Home again in Ireland

Well I missed writing to all of you lately. I miss hearing from you all as well. Thanks for the comments lately, they were a nice thing to come back to. So I have a good deal to tell you. First of all London was nice and very expensive. Especially for Naila. We were well aware of the crime problem here but for her it hit home. She was pickpocketed. They didn't get a lot of money but they took all of her ID's except for her passport. So what about the break. It was a really fun time. The first night we got to London, we went to a dinner at a Lebonese restraunt which was excellent. The food was really good and the atmosphere was definatly different. I was glad we got to eat there. Becasue we got in so late that was all we really had time to do. So we went to bed and planned for an early start the next day. The next day we took the subway over to Buckingham palace and was really early. The changing of the Guard didn't start untill 11:30. So we walked the queens park and enjoyed what the area has to offer. We ended up getting back to the pallace at 9:45 and were glad we did. So we had a great spot for the changing and could really see everything. There is 2 sets of girls from SIU that went to London too and one set couldn't see becasue they didn't get there early enough and the other never got to see it. So I feeel luck to have had the oppertunity. I thought it was really cool. I slipped my camera into movie mode and got a LOT of great footage. Unfortunatlly, my camera can only record for 30 seconds at a time and becasue I was so wrapped up in the show I might have missed some of the show on the camera. But I think I did get a lot of good footage. Also, I must be taking pictures like a bandit. I went through a whole memory card and 3/4th of another one. I only have one card left with me so I will have to see how many more pictures I take. I might need to get another card. SO....after that, well really during the show, we spoke to a LOT of Americans and they had a lot of advice on what we should do. It was cool because they were all blue hairs and Naila and I were some of the only ons watching the changing of the Guard. Well, we knew we wanted to take a tour bus but there are a number of different cocmpanies and we didn't know which was the best. But we could count on our new friends to tell us and were lucky for the advice. We ended up with the company with the most busses and so we never had to spend any time waiting for a bus and there were a lot of employees from Canada working for the line. This was really good becasue they went out of there way to help us find what we were looking for and were especially nice to us. So we did all of the big tourist sites going from place to place in the bus. This was a really good way to go. I feel like the city is not as big as it is becasue we got our bearings really quick. All of the bus companies shut down at 6:00 and when we first got here we got an Oyster card. This is the locals card for the subway and all city public transportation. We were in and out like nobodies business. In fact we seemed so confident we had people asking us for directions. So that night we went to a really great local Italian place for dinner and it was good as well. Then we got a dessert that was like a cheesecake, apple, carmel, yumminess, thingy that was really good. It was this day that she got pickpocketed, we got a free"yeah right" ferry tour down the river and when we got off there was a really cute "tourist" shop that had trademark London stuff. As we went in three big guys knocked into her and then dissaperred, next thing she did was check her purse and her wallet was gone. When we spoke to the police, I guess this is a cronic london problem and unfortunatly she was the one they chose to hit. Lucky for her there were no physical injuies becasue London has been having a really bad stabbing problem as well. So we feel like if this is the worst that has happened we could have been a lot worse.
Well, enough of the depressing stuff. We were told by our blue hair friends not to skip on the Tower so we wanted to designate it to the next day. Which is exactly what we did. Yet another smart decision. I feel like London pro's becasue everything we did was just a smart decision. So, the way the bus passes worked we could use them untill noon the next day, so we walked through the righ neighborhoods to get to where the bus could pick us up and caught the bus to the tower. Here we met a really cool guy. He was probably from Germany or Switzerland, and he was a retering International Corporate Lawyer. We met him by asking him to take our picture on the bus and we then got to alking with him. He had his family with him but he was doing baiscially what I hope to be doing. So i felt really good knowing that people are doing really well in that feild here. He looked like he was only in his early 40's but he was 58. He woke up early before his family and went to a 15 mile run through London to keep in shape. Well, in any case, I am sure now that I can do it becasue he said that as long as your open and willing to work hard, you can make it here. I also am learing a lot about Internatinal Law from the classes and am begining to fell really prepared to practice over here. Well, enough about him, on to the tower. We got there and had a Really Good tour guide. He really made the experience. the tower was neat to see and the history was fun to hear about. What about the Jewels, yes they are huge and rediculous. She really needs to tone it down becasue she is blinging more than a rapper. The part of the Tower that I really appreciated was not the jewels though. I liked the armenant. Which I must say costed one pound extra, always trying for an extra 2 bucks. Well, I will say it was worth it, they has some neat WWI and WWII artifacts and an Unusal spin on the revolutionary war. Let's just say that they don't feel like they lost, just wanted us to have our freedom. What wonderful liberators. There biggest complaint is us recieving help from the French. In fact... are there any French reading this, yes, raise your hands....yes both of them so we can identify you. Hopefully you got the joke.
Enough of the tower. There are 2 things I really wanted to see, but we had to make a choice. Really push on and see them or take it easy and enjoy the city. We chose to take it easy. We are so tired at this point. The two places we still wanted to see was the british museum and the Wax museum. But I have the biggest blisters on my feet and need to get some new shoes. I have walked and walked and walked. So I am ready to not have my feet hurt anymore. My pinky toes are swollen to double their normal size from the big blisters on them. I have another pair of shoes in my Galway bag but of course, I won't have access to them till tommorow. I almost bought a pair of shoes, but the place where I like the shoes was closed. So in any case, we then went to a pub for lunch and had some decent food. Then it was time to head back to the hotel and freshen up. We got back and only had an hour before we had to be back downtown to the theatre district. Yes, the theater in London. So you ask, what did we see, the Lion King. Yep, this Guy saw the Lion King. Stephenie met us up there and we all 3 saw it together. It was awesome and the stage was amazing. It was an incredible ending to the time in London. Man this was the best theater I have ever seen. I can't say enough. The production was awesome, the venue was awesome, and the company was awesome. It was a great night. It also was an unusual night. This is the last night that Alcohol can be brough on the Subway trains forever, so every 10-30 year old was drinking on the trains. It was crazy, like the worlds biggest party. It made the news all over Europe and I was on the train at that time. The police were closing down stations and coming through drunk rioters and it was an amazing scene. Luckly we have gotton the jiist of the system down and snuck in as the last group alloed to leave the station by our hotel. Lines were closed down and what not, we had to hop on 3 different lines, really quick to get to the staion before the police could close it. It was really fun to do. Anyway, I feel like I was here for a little history. Nothing monumental, but it was an experience no one will ever have the oppertuniy to say again. So I feel lucky again. I am really pleased with this trip. The only thing that could have make the UK better is if everything didn't cost 2:1 becasue of the poor exchange of the Dollar. Well what can you do. I am now in Galway at the Best Western Flannery's. I will be staying here tonight and we start class at 10:00 tommorow. So I know it seems like it is still early here, but I have reading to do and need to get some sleep so I have any energy for tommorow. I am making the most of the time here though, not a min. wasted. I love you all and am so happy when you write to catch me up with the news from home. Talk to you later. Enjoy your Sunday.