the wedding. but not until you read some other junk too.

There is so much to tell and I've only skipped one day of blogging!

Yesterday (Thursday in London. I'm not sure what day it is in America anymore...), was the first day of classes. Nothing too exciting. Despite all attempts at paying attention, by the time I got to my second class, I was definitely struggling to stay away. Good thing everyone else was too. It's just been such a long couple of days.

After class, a bunch of us went and got lunch. Most went to Waffle Palace (and no worries my friends, one day I too will visit Waffle Palace) but two of the other girls, Hannah and Loraine, and I went to Tuk Tuk. It's this Thai food place not too far from the Centre and it was way good. Here's a little secret though. Some places in London (and possibly all of Europe?) won't give you free water. Dumb, I know. But sometimes the tap water (like in the Centre) is not so awesome tasting. So instead they ask if you want still or sparkling water (which is apparently what most Europeans drink, but I find it horrible.) and no matter your choice, they'll bring you a bottle of it and charge you. We have since asked if the water is free at every place we eat. I don't even care if we sound like idiots when we ask.

After lunch, Loraine had class and Hannah and I just walked around the neighborhood until deciding to have an adventure. We went back to the Centre and grabbed her Oyster card (which is a pass you can buy to use the tube) and picked up one of our other friends, Corey, and headed off to the closest tube station. We had no real plan except to head east because we hadn't been very far that way yet. We ended up getting off at the Holborn station and wandering around there until we stumbled upon this crepe place. It was so delicious and they were giant. Good thing we shared. Unfortunately we couldn't explore for very long because we had to be back at the Centre for dinner...man I feel like I talk about food a lot. There's just so much to say about it...(and thankfully it's getting better than pea soup). Also random side note, my luggage got delivered during dinner as well. Yay!

Later that night a bunch of us decided to go to the London Eye. Luckily for me it was closed. Yes, that's right, I am happy it was closed. Can you imagine me, who is terrified of heights, on a giant farris wheel? Didn't think so. So anyways a bunch of us jump on the subway and all that jazz. We're on our way out of the station and I'm chatting away when all of the sudden bam. there's Big Ben. right in front of me. Not expecting that one. I didn't even realize that the Houses of Parliament were so close to the London Eye. and then right next to Big Ben is Westminster Abby. As you can tell, this turned into a much bigger event than we had planned. There were tons of people out and lots of crazies camping out for the wedding at Westminster. It was way cool to see everything at night and just a great little adventure.

Now onto what you all probably really care about. The Royal Wedding.
So yes, it was way cool to be here for the wedding. Everyone split up into a million different groups and the group I was with decided we weren't going to leave until 8 (much later than the group that left at 5). We went over to Buckingham Palace, where the Royal Family was before the wedding. Though we saw lots of cool things like the guards and the empty cars that would eventually take William, the Queen, etc. to Westminster, it took a while for us to see anything super cool. There are at least three entrances and exits of Buckingham and all of the empty cars drove past us. Once William and the Queen and their entourage were in the cars, they exited out a different way so we didn't see them up close. But really the fan fare wasn't so much about them anyways, if we're going to be honest. Finally we see cars with people in them. Two cars drive past, the first with Pippa and one of the other bridesmaids and the second with the rest of the bridesmaids and the page boy. Everyone but Pippa was a little kid and they were so adorable. Eventually two other cars came and da da da! It was Kate. Yes that's right. Kate Middleton, the (now) Duchess of Cambridge, drove past me when I was literally standing right next to the road. So freaking cool. She was absolutely gorgeous. I mean for real. I'm sure you've all seen pictures, but she really did look so amazing. Some other car with (probably) cool people drove past with them, but clearly they were not who I thought was important.

By that time, we had been standing for forever and didn't care so much if we stayed. We attempted to get to Hyde Park to watch the ceremony on giant screens they had up but, much to our surprise, we were barricaded into the palace. So we were forced to hang out there until they got back to the palace. This wasn't actually tortuous or anything. I saw the whole Royal family and Kate's family and the newly married couple up on the balcony. I didn't see when they kissed, which was disappointing, because there were so many people and we kept getting pushed around. But I did see them and took lots of pictures. It was definitely an experience I'll never forget.

That's basically all that happened today. I've attempted to do some homework, with not so much success. We also went to the Victoria and Albert Museum for about an hour, but because all the museums are free, I don't really feel like I need to spend a ton of time in them at once because I can just keep coming back over and over again. I also got to skype my family for a few minutes, which was fabulous.

Well folks, time for bed I think. I'm still trying to get over the time difference and the fact that having 7 other girls in the same room as you makes it a tad bit more difficult to get to sleep at a decent time and stay asleep throughout the night. But that's ok, I love them all anyways. =]

Also, I know you all really want to see pictures of these things, but the internet here basically stinks and takes a million years. So I promise to visit the nearby pub and put pictures up for you asap.