So, I made it

Well, I already feel like I have been in Europe for two weeks instead of three days. However, the total amount of sleep that I have gotten since I left is about 10 hours...and that is no estimation. Jet lag hasn't been as bad as everyone made it out to be...it has actually been one of the easiest things to adapt too. However, I still have about 2 hours to gain as we travel towards Prague.

I arrived in London, via Boston, about 5:30 am London time. I was able to catch about two hours of sleep on the plane...which saved me later. We arrived at our hotel, which was very nice, about 8:30 am, and found out we couldn't check in until about 2 pm. So, they let us store our luggage in a basement room, and then we were on own in London! I paired up with a girl that I met on the flight out of Raleigh, and she proved to be a really nice person that I enjoyed traveling around with. It took us a while to figure out the Tube (which is what they call the underground metro system), and found out later in the trip that we had pretty much taken the long way to everything. Not fun. That first day we went to St. Paul's Cathedral, the replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theater, Tate Modern Art Museum, London Bridge, and several smaller sights along the way. However, since we were on own, the most we did at any of these sights was take pictures. We did take a tour of the Globe Theater, and that was my favorite thing of the day.

We went back to our hotel room around 2pm, checked in, and then set about keeping ourselves awake. There was a welcome drink at 6 pm in the hotel restaurant, so we could mingle and so that important information could be shared with us. There are 72 of us altogether traveling to Prague, so needless to say, I haven't met everyone yet. The people I hang out with most right now are actually the group of about 11 that all flew out of Boston together. Anyway, after the welcome drink, a group of us went out for a light dinner and drinks. We went to a nearby pub and ordered the traditional London meal of fish and chips with beer. Loved the fish and chips...discovered beer isn't my favorite thing. But we will see how things go...there are lots of different drinks to try. We got back to the room around 11:30 pm. End of the first day...ridiculous, I know.

Yesterday, we had an early start at 8:30 am for a three hour tour of the highlights of London. We saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby, Parliament, Big Ben, the London Eye, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and lots, lots more. Some of the places we were able to get out of the bus and take pictures, some places we couldn't. After that ended at about 12:30 pm, we were on our own again to tour London, and maybe revisit some of the places on the tour. A group of us decided to go to the National Art Gallery. We saw Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Rafael, DaVinci, and more...it was really cool. But after that, everyone was wiped, and so we went back to the hotel for a nap before...wait for it...WICKED!!! About 20 of us got discounted tickets to WICKED the Musical...they were about 25 pounds...not bad at all. It was the most amazing show ever!!!! Words cannot even describe how excited about that show I was, and it met every expectation. Amazing. Really.

Then we hoped back on the Tube and went to a pub for dinner after the show nearer to our hotel. We got back to the hotel around 11:45 pm.

Unfortunately, we had to get up at 4:30 am this morning to be ready to go at 5:30 am to the airport...which is where I am currently sitting. In about an hour I will say goodbye to London and hello to Munich. I am sorry that this post was so long, I will try to break it up a bit more in the future, but getting Internet is a bit tricky while we are traveling. However, once I get to Prague it should be easier. If you have any questions or anything, let me know...other than that, I think I about summed everything up.

I can't wait to sleep on the plane.