48 hours of Hell

I know I said I was done posting because I was leaving...but my exit of England is simply too ridiculous to not document.  Before I go on, I want to go ahead and wish my friends well and I hope you all get back safely and in time for Christmas...big believer in Christmas miracles, you are all in my prayers.

OK!  So, Saturday morning:  10am.  Matt, Jessie and I load up all of our luggage into a cab and get to the bus station for a 2.5 hour bus ride to London.
11:30: Bus leaves.  I might add that at this point I'm 90% sure I have pneumonia, and a fever, and I really just wanted to be in bed and not move.
12:00: It starts snowing, traffic goes insane, bus starts going 2 mph.
16:00: We make it to London, Jess and I say goodbye to Matt, and we find a cab to take us to the hotel.  He doesn't want to drive to the hotel because he's a Douche Lord, so he takes us to a train station, where we have to buy 20pound train tickets for a 10 minute train ride that was delayed...and I may or may not have yelled at the woman, while I had no voice because she wouldn't give me my ticket and kept telling me to calm down...Jess thought it was hilarious.
After the train, we got lost in Heathrow for a couple of hours, I literally thought I was going to pass out.  I have never felt that run down in my life.  finally, we get to the outside of the airport to fetch a cab...and we have to wait in line...in the freezing cold...with my pneumonia stricken self...for 2 hours.  We finally get in the cab to take us .5 miles down the road to the hotel, and he charges us 11pounds...yeah that happened.
Finally we get to the hotel, and Jess finds out her flight is cancelled...I had to take a bath to try and loosen up my respiratory system and breathe...it worked pretty well.  After that, Jess was able to book another flight, we watched Bridget Jones and ate room service in bed, and it wasn't a horrible night.

Sunday:
5:00: I try to check in for my flight online and I can't, so I go down to the concierge desk to organize a cab to the airport.  The concierge tells me that the terminal I need is closed, they aren't letting people in, and all flights are canceled...which isn't true because on both Heathrow and Virgin-Atlantic websites my flight is still on, he refuses to believe me and suggests I extend my stay.  So I wait in a long line to get to the reception desk and he tells me that the hotel is booked, and so is everywhere near the airport. So basically, they were telling me that I couldn't stay there, and I couldn't go to the airport, and, mind you, I still had no voice, so they were about to throw my sick dying person out in the cold.
9:00: Jess and I finally got a cab to terminal 5 of Heathrow, we got separated, I had to take the tube to terminal 3 where they weren't letting people in...and I still had no voice.  I finally make it over to the Virgin-Atlantic check in desk and I find out that my flight is one of 2 leaving that day.  There isn't a time attached to it, but it will be leaving.  I literally almost cried...I'm not even kidding.  So I walk around, drink my body weight in Vitamin Water, until I can check in.
13:00: I finally get to check in for my flight and proceed to the gate!  Happiness all around
15:00: the flight takes off and I'm on my way back to America!!!
19:00: flight lands in Washington....now I have to wait in yet another line to try and get on a flight to North Carolina.  I just want to say, that the airport workers in America are so much more helpful!  I had no trouble, the guy was super nice to me, he didn't charge me for my bags, and he even changed the destination of my flight!
23:00: I'm home! It was literally probably the worst 48 hours of my life, but I can't let myself complain because I know that my friends have it so much worse.  Best of luck to you all!  and Merry Christmas.

All I Want for Christmas is You!

Well, this will most likely be my final England blog!  I never really thought this day would come, but it finally hit me today.  I must say, we went out with a bang.  On Monday, everyone went to I love Monday's and it was Christmas themed and fantastic.  I could not have asked for a better night, with the fake snow, (and the tears Miss Tamaryn...), and all of my friends being in one place FINALLY.  Even though my feet ended up bruised and I didn't make it home until 5:30 am, it was totally worth it, and I can't have asked for anything more.

 Looking back on this whole experience, I realize that I had a few goals that I wanted to accomplish while I was here, and after a certain point, I didn't think all of them would happen.  I'm proud to say that everything I hoped would happen while I was here has (with the exception of Prince Harry....hey, you can't have everything).  I can't really write anymore because I will cry, again, for about the 5th time today, but!  this has been an unforgettable semester, I have made some unbelievable friends, and even more unbelievable memories.  My life is so fabulous sometimes.

The End's Not Near, It's Here

Well!  First, I'm sorry about the lack of bloggage lately.  I've had a life full of essay-writing and things that I can't blog about for one reason or another, my life has been lame, so I'm sorry this thing has reflected that.
Let's see! The last thing I think I wrote about was when it snowed several weeks ago...honestly not much has happened since then.  We've gone to the same clubs and parties with similar turn outs and stories as previous posts, so I won't bore you with that.

But!  We did have a Study Abroad Cocktail party the other night.  Ok, well I mean it wasn't super awesome, but it was something out of the ordinary.  It was way fun to get all dressed up with my friends and go out.  They were giving out "Study Abroad Awards" kind of like Prom King and Queen, and I have to say, I have the best friends ever, because they all definitely won.  What's up.  Tam (of course) won Beauty, Matt won the Stud, Walter won Party Animal, Jess won embarrassing moment (still one of my favorite nights here I might add), Mike was the star, and there were some other awards I think that I can't really remember...there are photos on facebook, just go look for yourselves.  Anyway, that was fun.  We really did dance like nobody's business.  Aside from dancing, and Carla and I taking a picture of a SICK (open to interpretation) side-part, it was business as usual.

Oh, and Tam punched Dean in the face.  But I can't really write about that because I wasn't there, I really hate that I wasn't though...sounds awesome.

Oh! and Friday night we had an impromptu Hastings Party.  Matt, Sarah, Jessie, and I were going to watch Inception...but then we decided to try and get into the 3rd story of the house to see what was up there even though it was blocked off....with a padlock.  So then Chelsea and Walter joined us, and we still couldn't get in.  So Jess started looking for a homemade tension wrench, so I made Prash bring a paperclip so we could make a homemade tension wrench...and while all of this was happening we were also stacking up chairs trying to climb up into the crawl spaces...I know it sounds like this can't have lasted more than a few minutes...but it definitely lasted for about 3 hours.  Then all hell broke loose, and Matt and Jessie went running screaming through the house, some of the lady bugs in Jessie's room decided to make a baby, and someone who will remain un-named youtubed horse breeding...because she didn't think it could possibly be as terrifying as Matt and I said it was.  Again I say, I have the best friends ever.

Okay, now comes the real point of this post.  I just found a birthday card signed by my friends and I got all emotional...I just have a lot of emotions ok!  Goodness.  This has seriously been one of the best things I have ever done, and will probably ever do.  I have seriously met the most awesome people here and I am SO sad that we have less than a week left.  In the past 3 months I've checked off almost all of the things on my Bucket List, including seeing Wicked in London with great friends, and going to Paris (!!!...which I still have a hard time believing actually happened)  Every time I hear Defying Gravity or For Good from Wicked I think of when Tam turned around and looked at me and we were both sobbing...it was a tender moment ok, leave us alone.  Eating Greasy food at 3 am and Glee will remind me of Matty...because lets be honest, Blue Point is on Speed Dial on my phone...whoever thought of putting fries in pita bread with Cheese is an effing genius.  Plus, he was there every time I was having boy issues.  Modern Family will constantly remind me of Sarah...."I allllways dooooo ;)".  Well, Modern Family and attempting to do Pilates in my room...which resulted in lying on the floor and watching the video.  haha.  and Of Course Jess!  With her city of lady bugs and ingenious idea of using the blow dryer to heat our bodies haha.  Our sleepovers are the best even when she passes out mid-sentence...or asks me   if I've been kissing and texting people in her sleep.  Honestly, if I could even begin to say how much everyone I've met here means to me it would take forever, so I'm not going to do that.  But!  know that this week is going to be super hard, and I will make it to South Africa...to swim with sharks...or something...hint hint.  Not that anyone reads my blog, but even if I didn't mention you know that you are awesome and my hands are tired! I need to get back to packing...Heaven help us all.