I Really Like Your Music

Last weekend was so much fun! My friend Carly visited me from Wales, and her friends Michelle and Dominiqe stayed with me too. Michelle is also studying in Wales and Dominique is studying in Sevilla in the same program as Derek. All three girls go to University of Iowa.

Thursday night I went to Paddington station to pick up Carly and Michelle. We went straight back to Palace Court and hung out for a bit before going to Old Swan (a pub near by). We ordered Strongbows at about 11:40 without realizing that the pub closed at midnight. As the slow and inexperienced drinker that I am, especially when it comes to carbonated beverages, I was not finished with mine by the time they kicked us out. I needed Carly to help me out.

Then we went back to Palace Court and just talked and went to sleep until Dominique came. The only flight from Sevilla to London each day gets in around midnight at Stansted airport, so anyone visiting cannot use the tube once they take the Stansted Express to Liverpool Street tube station. So I guess Dominique took a bus and then a cab...which I'm sure was pretty chaotic.

Friday morning we woke up and went out touring. They wanted to do the hop on hop off bus tour, but I convinced them that I could navigate well enough that using the tube would save a lot of money. So we went to Harrods, Buckingham Palace, Parliament, inside Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, and Tower Bridge. It was a really fun and touristy day.

Dominique, Carly, Michelle, and me at Tower Bridge

Friday night we met my friends Conor and Brian at a pub called Hayfields over on the east end of London by the Stepney Green tube station. The neighborhood was not as nice as Notting Hill (but really? what should I expect?), but the pub was awesome! It had karaoke, pool, and couches to sit on. It was a very relaxed atmosphere, and I think we were the only non-Brits there. I really wish we had a pub like that around where I live. I'd definitely go back if it wasn't a 45 minute commute to get there. We left the pub at 1am when it closed and we didn't get home until 3pm because of trying to figure out the bus system. But I'm actually really proud of us that we figured it out all on our own!

The four of us at Hayfields pub

Saturday we woke up and took a 10am train to Cambridge from Liverpool Street. Cambridge was so pretty! We decided to walk from the train station to the campus, even though we didn't know where we were going. We just started following the people in front of us, who we assumed were headed towards Cambridge. During a walk, we found Zizzi and decided to eat lunch there. Little did we know, we were able to sit next to a giant window overlooking a Cambridge athletics field. It was a really cool location to eat. Also, our waiter, Neil, was really nice. He said he was in Cambridge law at Trinity College and gave us all of these tips on what to do while we were visiting. He kinda reminded us of Kevin the bad-ass mathematician and DJ from Mean Girls.

We walked to the campus after lunch and saw a graduation ceremony taking place. There were a TON of tourists there. I bought a Cambridge sweatshirt and a Starbucks (typical...but I was tired from waking up early). I am in love with my sweatshirt, though. I'm wearing it right now.

After walking around and exploring, we stumbled upon the Cam river punting tours that Neil had told us to do. So between the four of us we paid 35 pounds to get in a boat tour that is sort of like a gondola, where a Cambridge student stands and drives the boat. Our guy was really nice and knowledgeable, I think his name was Sip. The best part of the tour was watching four people on four different occasions fall into the river because they were inexperience punters and had just decided to rent a boat. Also, there were students dressed as pirates who were punting down the river, who we tried to befriend from our boat. Overall, I definitely recommend that experience if you go to Cambridge.

The dock where all of the punters were

Our tour guide punting us through the river Cam

The pirates we tried to befriend

The four of us on in the boat

Saturday night after we took the train back from Cambridge we took a nap and then went to Redcliffe Gardens to have the girls meet my friends. Basically we all just hung out in the lounge in the basement for a long time before deciding to go to Troubadour. Unfortunately, when we got to Troubadour it was closed because of a cockroach infestation (gross!!!), which was really weird because it is one of the nicer pubs that I've been to. So Evan, me, and the girls went to McDonald's since I hadn't eaten dinner and then took the last tube home for the night.

Sunday I woke up and said goodbye to Michelle at 10 and then did some homework. Then Dominique left at about 1:15. After Dominique left, Carly and I walked around Hyde Park for a little bit and then came home and hung out/I did homework for the rest of the night. For dinner we went to Zizzi (again...this time the one by me), which was delicious yet again. All in all, it was a very fun visit from Carly and the other girls, and it let me experience what being a London tourist would be like.