London: Land of the Crazy Drivers

Well let's just say I'm already a bit of a nervous passenger but London took that to a new level. Not only do they drive on the opposite side of the road, their driver's seat is on the right side (one of the first things Jenn and I discovered as we made a go to enter through that door while incredibly jet lagged), and to top it all off: apparently the dividing line in the middle of the road means nothing. People drive where ever the hell they want.
One of Jennifer's friends she met in Africa a few years back, Pete, was our tour guide for while in the city and out and I can't thank him enough. I think we would have been a bit lost without his help and it was great to have him show us the ropes at the start of our journey. Now I should preface this entire blog with the fact I spent my time in London completely miserable with a cold - cough, sore throat, body aches - the whole works. I was not a happy camper; I kept going since I knew Jenn wanted to see all the sights but I don't think I was that miserable even when I had swine flu in the fall. Let's just say I've been a far more pleasant person since I feel better and we've arrived in Paris.
So here we go. Day one Pete picked us up at the airport and then (after allowing us to drop our stuff off at his place and shower) took us out to Windsor. We were joined by his friend Adam and they both served as our unofficial but amazing tour guides for the day. It was a pretty nice afternoon despite being sick and the extreme jet lag (neither Jenn nor I were able to sleep on the plane ride). We got to see some rugby pitches there (of which I was the only person excited about them), Windsor Castle, and the local town and shops. We finally sat down and had a small lunch and a beer. The beer was good (then again, I think college had rendered me quite less picky about my beer options) however I will do quite fine being away from English food. Nothing too special and it's topped off by the lack such things as ranch. If anyone has a good way to describe ranch, let me know. Jenn and I were at a loss of explaining what it was to Pete and Chip. While on the subject of food, I must mention it is traditional to serve peas with fish and chips. Which by far was one of strangest things to grace my plate there.
After Windor we went back to Pete's place and were able to take a short nap before heading out to check out the night life of Uxbridge (Pete's town and basically a suburb of London). We actually stumbled upon a pub doing trivia night which was quite amusing. Everyone else participated in the drunken mayhem, however, I refrained and blew my nose into a Kleenex about 20 times for every shot they took. I felt it was a fair substitute, the boys didn't quite agree but I think they'll live. We ended that night with the boys ordering "kababs" (basically lamb on a stick) and wandering the streets til we made our way home.
The next morning I woke up at 6am (I have no idea how that accounts into my jet lag or anything since you would think I'd sleep in but that just wasn't possible) and Pete's mom made me some hot lemon water and honey for my throat and her and I talked for a bit. Thanks again to her and her husband for letting us stay in their house. Eventually Pete and Jennifer woke up and we took a train into the city and dropped our lovely overly heavy bags at our hostel. Pete then took us around to see the London Eye, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, etc. We finished our day at Happy Hour at this cool bar in downtown London called Dirty Martini. Good drinks, bad food. I'm sensing a trend here. Pretty sure the only food I truly enjoyed in London were the fries or "chips" as they call them there. And knowing my love for food, mom and dad, you can rest assured I will never be persuaded to move to England.
We were back in our hostel around 7pm and got to meet some cool people from all over there. Even a girl who just graduated from University of Oregon. We went to bed relatively early and then had our wake up call around 5:30am so we could catch the train into France.
Overall, interesting trip but can't say I'm too in love with London. It was a fun trip but being in Paris for 20 minutes was entirely more fun for me. However I did get to learn a lot in a short time. As in, their tv there is half American and half English shows. Heinz is everywhere and they are obsessed with it, hummus is spelled houmous, shots are about half the size of the ones served in the bars in the US, oh and the public transit system in AMAZING and so efficient. Even if we didn't have Pete to take us around I think we would have got on quite fine seeing as how easy it is to operate. So, all and all, good first stop. Anyway, it's about 8:30am here in Paris (11:30pm back home) and I need to shower and eventually wake up Jenn (she may be a tad hungover from our pub crawl last night). I'll write about Paris soon, until then...Cheers!

Here We Go!

The final countdown has ensued and it is t-minus 14 hours til takeoff. I'm so overwhelmed, exhausted, and stressed to be as excited as I should be. This morning was certainly not how I, nor my parents, wanted to start our day. One of our cats, Catzilla, who we've had for around ten years passed away around 4:30am this morning due to unknown causes. She woke us up howling, unable to breathe, and died shortly after. It truly was one of the saddest things I have witnessed in a while. RIP to our beloved pet; she will be greatly missed.

Otherwise, packing went smoothly and everything managed to fit in the giant backpack I will be hiking around Europe with. And now, after being up for a good 19 hours I think it is quite an appropriate bedtime. Next time I get a chance to write I'll be...well, who knows where? Somewhere in Europe, and that truly is an exciting concept.

2 weeks, 1 day

It is hard to believe that in a couple weeks I will be making my final preparations to depart. I'll be traveling the entire time with my friend Jennifer and we're starting our journey in London. As of right now, the plan goes as follows: London, Paris, Heidelberg, Barcelona, Madrid, Oviedo, Rome, Athens, and then finally Amsterdam. We will only be in most places for a few days, just getting a feel for them, however a month of our trip is dedicated to studying abroad at la Universidad de Oviedo in Northern Spain. I'm trying to be excited right now (and I am, obviously) however, I have so much to do with school and with finishing moving out that I cannot full on grasp the reality of being in Europe so soon. Mind you, I still have to figure out how to pack everything efficiently too (thank God my mother is good with that stuff). So here's hoping it all gets done; t-minus 15 days!