Destination Graz: 'Ello London!

I love London.

Perhaps it's the fact that people speak English here. Or maybe it's the familiar brands. Or the delicious chocolate cake with fudge and ice cream I had last night. Or the sights. Or perhaps it's that I'm here with my best friend. I can't quite pinpoint it, but London is a different city than the others I've been in. I simply love it.

Wednesday I left Graz with Ashley. (We just so happened to be going to London on the same day and taking the same flight!) We rode the bus to the train station, got to the train station and Ryan came to say goodbye to us. Once on the bus, we again met nice Austrian people to tell us when to get off. A girl about our age offered to drive us the 5 minutes it took to get to the airport from the train station and we accepted! (One could say we "hitch-hiked" and by one I mean me. I'm totally owning the hitch-hiker). Thankfully my bags were underweight although I do think I'll have to ship a box home full of stuff. So Mom or Dad if you are reading this, a package will be coming soon!

Ryaniar was the airline I took to get to London. I've heard things about Ryanair that it's a cheap airline, I mean my ticket was under $60 with a checked bag, so I figured it wouldn't be luxury. I didn't expect the rocky take-off and landings!! They freaked me out so much! When we took off it was so rocky and bumpy. Then when we landed I felt like the plane was going to crash with how bad we shook. And I have to experience this three more times. Super.

Kate also told me that I would have to go through customs. I didn't think much of it and just filled out the landing card. Well while I was doing this, an entire plane of Asian people came ahead of me and filled up the entire line. So I stood in the customs line as I watched the clock tick by and missed the bus I paid for to take me to Baker Street where Kate was going to pick me up. I ended up getting a bus an hour later and praying that Kate would somehow check her facebook for me to tell her that I was late.

****NEWS UPDATE****
In the Stansted Airport there was a Burger King with, you'll never guess, chocolate milk shakes! I've been craving one since forever and finally fulfilled my longing. I hope it lasts for the next three months.

I got to Baker Street at 7:30 where Kate and her two friends from Suffolk (her university in Boston who are also studying in London) met me there. We went off to this fun restaurant where on Wednesday's if your phone carrier is Orange (like Verizon here) then you get 2 for 1 pizza. We also got free dough balls and cheese bread. It was a feast and a perfect meal after a day of travel. We then came back and went to bed, I was pretty tired and Kate had class in the morning.

On Thursday, I mostly got acclimated to London and had a relaxing day while Kate went to class. In the afternoon, Kate took me to this funky haircut place to get my haircut. And I got it chopped off! At first I was shocked, the guy even used a beard trimmer on my neck! But today I like it a lot more and it's good that I won't have to cut it again until I get home. We then ate dinner at Kate's dorm and then headed out for dessert at The Met. (This is the place with the amazing chocolate cake!)

Friday (today) we went everywhere! Steph came with Kate and I and we just walked all over London. We went to Primark, a cute clothing store that is about as crazy as a Walmart on Black Friday. I got some fun stuff and we just went into different shops while making our way Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, House of Parliament, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, and The Globe. It was just a really fun day filled with shopping and sight-seeing. Needless to say we are all pretty tired and our feet need a break. Tonight I'll be taking it easy and relaxing.

Here's some pictures of our adventures today!