Days 1 & 2: Journey to London & Fighting Jetlag

Our journey to London began as we entered the airplane. The plane was divided by rows of two, three, two. I got put in the center of the plane in the middle of the rows. I was between my awesome friends Ellie and Ian, so it was a party. The plane had complimentary TV's so we were all  pretty stoked. Once the plane took off and we all took to our separate movies. After a while we were served dinner. I choose some sort of pasta that I can't remember, although there was a fantastic brownie thing. At that time it was probably about twelve so about half of our group decided to attempt sleep. I tried to join them. Notice the word tried. When there was a half hour left on the flight we (Ian, Ellie, and I) started playing cards. We discovered at that moment that we were all too polite Christian Homeschoolers to tell the lady in front of Ian to not lay her chair back on his lap. Every time he moved she would turn around and ask him not to. Bless her heart. ("Bless her hair it was spikey" -Ian) After the plane landed we were all excited to get some culture. We pushed through customs and I had a rude lady, of course, I walked up and all I could hear was mumbling so I asked "what?" She replied, "Don't say 'what' say 'pardon me!'" That was so surprising for me, I was shocked. I managed to convince her I was just here on a trip and not to assassinate a random royal. It was fantastic. I had a great day and I can't wait for the rest of our trip! 

~ Kaitlin McLeod

After a few tube rides, walking 76 miles (Okay, maybe not that many, but it sure did feel long!) and a broken suitcase wheel later, we finally made it to our AirBNB's! We were divided into two groups and had a few minutes to explore our houses. My house is the more modern of the two. It is a sweet complex with a deck decorated with potted flowers all over. Our house is the all girl house, so you can imagine all the storytelling and laughing that went on last night (And yes, the laughing mainly came from lack of sleep). After we were settled in, Dr. B and Professor Cher went out to buy groceries while the rest of us set out to explore London! In a nutshell we saw Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament, and St. Jame's Park. It was amazing to actually seeing what we have learned about in class. The city was extremely busy and the traffic didn't stop for anyone! We are learning how to navigate the roads and not get killed. It's a struggle.  The weather is lovely, the perfect temperature for touring and taking pictures. After two hours of exploring, we headed back to the all girl house for dinner, which Dr. B and Professor Cher had prepared for us, and we celebrated Bobby's birthday with some delicious cake. All in all, it was a packed couple of days, but we are all so happy to be in here and excited for our next adventure in London! 

~ Ellie Beard