A Birthday in London

Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. It was very happy, so thank you.

Friday: Friday at work my co-workers took me to lunch to grab a meal and a few beers. It was a beautiful day of almost 80 and sunny. The work day was also very light leaving me completely stress free and eager to go out. That night we went to a club called The End, recommended to me from a fellow young co-worker. We left early to make it there before ten o'clock to beat the outrageous cover charge of £10, but of course we were late. So after being frisked from head to toe and forking out 20 dollars, we headed down into the underground club. When we walked in we were the crowd. There were no more than 4 other people there. Of course, this is extremely early for a night club. So I grabbed myself a drink and headed toward the leather couch to grab a seat. After chilling for what seemed like only a few minutes, the places filled up rapidly. Next thing I knew it was packed. I know others in my party will disagree, but I really enjoyed it. One side was complete hard core techno with people on any drug imaginable, and hip-hop free style on the other. There was a group of young boys who were circled around each other performing free-style break-dancing to the rhythmic beats. It was much like a rave as Jason described. Don't let him fool you, he hated it. I met a nice man from India. He bought several of my drinks. I think I should pretend it is my birthday everyday so my nights are much cheaper! LOL Anyways, don't worry family...even though there maybe have been drugs everywhere, I do not do them. (I just wanted to throw that in there so you don't worry). I guess what the real question is...how did they sneak in all there pills, bags of drugs and weed??? Every part of our bodies were search, including every crevasse of my purse and every flap of the boys' wallets. Think about that...that is gross enough to encourage you not to do drugs! HAHAHA.

Saturday: I woke up decently early and decided that I wanted Chinese food from China town. I rounded everyone up who wanted to go and we headed to grab some delicious grub. Authentic Chinese food is amazing in every sense of the word. So after we ate, we all split up to do a little shopping. Bomo and I went together. All I will say is that we got robbed...literally. Don't ask me questions because I won't tell, but we got robbed. It was a very interesting and heartbreaking story that we swore we wouldn't talk about again....now that I have your minds wondering....lol. It isn't bad I promise. Just embarrassing. So after that interesting day, we headed home and met up with Jason. The three of us went to get me a cake and them some ice-cream. We walked down to the park to enjoy the birthday treats. After that, we headed home to get ready to go out.

Jason was going out with Mark so he went his separate way. Alex, Megan and Veronica stayed back to watch a movie, so it was just Bomo, Erin and myself. Erin left earlier to go to a party before and Bomo and I left a little later. We were heading to a pub on the east side. Bomo and I met a friend that night. Her name was Stella. Stella Artois. We met her at the beginning of the trip, but she became closer to us that night. In fact, she made the night turn out to be a lot of fun. The night was completely backwards...in every sense, but a lot of fun. Different fun than Friday night, but just as equally enjoyable. After dancing and mingling with native Londoners, my glass seemed to have slipped out of my hand. Unfortunately, about 5 minutes prior, I slipped off my high heals and put on my flip-flops. In the event of having my feet exposed when I dropped the glass, a small little chip lodged itself into my toe. I just looked at Bomo and said "I think it is stuck in my foot!". At any rate, I removed the glass and placed my high-heals back on. Luckily I had a few drinks in my system so it didn't hurt that bad. After slipping out the fire escape in the woman's bathroom, I found Bomo and we headed home. Surprisingly, we found the buses that we needed and made it home safely to our hostel.

Sunday: I again woke up rather early. Megan and Alex went early to sightsee so Bomo and I decided we would look for a place to swim. Jason was not where to be found, so we left without him. Once we realized that everyplace cost money to swim, we just ventured off into the city to allow fate to take up where we needed to be. We ended up exploring down by embankment, going to the Temple Church and chilling in Leicester Square. Again, a lot of walking.We headed back around 3:00 so I could change my shoes before the Harry Potter walking tour I was going on at 5:00.I quickly change, grabbed a bite to eat and was off to walk around London and visiting sites mentioned in the Harry Potter books. I met Alex at the tube stop and we anxiously awaited to get an earful about the adventuresome books.

Here we are...like big nerds waiting....
The tour was only five pounds and worth it. It wasn't quite what I expected though. Instead of going to places like King's Cross to see the platform and etc, he took us to places where a lot of JK Rowling's characters were based off of and the folklore behind it. It was interesting and educational. After the tour, Alex and I decided we need to complete the tour on our own, so we went to King's Cross to take a picture of platform 9 3/4. Even though you aren't allowed to take pictures in the station (apparently, but no one told us), we did it anyway.


I think you can tell what this is...



This is inside the station...I know, I’m a nerd, but it was a lot of fun.
Anyways, we came back from a long day and went to bed. It was a nice way to end my fun filled birthday weekend.

Oh, by the way the entire weekend was absolutely beautiful. It was 80s and higher and sunny the entire time. Today was another beautiful. Unfortunately though it is supposed to rain tomorrow. At least we had some wonderful weather.

I was riding the bus today and it was funny how it occurred to me that how quickly you can get used to something. Looking right to left when I cross the street has become natural just as looking left to right. Seeing the cars on the other side seem normal. I wonder when I come home if that will seem foreign? This entire trip has been so surreal. It is also amazing to see how Americans really are ignorant...not all...but just a generality. We know our culture and that is all. Here you are so close to everything that you learn and understand about so many other people. Anyways, here are a few random pictures. I'll try to post a few each time I post.


Bomo and I playing in the fountain that I mentioned in an earlier post.


Jason...sleeping. I thought this was hilarious.


Knights of Templar tombs in the Temple Church for all your DaVinci Code fans.


Me...playing tourist...haha