The first portion

I have been terrible at keeping people updated.  It wasn't my plan to be kept occupied by new friends the entire time I was here, however that appears to be what happened.

The flight went relatively well.  I was so exhausted though, that it was difficult for me to not feel emotional the entire flight.  However, as I have learned from an author whom I greatly admire, you cannot let yourself fall apart otherwise it becomes habit to do so over and over.  So I was attempting to successfully put that idea into practice.  

Once I arrived though, I found that my bank card wouldn't let me withdraw any money, so I had a few hours of complete internal panic.  Not only did this affect myself, but my family since they were trying to do things for me.  Since I don't yet (although I'm getting one today) have a mobile phone that works, I wasn't able to tell them I had eventually made it to the hostel (even though it was nearly 3 hours later).  

Speaking of getting to the hostel... I have never rode on any form of public transportation in my life.  And here I am, going off just a few hours of brief napping on planes over the last 2 days and trying to figure out the transportation system.  I thank Clive from the bottom of my heart for the excellent directions he gave me.  I did not once get lost.  I did learn you have to ask questions a bit right at first.  This I hated doing, because you open your mouth and people know exactly where you're from.  But I eventually made it with little problem.

I've never been so friendly in my entire life.  It does help that where I'm currently living is on top of a pub.  All I have to do is go sit down at the bar, chat with the bartender for a bit and suddenly there you are talking with three total strangers.  It has been quite the experience, of which I have made some incredibly fantastic memories.  It's funny because I really haven't done much touristing things.  I prefer having a slow morning, laying in bed spending time waking up, then getting a little breakfast and eventually going out to have a look around at things.  What I find really fun is to get a coffee a newspaper, and spend the 40 minutes it takes to get to central London just chilling out.  It makes you feel as though you're a real Londoner.

I've spent a lot of my time hanging out with this lovely Australian guy name Luke.  We met the second night I was here, first night for him.  Found out through visiting with others that he is also an elementary teacher, but actually has his degree and has taught before.  That's actually what he is doing here for right now, before he earns enough money to go do more traveling all over.  It's been nice having someone to pass your time with.  While at first I thought this wasn't accomplishing exactly what I thought I would, how could I expect that I was going to keep completely to myself the entire time.  This is a time to meet new people and spend time with them having grand experiences together and making memories that will last a long while.

As far as the more touristy places go, I have seen the National Gallery, the British Museum, Trafelgar Square, and Buckingham Palace.  It's been so much fun seeing all these little places seeing how old everything is!  The British Museum was just so excellent seeing all the Ancient Egypt things and knowing that thousands of years ago other people were really using those things and have touched them and everything.  It's just incredible the feeling you get when seeing these objects.  

This entire experience has felt surreal.  I can't seem to get it into my head that I'm in Europe, in London with all these old buildings surrounding me.  I wouldn't give this back for the world, it has been amazing so far.  I don't know how I'm going to go back.  I love it.