the united kingdom

greetings from the UK! pretty amazing here. rubbish, futbol, double decker busses, and driving on the left side of the road. i've almost gotten killed so many times already because i ALWAYS look right when im crossing the street instead of the newly introduced 'look left'. tristan continually saves my life.

good seeing him for sure. it's been so long. even though we only spent 6 weeks as roommates like 4 summers ago, we picked up where we left off. and he was late, as usual, to meet me at victoria station in the city. i waited there in front of a burger king (figures) until he showed up, which is really all i can do. if he didnt show, there is absolutely nothing i could do to change that. but he made it...and he looked the same, and i must have to or he wouldnt have found me.

first major thing we did was hit a 'proper' english pub, of course. proper is quite the term here. i kind of love it. that and 'geezer' or geeeeezaa. haha. i'm going to try and throw that would into all my sentences, somehow. LONDON PRIDE is the beer of choice. delicious stuff, and obviously brewed here in london. Pubs here are awesome, and everywhere. it's said that you're never 3 meters away from a rat, or a pub, in london. kind of funny...

first full day here....went and did some touristy things. tristian showed me around the entire city. he's a pretty good tour guide (except we got lost once...idiot). saw wherehe works in the financial district (he's a bond trader...kind of gangster). walked the london bridge. went up in the london eye to see the whole city. rode in a double decker bus. walked like 500 km through winding narrow streets. kicked it in trafalgar square with some massive lion statues. i love lions. had a 'proper' english dinner....this time some fish fillet and chips with peas and a guiness. YESSSS. so good..

last night went out with tristan and his banker buddies. all the financial people go out on thursday nite after work it their suits..to party it up and meet some sexy ladies. however, these sexy ladies are smart. they are the 'essex girls' meaning they come down from essex to meet their husband, who they seek out by asking questions about what bank they work for and what sector they are in. CRAZY. i'm not buying drink for one of those ladies. however, they probably woudn't want one from me :) pretty interesting scene though. love the girl's accents nonetheless. walked forever down this place called brick lane, which is exactly what its called. tons of pubs, clubs, and cheap food. people everything doing stupid things. had a couple whisky drinks with tristan and company, met a girl from pennsylvania who pretended to be 23 when she was definitely 16. haha. watched tristan's german friend as he creepily followed girls around in every bar we went to. haha. he would stand there and stare at them, until they would acknowledge him, then he woul attack. and fail. so he resorted to a tuna beigel (should be spelled bagel) and the beigel shop on brick lane. when you choose tuna for a snack, you've basically given up all hope at meeting a woman for the night. that's the english way of throwing in the towel. haha. at about 2 we took a cab home (cabs are pretty interesting here. lots of leg room) and grabbed a double cheeseburger from mcdonalds before hitting the sack. i keep saying i wont go to mcdonalds in a different country..but sometimes you just gotta have a little cheeseburger in your life. and when IN-N-OUT's not around, gotta resort to the micky D's...

stephen's on his way over right now. he's staying with us tonight before he heads to ireland for a couple days. we are gona check out some of the more notable stuff in london today...buckingham palace, big ben, towers of london, etc. hope my group at school is doing well. it's pretty awesome i can disappear for a few days andnot have to worry about my project. love it.

got to take a shower (inside, this time). updates coming soon.