Europe: LONDON

HI! I'M HOME. At last, I am home. I'm back from my long and amazing summer vacation to Europe. The trip that I have been so excited for ended up being even more amazing than originally thought. This trip has really changed my aspect on the world. I am much more conscience of others in the world and have been introduced to a new way of thinking and way of life. I hope that through my entries you will understand what I mean. This trip was really special and was more than just a good vacation. Aside from my physical travel, my spiritual and internal sense has grown and developed, altered and changed (for the better). I have matured more in the last 18 days (how long my trip was) than in the last 6 months at home. I was exposed to so many different types of food, music, places, people, languages, and just cultures in general.
 I have so much to tell you! There are so many stories to tell and pictures to show and it starts..... now! I'm going to tell you e-v-e-r-y single detail of my trip (this entry won't be a novel, promise!) but it will be long. I won't be offended if you don't read all of it. I'm sure that I won't even proof read it LOL. I'm going to tell you about it as how I would tell my friends. Forgive me in advance if I curse, have a spelling error or ramble on for too long. Okay! With that being said, I'll begin.

  LONDON:

I won't go day by day for London because I was with my two sisters and my mom- we just went site seeing and explored the city. The trip started off with my flight to London with my sister Allison and my mom. (my MUM)*. We took a 9 o'clock flight on Monday, July 27 and arrived in London Heathrow at 8 am London time. I slept most of the plane ride but I was still jet lagged, regardless. I got my Oyster Card for the underground and took the underground to my other sister's apartment in London. We didn't do much on the first day. Right away, I noticed how much smaller London was than I expected. The buildings, the streets, the apartments, the cars- everything was much smaller, and older! However, everything was very clean. Now thinking about what I want to say, I have so much to talk about! Should I talk about the people and fashion, the culture and atmosphere, the architecture and design of the city, the food, or just about everything? I think that me talking about everything will work the best. I do not want to leave out any details! So, while I was in London (Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri- that week.. then I flew to Austria for 10 days and then back to London for 2 1/2 days) I visited all the tourist attractions: Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Eye, Westminster (Wes-Minsta Ab-bay: How the Brits say it). My mom always said West Minister. So American. I have to say, it was all very impressive. We were very lucky with the weather- it didn't rain. LOL. I must say the weather in London is awful. If its not cold, its raining. If its not raining, its windy. It was summer time and I wore a light jacket and jeans every day. We visited a large market- all sorts of foods, drinks, deserts, etc. It was very cool. It was very crowded but the food I had was good! I had, hmm, a grilled sandwhich with a smoothie and then some sort of Australian coconut desert? Yep that sounds about right. It was good.
From the moment I walked out the Underground station I could tell that London was a very fashion-forward city. I mean, its the home of Alexander McQueen, Burberry, John Galliano, Hussein Chalayan. Come on! Some of the greatest designers in the world are British. The style is very trendy. The thought process behind every London shopper must be, which store is the most fashion forward and trendy? Brights, prints, dresses, tunics, everything. The people there dress very well. Everyone, guys and girls, had a brand name bag. I fitted in perfectly with my messenger bag my aunt bought for me. (Thanks Liz!) The most popular bags were Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior and Prada. I also saw many Marc Jacobs and guess what? Hermes Birkins! Yep, that's right. I saw 8 Birkin bags on my first time around in London. Granted I saw them in the most expensive and swankiest parts of town- Kensington, Chelsea, etc- but still. The fashion is very exciting. The city, for the most part, is very materialistic, but in a good way. I didn't get the feeling it was about competition or name dropping. It seemed to be more about owning the look or the person you were trying to portray. Fashion: A+. 
The food, directly put, sucked. I didn't think it was possible for food to be that bad, but London proved that you it could be. Let's start with the breakfast: Okay. I tried a typical Full English Breakfast at a Pub my first two mornings.. I figured it had to be OKAY. but no. The eggs were rubbery, the toast was somewhat stale, the tomatoes were all over the place and the bacon was so bad. I thought it could maybe just be a fluke? So, I ordered it again the next morning. Nope, no fluke.. still sucked! From then on I had cereal in my sister's apartment. The lunch was okay. We just went out to eat. The Italian food was alright. The best food in London was the oriental food. I had good Thai food and had very good Indian food! The good dinners made up for the crappy breakfasts. Nonetheless  the food was bad.  
The music scene was surprisingly much smaller than I planned. Actually, it was like music was nonexistent. It was so weird. It seemed that music wasn't very big in England. In all other parts of the world, especially cities, I would see many people walk around with their iPods or listening to music. I saw not one person listening to their iPod in London. On the underground, on the streets, at lunch, nothing! i didn't even hear Adele. LOL Although I didn't have the chance to go to a nightclub,  I hear the music there is big. My friends in Austria say that the music scene in the clubs in London is big, especially Drum & Bass. Well, I have to say I was a little disappointed by the music scene. At least I can listen to Adele, Florence + the Machine and all my other favorite Brits on my iPod.