London, baby!

So it was a total whirlwind of a weekend. I left my flat Thursday afternoon, took a bus to the Glasgow International Airport, took a 45-minute plane ride to the London Stansted Airport, took a train to Central London then took the Underground to the East end. By the time I got there, I was wiped out. But no rest for the wicked! As soon as I arrived, my friend Kristin told me that we needed to go to a film studio and act for her friend. Um... what? So I took my bag back to her flat, ate a quick PB&J and then went to the film studio so we could put together a recreation of the opening scene to Shaun of the Dead. It took about 2 hours, but it was pretty fun. It was just a very odd introduction to London. Her friend brought us drinks later to say thanks. So it ended up being a nice night. The next day Kristin and I went shopping at a big shopping mall further out east. Which is dangerous when they have shops like Primark and H&M which are dirt cheap. I might have bought a few things... And I found this nifty store. :)Now the rest of these are in the opposite order of when I took them... but you get the idea. We went sightseeing both Sunday and Monday. Saturday was also sightseeing and going to museums and shopping, but I forgot to take pictures. Whoops. So here I am with the Tower Bridge.
This is the famous castle right next to the Tower Bridge. I guess I'm really getting used to Scotland, because this looks nothing like a castle to me. :)

A better view of the Tower Bridge.

The London Underground map. Yikes! I'm glad I had someone with me for most trips. Much more confusing than the Chicago El.

St. Paul's Cathedral, where Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married.

The view along the Thames. You can see the London Eye in the distance, which is a HUGE ferris wheel.

Parliament, which is attached to Big Ben.We ate lunch in this courtyard (in the SUNSHINE!!).

Big Ben and parliament.

A view down a London street. It was a beautiful day. I'm used to Glasgow weather, which is rain, rain, rain and maybe some rain. It only rained once during the whole weekend in London, and most of the time it was really sunny. My body didn't know what to do with all the sun. My eyes started to hurt.

Missy and I in front of Buckingham Palace. I found out that when the flag is flying it means the Queen is in the palace. I had a mini freak out, thinking that I was thisclose to the Queen of England. It was a weird moment.

And this is the monument in from of Buckingham Palace. I think it's a tribute to Queen Victoria (I can't really remember. All the history I learned over the weekend really blended together).
So that's my sightseeing! London was a beautiful and bustling city. However... I really wouldn't want to live there. It was overwhelming. I like Glasgow SO much better. Yeah, the weather is terrible, but it's a real "people's town". You can tell people live and work and party and die here. It's gritty and down to earth and real. I'm really getting attached to it, can you tell? Anyways. I think my friends are planning to come visit me at some point, which would be amazing. I'm really excited to show off my hood.

Other than London, I haven't been doing many interesting things! School is picking up and I have essays coming out of my ears. Which is odd for me, because I don't really write essays at home! I take almost exclusively science and math courses, so the fact that 3 of the 4 classes I'm taking now have nothing to do with science is a big change for me. I kind of forgot how to read analytically... it's definitely been an interesting semester so far. And get this... only a month left of classes! It's FLOWN by so far. I can't believe I've been here almost two months already. I hope I get to do some more traveling soon. I would really like to get to mainland Europe. We'll see!