a londres

Cheers, Mates!
It has been a bit since I've updated and for that I am ever so sorry. Good news is that I had a legitimate excuse as I was strolling the streets of LONDON, ENGLAND from February 11- February 16 with my friends from good ol' Northfield, Minnesota- Mackenzie O'Connell, John Linford, and a friend of John's named James who lives in England. Mackenzie is on Rotary Exchange in Germany right now and John is living in Gloucester, England for the year working. They are both dear friends and when we planned this adventure back in November, there's no way that I could have predicted the stupendous, marvelous, glorious time that it ended up being. I'll tell most of the stories through pictures with captions, as this usually tickles everyone's fancy the most and it's the easiest way to follow along. Being my usual somewhat disgustingly organized self, the photos will, of course, be in chronological order so it's like you were there! Haha... Sort of :)


Majadahonda on the day that I left, Thursday, February 11... Flight was incredibly smooth and I landed and met Mackenzie in the Gatwick London Airport


London, England the next day on Friday, February 12... England lived up to it's rainy reputation, a pair of Wellies Rainboots were in order and were purchased within the next 24 hours :)


Standing outside of some of these buildings, like Westminster Abbey, was almost surreal, to think that I'm coming from one incredibly gorgeous and historic European city and walking right into another, it reminded me again that the life I'm living is out of a storybook. When people asked us where we were from, we had to explain that we were from the United States, living in Germany/Spain, and in England for a vacation... As if the other life wasn't vacation enough? :)


Buckingham Palace. I swear all of these photos won't just be me in front of cool buildings



^^ How to Know You're In London ^^



That is not the Ministry of Magic, but the British Museum. I loved how all the entrances were free, donations only. Not only did I appreciate this as a poor (future) college student, but I liked the idea of anyone and everyone being able to appreciate what the museums had to offer. We also went to the Tate Modern Museum which was mindblowing.


Mackenzie and I outside of the British Museum posed on a lion


Where we stayed in London was right next to the Tower Bridge and we strolled down to see it at night with the lights... It speaks for itself


The four of us-- from Left to Right-- James, Mackenzie, John, and I


Mack and I--- You can make out Tower Bridge in the background


The ridiculous amount of plug-ins and adaptors necessary to charge our appliances... We went from American to European to British


The English countryside on a train ride



We went to see a show in the West End in London... Tickets were pretty cheap and Chicago is always worth it. The performances were incredible, though the attempts to cover the British accents were about as successful as Mackenzie and I's attmepts to speak WITH a British accent... So not all that successful :)


The London Bridge Underground stop... The tube in London isn't quite as easy to navigate as that of Madrid. London seems to be a much bigger city in my eyes after living here for all this time... I'm not sure geographically how the cities compare, but London's sheer size was a bit overwhelming for this Spanish gal.


Picadilly circus, complete with new plaid Wellies :)


If you can see the RAVER stamp on my hand, it's from the fantastic club that we went to Saturday night in London called Fabric.


Is this the real life, is this just fantasy? Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see.

I wish you all the joy that comes from Fish and Chips, Mushy Peas, and a Rotary Exchange year like mine... Samantha Roma