This weekend was a long one b/c Monday was Bank Holiday here. So on Friday I set out for London Stansted. The plane ride was awesome, even though I'm terrified of flying. For some reason I took a window seat and I was just fascinated enough by how small Ireland looked from the sky that I more or less forgot my fears. Plus it was only an hour flight. It was so weird b/c as I was looking out the window I was thinking "what island is that? I don't remember there being one off this coast of Ireland..." until I realized that the little island WAS Ireland. It was so strange...

Anyway, so I arrived in London in the afternoon and as I didn't book a place to stay the first night (b/c I was taking an overnight bus to Liverpool) I just wandered around until 11 or so when my bus left. I went to Buckingham Palace, Parliament (Big Ben), saw the huge ferris wheel which they call the London Eye (did not go on it, but maybe next time), walked along the Thames. When I got to Westminster Abbey they weren't letting tourists in anymore but I really wanted to see it for some reason. So I went in for a church service (yes, very uncharacteristic I agree). It was a choral service and the inside is really beautiful. Kings and Queens were crowned (and buried) here. Also, the High Commissioner of Zambia was attending the service....very very random. After that I wandered along the Thames some more and then made my way over to Trafalgar Square where I warmed myself up with a hot chocolate and some people watching. It was really great being in London by myself. Three of the other IPA kids were there and I was supposed to meet up with them somehow by calling my roommate's friend who lives there. But he wasn't home and I got sick of calling after like two times b/c it wasn't worth chasing them around when I had places to go and things to see. So I didn't end up seeing them all weekend and it was really great b/c I had time to see and do everything I wanted and also to relax and take it all in (like with the hot chocolate). Anyway, after that I was really cold and didn't have a place to go unless I brought my backpack into a bar with me...so I decided to go into a play that was starting just for the hell of it. It was the Complete Works of Shakespeare put on by the Reduced Shakespeare Company, which is these 3 American guys who were HILARIOUS. It was so much fun. By that time I had to go catch my bus so I did that and tried to sleep a little on it.

I got into Liverpool at 6 am and it was still dark so I sat around in the bus station waiting for the sun to come up. When it did I set straight out for Anfield (for those of you not in the know, this is where Liverpool FC plays). This whole section of the trip was like a pilgrimage. I got wicked lost (even with my map) and it took me like 2 hours to get there...its really far outside the city actually, but I walked the whole way. When I got there I went up to the ticket booth b/c my tour guide in Belfast, who was from Liverpool, told me that they re-sell tickets that ppl have returned on the day of the match. However, the lady at the booth looked at me like I was completely insane and said, no they do not do that. About this time I was ready to cry b/c here I was so close to Mecca and I couldn't get in. But I wouldn't give up yet. I walked around (very suspiciously) the stadium for the next couple hours (kickoff wasn't for awhile) observing the local scalping procedures. My first offer was for £100, which is about 160 bucks...and ridiculous considering that the original price was £29. I was getting very nervous that the only way I'd be able to get in after coming all this way would be to pay a small fortune. But I used all my feminine wiles to make ppl feel sorry for me and I played these two guys off each other brilliantly if I do say so myself, and ended up getting a ticket for £45. Not bad at all. The guy led me into the stadium. It was like heaven. AMAZING. Of course, for the whole first hour I was nervous the rightful owner of the seat would turn up and tell me my ticket was fake. But that never happened. I got to stay for the whole fan-friggin-tastic game. Liverpool won 3-1. Michael Owen was awesome...he scored a kickass goal. The fans were crazy, screaming all kinds of weird obscenities at the refs. The entire atmosphere was just perfect. Best part of my study abroad so far. Definitely coming back some day. I got back into London around 10, completely exhausted and malnourished (hadn't eaten a real meal since lunch the day before), but absolutely on cloud nine. Went to the hostel (which has a BAR in it!) and crashed.

Sunday I got up fairly early (yeah daylight savings time!) and went straight to the British Museum. Spent the morning there...saw the Rosetta Stone. Very nice museum. Had Ghanian black bean and coconut soup...not too bad. After that I went down by the Thames and walked all over the place, past the Globe theater, London Dungeon, etc. Took a tour of the Tower of London given by a "Beefeater"...was interesting but I also learned a lot of disturbing origins to all the nursery rhymes of my childhood. That was about it for that day. Ate dinner in a Mexican restaurant I had been eyeing all weekend. Its a strange phenomenon to be eating at a restaurant by yourself. But it did mean that I didn't have to share the nachos. Mmmm....nachos and Corona. Fabulous. Went back to the hostel and crashed again b/c I had to get up early to catch the plane back. Pretty sure I saw more or less everything I really wanted to in London. I could def. stay there for much longer, even live there...its an amazing city. But for a short trip I think I did really well.

I would like to end this with a tale of woe. I left my hostel at 8 am to catch a noon flight. This SHOULD have given me plenty of time. I had to catch a bus to Victoria station and from there catch my bus to the airport at 9. However, although I read the name of EVERY bus stop very carefully, I somehow missed mine. I was thinking to myself that it def. should be coming up soon, when all of the sudden I'm at a stop that I knew was past mine. So I got off and booked it to Victoria, only to miss my airport bus by 5 mins. The next bus (which I had to pay extra for since it was thru a different company) was at 9:45. So I took that thinking that I would have just BARELY enough time to catch my flight. I got to Stansted at 11:20 or so, ran to the screen that said which ticket counter to go to (Ryan Air is ticketless...you pick it up on the spot) and it said that the counter was "Closed". Having no idea what this meant, I rushed to the counter anyway. No one was there. So I went to a diff counter and asked the very rude man what "Closed" meant exactly. He said "it means its CLOSED" like duh. Ass. So I said "well what does THAT mean? can I get on my flight AT ALL?" and he said "no, you have to go to the ticket sales counter". Now, having never had to take a flight on my own, let alone experience missing one, I was getting very anxious at this point about what was going to happen to me. I waited in line almost in tears, but by the time I got up front I had calmed down b/c I thought, you know what? there's nothing I can do about it now...if I have to pay for another flight, it sucks, but thats too bad. It turns out I did have to pay £40 missed flight fee to get put on standby. There were several ppl in the same boat, and one (American) girl was crying about how she was going to tell her mother and get a lawyer to sue Ryan Air. In all fairness, Ryan Air was a little bit negligent in making clear that, while every other airport closes their ticket counter 30 mins before flight takeoff, Stansted happens to close them 40 mins before...which is why I missed out. So not to blame anyone, b/c its mostly my own fault and I've gotten over it b/c its just money, but that was kinda shitty of them...and also the bus system could use a little more clarity. But that was my big ordeal. I survived it, I got back to Dublin safe and sound (though slightly poorer), and I hopefully learned never to be late for a flight again. yeah right... :)

All in all a fantastic weekend though.