Our first day in London was very filled with activities. Since we were up from the night before, we decided that instead of sleeping we were just going to find a pub and have our first beer in London. Cory, Nick, Newcomb and I went to a pub called The Globe really close to campus on Baker Street. After a few beers, we ended up meeting back up with the group so that Frank (JCU rep that is staying til Monday) could show us around the "neighborhood." This tour of the neighborhood was really unorganized and what ended up happening was everyone splitting up and doing their own thing. Nick and I took the situation by the horns and went to another pub with a few girls that we really didn't know that well. After returning to Regent's, we went to our floor meeting with our RA and decided to wait and see what everyone else in the group was doing. I ended up finding a pub with a fellow JCU student Matt. This bar was called the Metropolitian and was a large, two story pub that a lot of Americans were. After a few pints the rest of the group met up with us. I began talking with a Londoner named Sam and I probably had one of the most interesting discussion about American politics that I hae ever had. The UK take on Barak Obama was interesting indeed. I belive I ended up talking with Sam for over and hour from evertything from politics to sport. Nick and I were the last to leave the pub and on the way home from the pub, got lost in Regent's Park. Apparently on the first day I was bad at directions...one of many freshman mistakes ha ha.
After a good, long sleep we woke up and started the day at around noon (Friday, London time) Nick and I met up with my brother Ben's friend Jack's sister who was also studying in London. I had to give her contact lens and other odds and ends. She is staying relatively close and were able to meet her with relative ease. When we got back to school, Nick, Cory, and I decided that we were going to take the "Tube" somewhere. We went to very touristy locations of the London Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and St. James Park. All of these places were just simply amazing and the pictures do not do them justice. Traveling with Nick is hilarious, since he has been he has been here before I just follow his path and know that were are going the right way. What is the funniest part about it is that he knows London better than our adivsers from John Carroll.
At 4 PM we met up with the rest of the students from Carroll and we all took the tube to the British Museum. The Museum was a very beautiful place and we had fun there, I just wished that I appreciated it more. We got there around 4:45 and we were supposed to stay until 8:00. Wellll this is a long time for a group of college students, on a Friday night. Most of us just looked around for an hour and a half and went to a pub close by. We met up with the group and went out to dinner at a nearby eatery. The group split up after dinner with about half of us taking the tube to the famous Piccadilly Circus. This place was very similar to what I'm assuming Times Square in New York City. Very commercial, very Americanized, but still very eye popping. It was interesting to see the amount of American influence (Burger King, McDonald's, Starbucks, Ripley's Believe it or not museum etc.) but don't get me wrong there was plenty of UKness to go around. The group decided to find a pub and did we find a pub. It was around 10:30 at this time and little did we know that some local pubs close relatively early at 11 o'clock. There was literally no one in the place where we went except for two women who we immediately became close with. One of women (who were old enough to be our mothers) named Pam told us of so many local hot spots and at closing time at the bar, she tok us to one of the coolest places but I am failing to remember the name of it. She actually is having us over for dinner some night too. After all of this, I was ready to hit the hay.
Until tomorrow,
Paul
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