England to Italia!

Ciao!


Hello from across the pond and beyond! I just got to Italy today after spending a little less than a week in England with my grandparents and I am so tired! I didn't think I would be as exhausted as I am, but I guess with the little amount of sleep I got last night and then waking up at 3:30 this morning I have a right to be. Being in England was such an amazing trip though, and I am so glad I was able to do it because I haven't had the opportunity to spend that much one on one time with my grandparents in England, and I probably won't have the same opportunity again.



I started off my week on Saturday at night by hopping on a plane in Philadelphia to red-eye it to London's Heathrow airport. It was really just a 6 hour plane ride, and I wasn't able to sleep that much on it but it wasn't that bad in retrospect. I sat next to a Canadian ice hockey player who was on his way to Finland to play for the national team, after spending 4 years in Italy playing for them. It was really exciting to talk to him and he was really entertaining to listen to. After a few minutes of conversation, I fell asleep until the noise of the dinner cart got to loud to sleep through. I then spent the rest of the trip trying to fall back asleep, while listening to music which probably didn't help.

Once I was in London, I caught a cab out to Shepperton, the town my grandparents live in. It was 60 pounds for a one way ride there, but apparently it was a holiday week so prices sky rocketed then. I guess it wasn't that bad because I barley spent any money for the rest of the week except on museum tickets. The first day is kind of a blur, as I was really jet lagged from my travels, but we took a walk around their little portion of the villiage that contained a pub, hotel, restaurants, and a car dealership. It was so small and quaint, and right on the river which was really nice. We took a short walk to the river where we went to the lock and watched the boats travel up and down for a little bit, and then went back to my Nonnie and Poppy's house for lunch. After lunch I crashed into sleep for a few hours, just in time to wake up to drinks and dinner. That night we just watched tv and their soap operas which are a little different than those in the states, but entertaining none the less.



Monday was a bank holiday here which is like their last official holiday until Christmas, so everything was shut down around town. We didn't do much, just relaxed and I took a tour of around the actual town of Shepperton and surrounding areas. That night we went to the local restaurant and my grandfather and I both ordered the steak and mushroom housemade pie, which is kind of like a pot pie but it isn't cream. It was really delicious and warm which was nice because it was a little chilly out. To finish it up, I had a slice of sticky toffee pudding which was different but really good and sweet.


Tuesday we took a train into London and had coffee together outside the train station. I left to be on my own after and that and to travel on a self guided tour of most of the sites along the Thames River which my guide book suggested I do. I went to the Tate Modern Museum and walked around for a while there and then headed to the Tower of London to see the crown jewels and the places that all of the kings and queens of England had stood. It was really fun to do and I liked being able to walk around by my own in London for a while.


Wednesday we took a 45 minute boat trip on the River Thames and then went to lunch at a local pub in the center of the village which was good. Neither my grandmom or granddad had been there but they enjoyed it and said they would go back again, so I guess it was a success. You never know the value of a greatly poured draft beer apparently!

Thursday we went into London again to see Billy Elliot at the theater for a matinee. My really good family friends mom's brother did the lighting for it and won a Tony for his work so he was able to get me really good seats for half the price of what they normally were, and my grandparents bought their own tickets which were a level up from me. We all thought the play was really good and definately worth seeing, and the dancing was amazing. I think both my grandfather and my favourite part was the song where Billy's friend dresses up in girls clothing and sings about it being okay of you're different. Then that night we had a small dinner and went to bed because I had to be up at 4am this morning to catch a 7am plane.

But of course, 4am really meant 3:40am, and 7am plane meant 7:30 so its been a long day. When I got to the airport though, I recognized a girl from Richmond there, Alex, and we ended up sitting right behind eachother on the plane so it was a good thing to have someone there with me so that neither of us were wandering around the airport alone. Once off the plane we got our bags, went through customs which consisted of us walking by a guy who just smiled and waved at us, and connected with our tour group. We took a 2 and a half hour bus ride to the hotel, met our apartment mates, and have just been hanging out since then.

I am currently in a room with 4 of my 8 roommates, and the ones I'm with seem really nice. We all have been getting along really well, and we met the other 4 and they're nice too, and I'm just happy I met some people that I like and feel that I can live with so hopefully it will work out well. We had a traditional 4 course meal for dinner which consisted of an apetizer of pasta, salad, chicken and potatoes, and then for desert it was like a chocolate pudding cup turned over onto a plate with a dollop of whipped cream on top. Everything was really good though and it was nice to be able to relax. Then we went across the street to a bar/restaurant and had a glass of wine or beer, and then off to bed.

Tomorrow we move into our apartment at 9am which we are all really excited about, but a little nervous. We can't decide if we think there will be one or 2 bathrooms for the 8 of us, and we can't wait to see our living situations. Im interested to see how the dynamic of our group changes once we are all together, because there are a bunch of different people in our group. Then we have some orientation stuff, a tour around the town, and thats it for the day!

Ciao!