ELLO LONDON (finally here!)

As the title of this post might suggest, I'M IN LONDON! Since I haven't posted for a few days, I'll recap a bit.

Saturday was my last night at home, had friends and family over for dinner which was really nice, but once everyone left i started feeling really overwhelmed. I'd spent so much time feeling nothing but excitement for the trip, but it finally hit me that London and Chicago aren't a two-hour drive apart, and I got real freaked out. Luckily, I've got pals like Jeremy and Krawetz who waited until I was done packing my carry-on, then came over after 3am to watch SNL with Charles Barkley. By the time they left around 4:30, Jer said that the newspaper was on his driveway. I got no more than about 2 hours of sleep, but sometimes that's okay.

I said goodbye to my family and Jason (only for a week) the next morning, and boarded my flight to Raleigh-Durham, where I sat in the obnoxious front row that doesn't let you keep your carry-on within the vicinity. I kept a few magazines close by though and slept for the rest of the time. The Raleigh airport was so pretty and I ate CPK (inspired by Cara and Melissa), and then boarded the plane for London.

We left from North Carolina late, and I sat next to a man named Cyrus who just finished grad school studying national security. I told him I felt safe sitting next to him, and he gave me a piece of Trident. I slept through most of this flight too (Xanax and the lack of sleep from the previous night came in handy). When I got into London I was very overwhelmed. First, I almost faceplanted down the stairs due to the added 40 or so pounds that were in my backpack. Then I realized I left my neck pillow on the plane (woops). Then I got in the wrong line at customs because I followed a huge group of people only to figure out that they were all together on a trip (good one, lex). Got in another line, went through security, and then went to baggage claim. One of my bags came through quickly, the other did not. As I watched the same four bags circle the carousel, I was glad that my mother had strategically split my things up between suitcases, since I was SURE that one was MIA. Luckily, good ol' American Airlines pulled through and I left the airport, both suitcase in hand, after locating my confused car driver. I was supposed to land at 6:55 A.M. and I didn't get back to the dorm until 10:30. Then I walked into my room and burst into tears because it is extremely petite. With my bags in here, I couldn't walk from one end of the room to the other. Luckily, I've got Sarah to a) help me chill out and b) help me figure out how to reorganize my room. Also, my room has a pretty view of the city (I can see the London Eye from my window!!)

(I promise, it goes  uphill from here).

Me and Sarah decided to go do a little exploring and grab some lunch. We walked up King's Road and down and around Fulham Street, both are adjacent to where we live. There are lots of cute shope and restaurants around here (most seem to be very expensive). Then we ended up going for lunch at this little cafe down the street because by that point we were both on the verge of starvation. It was pretty good. We both came home and unpacked, I rested for a little bit, and then we were off on more adventures. We wanted to take the tube to Primark, a store that apparently sold cheap housewares. Sarah went online and plotted directions (with help from a website) and it told us to go to the South Kensington station. We took the bus there even though it was definitely walkable and then walked around that area for an hour or so. Someone even asked us for directions which was exciting since apparently we already appear knowledgeable enough to be shelling out directions. We finally maneuvered back to the tube station and went to our stop, where we assumed it would be a short walk to some Marble Arch, which was right near Primark. About 2 hours later (I kid you not) we arrived at the store, only to find that they were out of hangers and rainboots, two of our main reasons for going there. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. On the way home we decided to forego the walking tour of London and just transferred trains instead. MUCH easier. By the time we got back to the station at South Kensington, we were both completely famished and ate at the first place we saw. Turned out to be horrendous food but we both cleared our plates and enjoyed the MTV-esque video countdown that was on tv, featuring both Lady Gaga and Journey performing "Don't Stop Believin'". We're still not sure what they were counting down.

Anyway, sorry if this is a bit lengthy, but I don't want to skimp on any details, and I figure as long as stuff is new and exciting I should be sharing it with my adoring fans. or not? let me know.  I'm very confused about which day it is and what time it is and whether I should be wide-awake or sleepy (mostly I've been feeling a bizarre combination of both). I guess this just goes away with time. Speaking of which, it's time for me to go change out of the same clothes I've been wearing for 30 or so hours and take a shower. hopefully this goes off without a hitch. This bathroom gives me the creeps though. If anything exciting happens, you'll be the first to know. Well probably Sarah first. But then you guys, definitely.

All my love (even from the other side of the pond!)