¡España!

I know that I have fallen behind on my 'one blog post per week' rule, but the truth is, I have never been so busy in my entire life!  With schoolwork, papers, grocery shopping, cooking for myself, and traveling, it has been hard to find the time to update my blog, but finally, I am ready to talk about my weekend in Madrid, although I was there two weekends ago (Feb. 18th-21st)!
Not only have I been to Madrid before, but I consider it a second home.  My dad worked there when I was younger, so my family and I spent a lot of time there in the past, and I also took a trip there with my friends after our High School graduation.  So in all, I know the sights to be seen and because I am currently enrolled in Spanish Beginners here in England (even though I did take Spanish in High School -- it's a long story), I was able to form little phrases in order to communicate with the locals.
And not only was I traveling with a friend from High School who joined in my last trip to Madrid after graduation, but I also met up with a friend from Kenyon who is studying abroad in Florence.
Upon arrival, we checked into our Hostel which was actually really cute and very European, equipped with a two person balcony overlooking the city.  Once showered and changed, we decided to splurge a little on our first meal in Spain and made a reservation at Casa Botin, the world's oldest running restaurant EVER!  Although it was a bit pricey, we had to go there because not only was the food delicious, but also because this restaurant was a question on Jeopardy about a week before our arrival!
Alex Trabek: "The oldest running restaurant in the ENTIRE world."
Answer: Casa Botin.
And it was amazing.  Without even asking, we were seated downstairs which is the coolest part of the restaurant.  It is old and cave-like, and the surrounding certainly added to the amazingness of the meal.  A pitcher of sangria, a soup full of egg and delicious fat (I am never one to just eat fat, but this soup made my taste buds the happiest I had ever seen them), and a filet mignon later, my friends and I were stuffed.  So stuffed that all we wanted to do was jump into bed and go to sleep.
Now I know what you're thinking.  I am only in Spain for the weekend and why not go out and party in the country with the best nightlife while I'm still young?  But because I am no longer in my teens, I tire easily after a full meal (I am scared of what my thirties are to bring if I am already an old granny in my early twenties).  And since we were in Madrid, we didn't even leave for dinner until 11:45.  So it's not like we even wasted a night sleeping.  It was around 1:45 am by the time we got back from dinner, and after a plane ride earlier that day, we needed our sleep in order to go sightseeing the next day.  
Here are some pictures from the oldest restaurant in the entire world:

There were guys playing guitar and singing Spanish songs while we ate.

After I ate, I visited the restaurant's wine cellar.  If you didn't believe me about this being the oldest restaurant in the world, I'm sure you do now... 

Well rested, the next morning we went straight to the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia.  The art, the Picasso's, they were all so amazing.  Take a look:

I noticed that a lot of Picasso's work are portraits of people.  Of course I know how amazing his paintings are and that they are truly magnificent pieces of artwork, but I couldn't help but wonder what these people thought of the portraits Picasso painted of them.  Don't get me wrong, I would love for Picasso to paint me with eyes coming out of the wrong part of my head, but at the same time, I might be a little offended if he titled it: Portrait of Logan Kinsey.  If someone were to paint a portrait of me, I would want it to be pretty, and somewhat enhance my natural, real life look.  But three arms, and an eye where my mouth is supposed to be, I don't know how truly excited I would be to have that as outcome of my portrait.  But I guess, if Picasso were to paint me, I wouldn't be offended by the third eye, because after all, it is Picasso.  But if anyone else tries to put an ear on top of my head, then yes, I would get a little cranky.  All in all, I decided that the picture above most resembled me from all his other portraits, even with the the nose above one of the eyes.

After the Riena Sofia, my friends and I walked over to the Jardin Botanico, aka the Botanical Gardens.  Although it was a bit misty outside, the gardens were beautiful.  All the times that I have been to Madrid, I do not remember stepping foot in the gardens so it was nice to do something new.  

Trying to explore the city of Madrid in just three days, we left the Botanical Gardens and made our way to Plaza de San Miguel where luckily, there was the Mercado de San Miguel.  And let me tell you, after walking all day, I had worked up an appetite so I was pleased to be told that the Mercado de San Miguel was a Market filled with tapas.  And now feeling more confident in my Spanish than ever, I thought I would be able to order my tapas in Spanish...but little did I know what was to come...

Now, I know that the Spanish word for paella is in fact, paella, and I know that the Spanish word for fish is pescado, but I did not know and to this day, still do not know what the Spanish words are for other kinds of seafood.  So even though there was a little sign (written in Spanish) identifying what was in the bowl, I had no idea what it meant, and to me it looked like some kind of fish thing mixed in with paella sauce.  And what could be better than that?  Well, certainly not what I ordered.  

When ordering my dish, the woman at the tapas bar took the plate, stuck it in the microwave, and told me that it would be ready within tres minutos.  Satisfied with myself that I was able to order in Spanish and understand what tres minutos meant, I waited patiently for what I thought was to be my seafood tapa plate.  After three minutes, she handed over the steaming dish and as I reached out to grab what I had ordered, I noticed that the "seafood" was growing little bits of hair.  

Now, for those of you who don't know, hair is one of my biggest fears.  Don't get me wrong, I love hair when it is attached to a head, but when hair is loose or in your food, it scares me.  And not only was there hair in the dish that I had ordered, but whatever it was that I asked for, was growing the hair and I was expected to eat it.  Poking around at it for a while with my fork and knife, I finally came to terms with the fact that I had wasted seven euros on a tapa dish I would never eat, EVER.  Finally, my friends and I found someone who could speak English, and with this hairy dish staring back at us, we asked him what in the world I had ordered.  "Stomach.  Cow stomach.  And the parts with hair is the skin of the cow."  

Spitting up a little in my mouth, I pretended that all was good in order to not seem rude, although it was hard to hide the fact that what he had said made me gag a little.  

Great.  There I was, seven euros short with cow stomach glaring back at me.  But it's not like I could be mad...it's not like they taught us what cow stomach or cow skin was in Spanish.  As I sat there looking down on the hairy cow skin smothered in orange sauce, all I kept thinking was, it happens to the best of us.  

WARNING: Do not click on the picture below to enhance its size if you have just eaten.  This picture contains contents may make one gag and by stating these facts, I can not be held responsible. 

...But, if you do click on this picture to make it bigger, make sure you focus on the big piece that is being held up on the fork and note that it is growing many little hairs.  

After the Mercado de San Miguel, we walked over to the famous Plaza Mayor.  After some "ohhing" and "ahhhing", we took note that there was a fat spiderman in the center of the square and decided what better than to take some touristy pictures with a large italian man dressed up as spiderman?  So we did.  

I know this seems pretty random and kind of strange, but to be perfectly honest, this fat spiderman could not have been any more entertaining.  Although we got a lot of stops and stares from Spaniards going among their business and other tourists trying to get a feel for Plaza Mayor, I am glad that we had a spiderman photo-shoot.  

But then of course, we took normal pictures in order to capture the essence of Plaza Mayor.

After a full day of sightseeing, we were exhausted and needed some time to rest before dinner.  But when we were walking back to our hostel, we stumbled upon some very cute, Spanish boutiques.  After going from store to store, I was able to do some damage.  But my all time favorite purchase from the trip is a green, sparkly shirt that not only did I get, but my friend Kate got as well.  And this is no ordinary shirt...this is one of the flashiest, most ridiculous shirts I have ever seen, let alone the flashiest shirt that I own.  And that says a lot coming from me because I happen to love clothes (hence I have a lot of shirts), and I happen to have a sense of style (hence I have a lot of flashy shirts).  But this shirt takes the cake.  And what makes it all the better is that if by chance Kate and I wear it at Kenyon on the same day, people would think we are not only insane, but also truly strange.  Or maybe it would come off as more obnoxious than anything.  

Now, I have been told about twenty times by the Brits that I sound like Cher from Clueless.  At first I used to get upset by this, thinking that somehow I didn't sound intelligent when I talked, but now I take it as a compliment because if you remember correctly, Cher has the best wardrobe ever.  And let me confirm that the shirt that I bought in Madrid is definitely a Cher shirt, and I cannot wait to bring it back to America with me.  All I need now is a revolving closet like Cher and I will be set.    

So after shopping and eating, we decided that we couldn't leave Madrid without experiencing the nightlife and since the night before we had gone to bed after dinner, we knew there was no excuse to stay in.

From grannies to "sorry for partying" college students, we hit the town.  I guess you could say that it made up for going to bed the night before, because we stayed out until 9 am!  I know that seems crazy, even for me, but to tell you the truth it didn't even fell like we were out that long.  And the entire time (from 1 am until 9 am), we stayed in the same discoteca dancing and watching the amazing acrobatic stunts put on by the club.  

Kapital, the discoteca that we went to was packed from the time we went there until the time we left (at 9 am!)  

They even had dancers all night long.  This place was truly amazing, and although I have never been to a Vegas club, I can only imagine that this was one hundred times better.

Once we got back to the hostel, we went straight to bed.  I felt bad for Kate though because she had to leave for the airport at 11 am, so she only napped for a short time, while Diana and I slept in until 1:30 pm.  Lucky for us, we were spending a third night in Madrid because neither of us have classes on Mondays.  So with another full day on our hands, we got up and walked to Plaza de Villa.  My dad wrote down all the sights to go see, and by far, I think Plaza de Villa was one of the prettiest squares I have ever seen.

We then decided to walk to Palacio Real, the home of the Spanish Royal family.  Having seen this many times before, I was still shocked by the size and beauty of it and once again, felt as though the palace would make a good living arrangement for me.  

And we also visited the Catedral de la Almudena, which is the Cathedral across the street from the Royal Palace.

We then walked through Plaza de Oriente in order to get to the metro station to visit some other historic places.  But I was dazzled by the the beauty of Plaza de Oriente so we decided to sit for a little and soak in the sun rays. 

We were then off to Parque del Retiro, which in my opinion is the most beautiful park in the entire world (and after playing softball for over 10 years, I have been to a lot of parks in my day).  As soon as I stepped foot in the park, I had flashes of memories hit me from my childhood.  When I was younger I remember going to Retiro Park with my family and taking the paddle boats out across the lake.  

And after eating lunch and spending time at the park, I knew that I couldn't leave Madrid without going to the Museo del Prado.  And although I have been there many times, Goya's art always mesmerizes me. I love how he is able to turn creepiness into art, and do so in a tasteful and unnerving manner.  

We took this picture in front of the Prado the day before, but didn't actually have time to go in and look around until a day after.  That is why Kate is in this photo -- it was taken before she left back to Florence.  

Leaving the Prado after dark, Diana and I decided to shower, get some dinner, and then go to sleep in order to be fully rested for our flights home.  Diana's home = Paris.  My home = Exeter, England.  

After visiting everything on my dad's checklist, Monday was filled with walking around Plaza del Sol and window shopping around there.  But as it was getting closer and closer to our flights, we hopped on the metro and took it straight to the airport.  However, I didn't actually get back to Exeter until 3 am on Tuesday morning because even though I landed into Gatwick at 8:45 pm, it took an hour to get into London, and of course, the next train leaving for Exeter wasn't until 1 am.  But good thing I brought homework and lots of reading to do.  

Upon arriving into Exeter, I decided that since it was 3:06 in the morning I better splurge and get a Taxi to drive me back to my flat from the train station.  Money well spent.  

All in all, I had a fantastic time in Madrid!  If you are going to Spain anytime soon, I definitely recommend it over Barcelona (I went to Barcelona two summers ago, and Madrid is way more fun!)  So although I am late on this blog post, I am glad to say that Madrid was one of my favorite weekends abroad!  I spent this past weekend in Edinburgh, Scotland, so expect another blog post later this week on my adventures there!

London

I am sad to say that I am now a month into the second term which only leaves me with a few months left in England.  The days have really seemed to fly by this semester (maybe because I am hardly enrolled in any classes here...)  But last weekend I celebrated being back for a full month in the amazing city of London.  However, my trips to London are sometimes not necessarily the most exciting trips for me.  Not that I don't like the other people on the Kenyon-Exeter program because I really have made some long lasting friendships, but when the entire group travels together, things gets a bit weird.  And it's not like I have a particular story to share about anyone, it's just that I am very different from the rest of the kids in my group.  It's not like I think that poetry is a load of crap, but I also don't sit around reading and writing poetry as my fun activity for the day which most of this group would definitely chose to do over shopping.  And good for them.  They will end being well rounded individuals someday, but so will I.  It's just a personally preference, and of course, I do respect their love and desire for poetry, but sometimes I do feel a bit of an outsider wanting to go out at night or shopping during the day rather than drinking tea and writing poetry.  But that's just my opinion.  

So rather than sit around and watch the time pass, my friends and I got up, rode on a train into London, and did not waste one second upon arriving.

After checking into our hotel, my friends and I took the tube to South Kensington and from there, we walked around the gardens, ponds, and of course, hunted down the statue of Peter Pan.  As a child I loved Peter Pan, and as a twenty one year old child, I still love Peter Pan.  As you can see, I can relate to his want to stay in adolescence and never grow up.  Many people criticize Peter Pan, saying that he is disrupting the circle of life by staying the same.  But you better believe that if I were to ever find Neverland, I would stay there too...well, only if I find it before I hit my 40's.  Once I'm in my 40's, I might as well stick to the annual birthdays.  Anyways, although Peter Pan was hard to find, we searched him down and found the statue.

To my surprise, Peter Pan himself was quite small.  However, the statue was incredible...fairies and mermaids were carved in surrounding Peter.

After the photo-op with Peter Pan, we walked around Kensington gardens toward Kensington Palace to go to a special Princess Exhibit.  

I loved walking around Kensington.  It all seemed so classy and before even getting to the palace, I felt the sense that royalty would love to live in a place like this.  Everything, even just the rails around the pond were so old and beautiful, rich with history.  

And we finally made it to the palace!  Now, I wasn't quite sure what to expect because it was my friend who had heard about the exhibit and I just followed her there because it seemed like it would be fun.  As soon as I bought my ticket and was given a brochure, I was ecstatic to find out that it was an exhibit on the seven princesses that once lived in Kensington Palace, the latest being Princess Diana.  Not only was the exhibit beautiful and charming, but the exhibit was set up to be creepy and eerie which made it all the better for me!  

First off, there was a throne to sit on called 'the seat of power'.  It was awesome.  There were two hidden microphones on the sides of "the candles" and when you spoke into them, they would echo across the palace.  Rather than speak my wish in the microphone (which it said to do), I creepily and secretly whispered my friends names into the side of the candles to scare them a little.  However, they weren't fooled by my deep tone off voice and knew that it was me whispering their names rather than a ghost.  It was worth a shot.  

Each room in the castle had something different to represent each of the seven princess' while giving off a haunting mood for all to see.  

For example, this room was named "the room of war and play", representing Princess Charlotte. 

"The room of lost childhood" - Princess Margaret.  

I can't remember the name of this room, but this was my all time favorite!  Very creepy, but also so artistic.  I felt as though I were in the story of Alice in Wonderland....except starring me and in a castle, no vortex necessary.  This room represented Princess Victoria.  

And then the last room, also very creepy, was a room that collaborated all of the Princess' together.  Rather than feel like Alice in Wonderland, this room felt more like Hansel and Grettel, as though I were lost in the woods.  Each one of the Pincess' had their gowns hanging within a glass encasement.  And these dresses were beautiful.  Everyone says how bad the life of a Princess is, but after seeing those gowns and that palace, I couldn't find any complaints.  I actually think that in my earlier life, I was a Princess because walking around the palace, I felt right at home (and I could picture myself living there in a huge canopy bed).   

And you can't go to a palace and do the whole "princess thing" without a little 'mirror, mirror, on the wall...'

Oh, I also forgot to mention my date with who other than Prince Harry.  We met, we talked, we laughed.  He even came back from London with me and is on my wall right now. 

After a great day of royalty, we had to meet up with the rest of the Kenyon-Exeter group to see the show, Greenland, in London's National Theatre.  Although the show did raise some very important issues on the environment and how the human race is slowly killing itself, I felt as though I were sitting in my high school environmental science course, except even that was more interesting.  Now, I have to admit, I dozed off a couple of times and those who know me well know that I am NOT a sleeper, especially while going to the theatre.  And I was sitting front row, center.  So how did I fell asleep?  I don't know.  But I was abruptly awoken when about 300 empty, plastic water bottles came crashing onto the stage floor. 

Now that was another problem I had with the show.  300 water bottle wasted.  They had it raining on stage.  Hundreds of buckets of water wasted.  They had many strobe lights.  Too many watts of electricity wasted.  And for what?  To tell the audience to stop using fossil fuels, to turn off water, and to turn off the lights, but that it's okay to waste if you are performing a show?  What kind of message is that?  Too contradictory for my liking and any play that puts me to sleep while I'm sitting first row center will definitely put many others to sleep, like my father for instance.  He fell asleep during Godzilla and I guarantee you, this would be a 14 pound power nap for him too.  

After the show I asked my other classmates how they liked it and what they thought.  "Beautiful", "astonishing", and "amazing" were not words that I was expecting to hear about this play, but my fellow classmates for some odd reason could not stop raving about what I thought was a piece of junk theatre show....no pun intended.  

But then I remembered...these were the poetry lovers that I was talking to so of course they would find, and I quote "a deep connection with their soul within this play".  I did hold back my eye roll in respect for their taste, but in my opinion, the show was one that I could have missed out on.

And don't get me wrong.  WE NEED TO CLEAN UP OUR PLANET and I am a big supporter in all environmental movements.  I believe that global warming is going to kill off the human race down the line and I do everyday things to do my part in cleaning up.  After I took environmental science in high school I made my dad run to the store and replace all of our light bulbs with the energy saving ones.  I always fully unplug chords from the wall because even if you don't have you cell phone charging, but the charger is plugged in, electricity is being wasted.  UNPLUG everything you are not using.  And if I knew how to ride a bike, I would do that instead of drive.  But, since my horrible bike incident in the third grade, I have decided that all of the riding I will be doing is on a stationary bike in the gym...

But moral of the story, all of the "I love poetry" people loved the show Greenland.  So if you love poetry and think that your spirit can connect to a scripted play, then you should go ahead and see it.  But if you are not so into poetic connections and like things that are not in bad taste, skip this play and go watch Godzilla with my dad.  

The next day my friend and I woke up early to fit in as much as possible.  And with not much time left in England, I wanted to make sure that I visited the Tower of London, for no other reason than IT IS HAUNTED!  And as I mentioned in a previous post, I leave creepy things and I have been haunted by a ghost, several times.  Just last year my roommate and I had a ghost problem in our room that seemed to persist all year.  I don't want to get into it too much, but one night when we were going to sleep, my roommate, Liz, turned off the lights and went back into her bed.  As soon as the lights went out, she turned them back on, telling me that there was something written on the ceiling above her bed in glow in the dark paint.  Not believing her, I stood on a chair to get closer to the writing and had her turn off the lights.  Sure enough there was something written on the ceiling, and yes, it was from a ghost.  In all caps, the word DIE had been written on our ceiling in glow in the dark paint.  The word hadn't been there before, and thinking it was just one of our neighbors who had written that (our neighbors from last year really hated us), we went to bed.  

A few weeks later Liz and I were studying in the Kenyon Athletic Center and heard a spaceship overhead.  Fearing for our lives, we were surprised that no one else heard such a noise.  The only possibility, our ghost was haunting us.  A few weeks later I had just gotten back to our empty room after showering.  Brushing out my newly washed hair, Liz's tea kettle started going off.  Knowing that she was not in the room and that her hot water maker was not plugged in, I threw my hair brush down and sprinted out of my room in only a towel.  Knowing that Liz wouldn't be back for a while because she was in the middle of class, I decided to stay in the hall and wait for Liz.  I did not dare go back in that room alone.  One of my neighbors found me and after telling her why I was standing in the hallway in just a towel, she said that she would open the door for me and go into my room to make sure there was no ghost.  Now, I know she was skeptical and didn't actually believe my story.  But as soon as she opened the door, she started screaming bloody murder.  Once she finally calmed down, she told me that as she opened the door, she felt someone walk past her...my ghost!  After that, she was a full believer and at night, stayed clear of my room.  Now, those are just a few stories about being haunted because I don't want this entire blog post to be about my Kenyon ghost.  But let's just say that my favorite movie being The Exorcist and having my own ghost haunt me on a regular basis, I couldn't wait to enter the most haunted castle in London...The Tower of London...

Enter...if you dare...

The Tower of London is by far the prettiest castle I have ever seen and was one of my favorite activities for the weekend.  Just walking up to it, I was in awe of its beauty and even more excited knowing that ghosts would be looming around the courtyard.  

Now, this is a castle I can really see myself living in...or maybe I used to in my past life and the dead version of me is haunting the grounds this very second...But probably not.  And I am sad to report back that while I was visiting the Tower of London, I did not have any interactions with the supernatural spirits of the dead.  However, I did hear a lot of stories though, the main one, being the story of the princes' who disappeared within the castle.  I forgot who was King at the time (it may have been King Edward III or something), but whoever held the crown, died suddenly which left his oldest son (age 11) to take the throne.  Before the son was crowned King, the Uncle and deceased King's brother, called for both of his nephews (the one who was about to be crowned - age 11, and his younger brother - age 9) to stay with him for a few days in the Tower of London.  The two princes' were last seen by a servant, playing in the courtyard of the castle.  Men and servants searched for the boys, but it was as if they had disappeared within thin air.  But this was convenient for their uncle.  Since both boys had disappeared, he was crowned King instead.  

Years and years later, after their uncle had died, two male bodies (and dog skeleton) were found as what is now called the Bloody Tower.  Some people think that the bodies belong to the princes', because after all, the age of the bodies were equivalent to as old as they would have been.  But some say that those bodies were just two random people and that the princes' have still yet to be found.  The two bodies that were found were buried immediately and to this day, we still don't know for sure whose bodies they are unless we do a DNA test.  However, the English scientists believe that it is better to leave it as a mystery and have the individual believe what they want.  Either way, murder or disappearance, the boys run around the castle as if it is still their own, haunting the castle visitors.  At night, the castle closes to the tourists, and different flats can be rented out as a hotel room.  Not too long ago it was reported that a man had rented out a flat with his two sons on the first floor.  He kept hearing lots of noise and laughter from the floor above.  Assuming it was his own boys, he called to them to get back to the first floor because they were not allowed to be on the second floor.  But right after shouting to them, his two boys appeared in the doorway saying that they had been on the first floor reading quietly the entire time and hadn't heard any noise...

There is a chapel within the castle which can be rented out as a wedding venue.  After a photographer developed the pictures from what he thought was a nice ceremony, he realized that the bride and groom were not the only two on the alter.  Every picture in the chapel had different orbits of light and blurriness within the shot.  

The Bloody Tower is ironically named because even though it served as the death place for the two male bodies and a canine, there was never a trace of blood.  Most say that the two men (either being the princes' or just random people) were smothered to death, leaving no real evidence of a crime.

Here I am standing underneath the Bloody Tower.

Tower Bridge in the background.

My friend and I were surprised to see how large Henry VIII really was.  This was just a replica of the actual armor her wore and let me tell you, the actual armor was about 3 times bigger.

There's the real deal Henry VIII.  Look at those thighs!!  He could have made a good softball catcher.

Even though the ghosts were all talk and no cigar, I do believe that the castle is really haunted.  Maybe next time I go I'll see a ghost, or maybe I can even talk my parents into renting a room there for a night when they visit; then we will be sure to see the princes' who disappeared.  

All in all, I loved the Tower of London and highly recommend it for everyone, especially those who have been previously haunted.

After the Tower of London, we met up with the rest of the Kenyon-Exeter group at the Comedy Theatre to go see a matinee of The Children's Hour starring Kiera Knightly, Elisabeth Moss, Ellen Burstyn, and Carol Kane.  This show was much better than Greenland, although I couldn't stand Kiera Knightly mostly because her American accent sounded very British, and she did that weird chin/underbite thing that she does when she acts.  But the script was great, although it did remind me a lot of Atonement, mainly because Kiera Knightly starred in that too.  I definitely recommend this show for all to see, and unlike Greenland, The Children's Hour did not put me to sleep.  

After the show a few of my friends and I took the tube to the Victorian Albert Museum only to find out that it was closed.  That is the one thing about England.  At 4:30 or 5:00, all stores, super markets, and museums are closed.  I think it's absolutely ridiculous.  I mean, even my dentist stays open past 5:00.  And for the English, dentistry is a whole other subject.  

After walking around for a little, my friends and I went to go see another show, but this was on our own time apart from the rest of the Kenyon group.  One of my friends found the play, Penelope, based of off the Odyssey.  And because it's not even worth my time to write about, I won't.  I'll just put it plain and simple: it was bad.  

By time the show ended and we were back in our hotel, it was 10:15.  Although I was exhausted from such a big day, my friend and I still really wanted to go hit the town just for a short while because earlier last week, I had heard about a very interesting bar in central London.  After telling my friend about it and showing her pictures, she was in.  Because not only was this bar just a bar, but it was an ICE BAR!  Everything in this bar is made of ice.  Ice walls, ice counter, ice table, ice chairs, and of course, ice glasses!  It looked awesome and right when I heard about it, I knew I wanted to be apart of it.  

But because we were so exhausted and it was already 10:15, we told ourselves that we would only go to this ice bar if we were to come back early because they next morning, we had to be up by seven.  Since the tubes close at midnight, we decided that we would leave a little before then so we could get a good nights sleep and so that we wouldn't have to pay for an outrageous taxi rides since we both had oyster cards for the tube.  But once we got to the Russell Square tube station, my friend realized that she had forgotten money and all forms of ID.  She rushed back to the room and we caught the next tube to Oxford Circus.  

As we approached the entrance into the bar, the bouncer asked which bar we were here for.  I told him the ice bar, (not the regular everyday bar), but to my surprise, he asked me if we had reservations.  Reservations?  To a bar?  No I didn't make any sticken' reservations.  I never even knew that I had to.  

He allowed us entry into the regular, boring bar instead of the fun and exciting ice bar.  But I didn't haul myself out on the brink of exhaustion just to come to some everyday bar.  I wanted the ice bar and I was not going to take "no" for an answer.  

And then I knew what to do.  Telling my friend to follow my lead, I walked over to a different guy sitting behind a desk in the entrance to the ice bar.  Quickly shaking off my jacket in order to look my best to talk my way in, I started the conversation with questions.  

"Hi.  We are really interested in going into the ice bar.  How much is the entry fee?"

-"The entry is 12 pounds and 50 pents.  But you have to make a reservation like two weeks before."

Now, for most of you, especially my parents, 12 pounds may seem like a lot for an entry into a bar.  But for those people that think that's a lot of money, I don't think you realize how cool the ice bar really is.  (No pun intended.)  12 pounds is totally worth being freezing cold and drinking out of ice cups.  I guarantee you that if my mom was my age she would have definitely been chilling in the ice bar for 12 pounds as well.  (And yes, chilling in the ice bar is an intended pun.)

But since it seemed like this guy wasn't going to let me get into the ice bar either, I had to think up a new way of getting in.  

"Oh, wow.  Really?  We didn't know that you had to make reservations weeks before.  See, we would do that, but we're vacationing here until tomorrow and we really wanted to go to the ice bar before we head back to America," I lied.  

-"I'm sorry, but we can only allow a certain number of people in at a time and it's full to capacity."

But that wasn't going to stop me.  I wouldn't say that I am a lier, I would just say that I can be persuasive while I'm in the pursuit of what I want.  So rather than back down, I looked him straight in the eye and told him that I just saw two people walk out and that my friend and I will take their spots.  I then gave his arm a little squeeze for extra emphasis.  

And to my delight, it worked!  He let us into the ice bar (he still made us pay), but I couldn't have been any happier.  He quickly threw big, puffy eskimo coats over our heads, and we were in.  And it was AMAZING.  I had never been so happy to be so cold.  

There I am sitting on an ice seat, holding my ice cup, leaning against an ice wall.

And of course, you gotta get a human-ice cut out photo.  

After a great success, we made it back before midnight in order to catch our tube (I felt like Cinderella).  And the next day began very early in the morning.  The Kenyon-Exeter program was hosting an optional trip to Hampton Court, and since it was on my list of things to do, I might as well have the program pay for my train ticket there.  And while waiting in the train station, I stumbled upon a little shop called Wellesley!  It made me feel right at home since, well, that is where my home is.  

Shout out to Wellesley Avenue and all of my neighbors!  Woot, woot!  I'm always representin' our street. 

And after a 30 minute train ride, we made it to Hampton Court Palace.  And again, I made myself right at home by taking the throne and laying down some laws.

I even found my future bed.  I have already informed my parents that we need to get our ceilings raised in order for this canopy to fit, and I think once they see the color, they will agree that it suites me well. 

Hampton Court Palace in the background.  

And we ended the day at Hampton Court Palace running around in the maze.  Thinking it would be lots of fun, I was thoroughly disappointed that there were signs that led the way throughout the maze...that kind of defeated the purpose in my opinion.  

With not a minute to spare in London, I would say that this past weekend was a successful trip.  Although there is still so much left to see in the city, I plan to be back in London sometime in April when my parents come to visit me and hopefully the Kenyon-Exeter Program will do another group trip (I only say this so that they will reimburse my train fare).  But out of all of my trips to London from this year, this past trip was without a doubt the best one.  

I have many more adventures to come and tomorrow I am taking off right after class to begin my journey to Espana!  It will be my third time going to Madrid and this time it will be very different because I will use my introductory Spanish while there!  That is something I did not attempt in the past.  So for now, hasta luego!