I know haven't written a blog post in weeks, and I'm sorry, but I was vacationing for two weeks and letting college applications suck the life out of me for the others. As for my vacationing, let me sum it up for you :)
LONDON
Ok, so my overall view of London, Oxford, and England in general was that it's freaking awesome!! I am in love with London and Oxford. I could totally see myself living there one day. It's all so saturated with history; I love it!
MONDAY: We arrived on Monday morning at 10:30 in the morning. No, we didn't come by plane, we came by bus, and the promised 12-hour bus ride actually ended up being more like 16. Trust me, those four hours do make a difference in one's ability to walk. Once we put all our luggage in the lobby of our very creepy and cheap hotel (the rooms weren't ready yet), we moved on to doing the Queens Walk, which is from Tower Hill to the London Eye. 2.5 hours later and still walking, I asked myself why we were doing all the walking on the day where we didn't sleep at all? I'm still waiting for the answer myself. It was quite beautiful though. Once we arrived at the London Eye, which I believe is the biggest "ferris wheel" in the world, we actually got to ride it, which was pretty awesome. After that we had free time. Yes, in Germany when you go on class trips you don't have to stay with your chaperones all the time and you have a pretty late curfew :D
TUESDAY: Tuesday we had a Panorama Tour of London. It was here that I truly fell in love, since I saw everything and heard about all sorts of history and traditions. After that, and this will interest all Harry Potter fans, I visited Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross. Yes, it does exist, but they've moved it outside the station now. I even have a picture :P I then visited a very cool art museum that I currently can't remember the name of, but I bought lots of things there for people because art museum gift shops are the coolest stores ever.
WEDNESDAY: Oxford Day!!! This day was sooooooooooooooooooooooo cool :) Oxford University has a fascinating history and a fascinating structure. There are actually 38 independent colleges that make up Oxford University, and when a student applies, they have to choose which college they want to be a part of. If not, a computer chooses for them. The colleges are very different, so I wouldn't recommend the computer strategy. I also saw many places that scenes, once again, for Harry Potter were filmed. I was in Hogwarts hospital wing, where Harry regrew his bones, and I was in the courtyard where "Professor Moody" turned Malfoy into a ferret. Haha. Sorry, Harry Potter moment there.
THURSDAY: On Thursday we visited Shakespeare's Globe Theater, the rendition, of course, and that was one of the coolest things we did on the trip. Partially because the tour was in English, partially because I love Shakespeare, and partially because I had an amazing English teacher named Mrs. Knudson that drilled all sorts of history and facts about him into my brain, so I knew way more than anyone else. After that tour, I went to Oxford STREET in London. Anyone who knows Oxford St. and me would know that that is a very dangerous situation. Oxford St. is the shopping street, and yes, I shopped. :)
On Friday I flew out early from the trip because of the cruise my family got me. England or Cruise? To be completely honest, at that moment, England won hands down. Ok I'm gonna save this and write another with the rest before my internet dies and I lose all this. I'm back everyone :)
So happy to hear you had awesome travels, Jo. :) London is amazing, isn't it? I was fascinated with Tower Bridge. You'll get back there, I'm sure. And if you decide to set some roots down there for a while, I'll make sure to get your cousin over there to visit, haha. I love reading about your adventures. Keep 'em coming!
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