movies and the sets for the different rooms and offices. It was crazy how small they were in real live compared to the movies. I saw Dumledore's Office, props from the Yule Ball, the Gryffindor Common Room, the Golden Egg, and millions more. It was so exciting. I felt like a fascinated child just running around everywhere. Then we went to the outside part of the tour. We had some butter beer (YUM!) and saw 4 Privet Drive, the Knight's Bus, the car from the Whomping Willow, the chess pieces, and many many many more. It was so much fun. My friend and I were like freaking out.  We took tons of pictures. Then, we went back inside to see how a lot of the makeup was done in the movies. We also got the walk through Diagon Alley, which was absolutely wonderfully amazing. Finally, we saw a huge replica of Hogwarts and I almost cried. The music was playing and the lighting was perfect and it was just so magical.  I know, I’m lame….but I was loving in.

We spent some time in the gift shop and then headed back home.   We got back kind of late and decided to just get dinner at the halal place by our dorm. I got a falafel meal and it was really really yummy!

I took like 300 pictures. Posting those later tonight!

All in all, it was a good night. ….magical night. <3 

Leia Mais…

Day 16 - Shopping!

In class I continued to work on my magazine pages, mostly finishing everything up. 

Afterwards, Amara and I went to Camden Town for some shopping. We also went to Stables market, which I actually like better than Camden market. It's a really nice shopping area to get gifts for people to take home. We ended up getting cute dresses for ourselves too. I shopped for about three hours and it was great. I feel like I went to every little corner and alleyway. It's so easy to get lost in this place! I loved it. For the last couple of hours I was actually by myself.

Let me just say: Being a girl, young, and sure yea I'm pretty --> I can get good discounts! All of the store owners were reducing their prices like crazy for me. It was great. I started messing with the one guy. I walked away and he was saying lower and lower prices, and then I came back later and he was like "I remember you Indian girl." It was the funniest thing ever. I'm really satisfied with everything I got for my friend and family. 

For the rest of the night I just chilled and worked on my pages. 

No pictures from today! 

Leia Mais…

Ahhh!

I know I'm like three days behind on my blog! Trying to catch up tonight!

Leia Mais…

Day 15 Pictures: Greenwich - Old Royal Naval College, National Maritime Museum, Queen's House, Royal Observatory Prime Meridian

Leia Mais…