Journey to London (June 28th)

Today was another day full of travel. After just under 6 hours of sleep, my alarm went off at 5:20 a.m. I hopped off the top bunk (in the dark) and took a quick shower to wake me up. Paul had asked us to be ready by 6:15 a.m, so it was going to be a quick getting ready. I packed my hiker's backpack as efficiently as possible (using my dad's packing skills) and headed downstairs. For the journey to the small train station in Pontorson, I rode shot gun. Riding shot gun in an UK car was one of the weirdest experiences so far in my trip. Although it was weird, I can't say that I hated it. I could get used to being British, which is why we were heading to London today.

Our train from Pontorson would take us back to Paris, where we would spend a couple of hours messing around before boarding the plane to London. The train ride to Paris was rather uneventful, but the train was absolutely freezing. Even with my fleece jacket zipped up, I was shivering. Once in Paris, Jenn left the group to meet up with Melissa, Joanna, and Katie in Berlin later that day. Jennifer, Shelley, and me tooled around at the Eiffel Tower for a couple of hours taking pictures, making videos, and using their conveniently located WiFi network. While taking pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower, I was approached by an Asian couple holding a camera. Assuming that they did not speak English and wanted a picture of them together, I reached for the camera. However, it turns out that the wife wanted a picture with me...so I gladly obliged and smiled for the camera. As always. I'm still unsure as to why she wanted a picture with me; I don't think I particularly resemble any celebrities. Whatever the case, it made my day and provided a laugh for the group.

Around 2 o'clock or so, we started making our way to the airport Charles de Gaule. Between metros and the hottest train I've ever been on, it was about an hour and a half journey. The walk to our terminal was abnormally long, taking us a solid 25 minutes. Once at the terminal, we double checked our carry on bag sizes and proceeded through security. For whatever reason, I was stopped and pulled aside to be frisked. Now I've never been frisked before, but I'm almost positive I got an over-enthusiastic woman. After a much too thorough job, she determined I wasn't a terrorist and let me proceed. With just over an hour before our flight, the three of us set up camp and spread out amongst many many chairs. While relaxing and eating a Snickers bar, I reached in my backpack. Now I can't fully explain what happened next. Somehow I sliced my finger open on my razor blade, because not even two seconds after reaching in my backpack, I jerked it out and it was gushing blood. Literally, within 30 seconds blood had almost reached my elbow. For whatever reason, none of us had a single Band-Aid. Sorry, Mom. So I walked around aimlessly around for a minute or two before finding the security officer that had so deligently frisked me. She gladly gave me a small tissue and sent me on my way. No Band-Aids to be found. It took a lot of asking around, (trying to find other passengers that spoke English) before I was given a Band-Aid by a very nice man. Major crisis averted.

Only a few minutes after the scheduled boarding time, we boarded the plane. Or "embarked" as it read on the board. The plane ride was only 45 minutes, so we were in London in no time. Upon arriving in London, we gained an hour. It's only 5 hours ahead of Florida time. For the first time during our European escapade, we had to go through customs. I knew I liked the UK. Even though filling out forms and waiting in long lines are boring, it makes me feel safer and more organized. When we approached the customs desk, we were greeted by a friendly gent. My British accent automatically kicked in, for which I was quickly made fun of. He asked me to repeat "Clapham Junction" because I apparently "said it funny". AKA wrong. Welcome to study abroad, where correctly pronouncing foreign words is a lost cause. He also gave me a tip not to mention that I only had 1 pound and 10 pence on me. Oops. He said, "Normally that information would send off all sorts of alarms, but you seem like a nice girl." Whew. Getting arrested first thing in London was not on my To-Do list.

The train ride into London and to our hostel was a solid hour. Typical. Once we arrived at Clapham Junction, the walk to the hostel was about 15 minutes. Seeing cars  and red double decker buses driving on the left side of the road made me do a double-take a few times. The city was quaint, and the weather was unusually lovely. We stopped at a Wal-Mart partner supermarket and picked up some muffins for breakfast. KFC was for dinner. It was going on 10 p.m. and we were starving. After a short walk further, we arrived at our hostel, the Crown London. It was slightly confusing at first because the bottom floor of the hostel is a local pub, but with the help from some locals we made it to the check-in desk. The room we would be staying in "bunked" 15 poeple. Time for an adventure. We set our things down on our numbered bunks and placed our valuables in a locker. Downstairs, music was playing and we decided to plan our day in the pub. Shelley also realized that she had left our muffins and padlock on the counter. Upon asking if they had our muffins the bar tender responded, "The blueberry and chocolate ones?...Nope". You sit on a throne of lies. The staff had definitely already eaten them. In 10 minutes! We were slightly mad for a second, but had to laugh. Although we were extremely tired, we researched and planned our day tomorrow until 1:00 a.m., when we headed upstairs to our room. With 12 other people. Goodnight.