London

This past weekend I had my first weekend out of the country to England to visit Kyle. I didn't have the highest expectations for the city, but it turned out to be amazing and I had a great time. On Thursday I headed out, and had my first experience on Ryan Air. It was pretty much what I expected, a crowded plane with little leg room. Once arriving in Gatwick it was really easy to get into the city and was at Kyle's place with an hour. I got to meet Kyle's friends, and we had an easy night.

On Friday Kyle had class, so I walked with him and even sat in on one of his classes. The class was definitely better than the ones at UCD, but it still is different than the teaching style in the states. After that class I set out to discover more of the city on my own. I headed to Trafalgar Square where I saw the huge lions, and the National Gallery. Since the gallery was free I went in, and spent about 2 hours there looking at all the works they had. I then walked down to the Thames and saw big ben, and went by the London Eye where there were a bunch of cool street performers. I then met up with him at LSE and we went to the student bar for a few drinks. We then met up with Carolyn who came in from Dublin also, and we headed out to dinner at Wagamama. We had a fun night out, and ended the night with a great kebab.

Saturday was an amazing in which it seems we did everything. We had a great breakfast at a coffee shop where I had some great english muffins. From there we walked down to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. We then headed south of the river to Borough Market which was unbelievable. It's a huge market in the middle of the city with stands that contain all types of meats, vegetables, fruits, cheeses, and more. After seeing more of the city we ended up at Hyde Park where we met a few other guys and played some american football. Then we headed to Harrod's which was amazing as well. The food courts were unbelievable, and the store in general was just insane. After a long day we had a nice dinner, and then went to a pub for a few drinks.

Having a 10am flight wasn't ideal, but it was the cheapest option so that's what we decided to go for. Unfortunately we were a little lazy and got up late. We were crunched for time, but since the tube is pretty efficient we thought we could still make it to the train in time. Unfortunately the tube line we needed to transfer to was closed, so we were screwed. We started to walk thinking we could find a cab pretty easily, but there were none to be seen for about 20 minutes. We finally got to the train station 30 minutes before our flight stopped boarding, but it took 40 minutes to get to the airport. Luckily there was a 145 flight as well, and we got on free so everything worked out pretty well.

I had a great weekend, and definitely plan on going back to London at some point.