I like autumn.

Okay. So LONDONNNNN. Let me say first that this is my favorite city so far in Europe (granted, the rest of the cities have been in Spain). I brought my luggage to classes on Thursday, and we went to the airport immediately after. It was something of an adventure being in an unfamiliar part of Malaga, finding our way through the train (we've never taken one in Spain), and finding the right gates in the airport. But we made it. And the city looks beautiful a mile in the air, all lit up. But then I fell asleep, despite the attempts of the malaguenan girls behind us to keep the whole plane awake.

And when I woke up, magically we were in London. It was 12:30ish local time (but we're an hour ahead in Malaga). We wandered around, went through some kind of border patrol, found a place to buy train tickets...I was tired and angry at British money. So much worse changing euros to pounds, because you can't believe you're losing even more money. Regardless, we get on a train, exclaimed over seeing our breath in the air (Malaga is still in very summer-ish weather), and headed off.

I'm terrible about directions. I never know where we're going, but lucky for me, the people I'm with always do. So we found our stop, and though several people told us our hotel was in walking distance, the train guy immediately said...uhhh, no, take a taxi. So we go outside, find some taxi drivers to get us there...and split up, 3 in each taxi. Only problem? Unmarked taxi. Spent the drive afraid that I was going to be murdered and stuffed with drugs (thanks Jamie). We got there all right though, no murdering involved, and checked in, and for some reason did not go to sleep right away (stupid idea).

So we get up at 8 to go to breakfast. And I highly enjoyed it, and ate 3 pieces of toast (with butter and blackcurrant jam!) and a bowl of rice krispies (I eat like a refugee because of my food issues). Then, we had planned on going back to sleep for a little....but we went into London instead. We bought Underground passes (so cute, the Oyster pass). Then we got off by St. James park, saw Buckingham Palace (yeah, no big), wandered through the park...we went through a bunch of things I took pictures of, but have no idea what they are, and found Trafalgar Square. Got the museum hours, saw Big Ben (!), and headed towards him...saw Westminster Abbey, stood on a bridge over the Thames, and saw the Eye of London. Yeah, we did all of this in the space of 2 hours, pretty leisurely. Then we decided to meet up with our Norwich friends on Goodge St (Funniest name ever).

And it was another beautiful moment when we found them. There was much running-into-the-arms of another, and rejoicing. It was delightful. Probably the most glorious moment of being abroad yet. And then we were shown our first pub experience. I had a ham sandwich, like the terribly exciting person I am, but I should mention that Audrey was adventurous enough to order the “chip buddy,” which as it turns out is a sandwich filled with french fries. Odd? No, just abroad.

From there, I don't even know where we went. We went to a skating park filled with the largest amount of graffiti I've ever seen. It was stupendous. We spent a large amount of time in Camden town, which is dangerous to my money supplies (EXCELLENT shopping, and I am an awesome haggler, surprisingly). We had separated from the group a little, but then we reunited and decided to go to dinner...but Audrey and I decided to do our own dinner thing at CurryLeaf, since the Indian food in London is so good. And it was...so good.

A note about London though. You cannot exchange Pounds to Euros to Dollars in your head every time you look at the price of something. It will drive you insane, because yes, you are paying a horrendous amount for everything. That is just how it goes. But spending money should be a pleasure in life. I'm going to try to learn to take pleasure in spending money, rather than feeling guilty and annoyed.

Also, I lost my voice. Pretty badly. My name has been changed to Leon, because I sound so very much like a man. On the bright side, I think it throws the Brits off enough that they don't immediately think “AMERICAN.” Also, Brits are strange creatures. On the tube, they don't speak to each other, and they don't look at anyone. Like, there were people who were obviously friends, but they did not speak on the Underground. How odd...while American students are in fact the loudest creatures in the European landscape, Spanish youth have their fair share of noise.

But anyway, after dinner we decided it was pub time again. So I got a pint of Bulmer's (a cider), and enjoyed it quite a bit. I wish cider existed in Spanish bars...less expensive than a cocktail, more palatable than a beer. Alas. I wore out the very last of my vocal cords so that I really couldn't speak on the way home, and then all too soon, Norwich left us. I was extremely sad...but, they have promised to come visit us in Malaga. Which is good. Because we love them so very much! It was truly a delight, and reminds me why I'm going back to Carlisle next year (although, as pointed out to me, the homework I'm going to have to do next year is going to seem outrageous).