Day One: March 8

March 8. 10 AM

We land ready for London. The first British voice we hear is that of the customs officer who is demanding Chris' address. We give it to him and head to baggage claim hoping our luggage will greet us there.

I LOVE CONTINENTAL!!!! I can't believe they managed to get our luggage on our flight. We had less than 20 minutes to connect to a different terminal and they got our bags over too! London, here we are.

We don't really know what we're doing at all. Michelle brought her phone, which will work in London. We have Chris' number and we know we have to get to Victoria Station. We have no money, American or British. We are supposed to call Chris when we get on the express train to London.

We find the train, get on and turn on Michelle's phone. She takes out her notebook, locates and dials his number and hands the phone to me. All I hear is a deafening buzz indicating that the number doesn't work. I keep listening hoping that's just the dial tone but a polite British woman tells me I have the wrong number.

Shit.

The train moves closer to Victoria and we realize we may have the wrong number for Chris. We are supposed to be staying with him for the majority of the trip but all I know is he lives in Lexham Gardens. I have no idea what number or where that is. We try every variation of the number we can think of. Nothing. We don't have Jess' number. We try Tara's but it doesn't work. I know no one else. What are we going to do? We are so screwed. This wasn't planned out very well....


March 8. 12 PM

When we finally arrived at Victoria Station, we walked around trying to come up with a plan to locate Chris or his flat. We walked around aimlessly, strangely calm considering we were stranded in the middle of London completely lost with no money. Michelle and I, luggage in hand, stood in the middle of the station looking at each other helplessly.

CHRISTOPHER!!!!!

I see Chris standing five feet away in his prized Wailers sweatshirt eating a Cadbury Egg McFlurry. Thank the Lord! I ran over and gave him a huge hug. I can always count on Chris.

We took out money and headed for the tube. Chris carried our luggage up and down stairs leading us closer to his flat. You need your ticket to exit the tube station. I was a little frazzled and got my luggage stuck in the doors. Once again, Chris came to my rescue and pulled my huge Rugged Gear bag over the doors. A beam of light broke through the station ceiling illuminating this chivalrous deed. We exited the Gloucester station and walked to Chris' flat.

Not only do the Brits drive on the opposite side of the street, they also walk on the opposite side of the sidewalk and ride escalators on the opposite side. This caused several collisions near-fatal collisions between myself and the British.

Right now we're sitting in Chris' kitchen. He is located on the ground floor of the Lexham Gardens building. It is a beautiful flat. We were greeted by a sea of sleeping, half-naked boys when we arrived. Chris and his four roommates have other visitors this week.

Sitting in the kitchen, we can see the family room action through an open partition. The ceilings are extremely high and the huge windows that face the street let in a sea of light through the curtains. There are two couches, a long table, a TV and a fireplace in the family room. There are two bedrooms. One is a single and the other has two sets of bunk beds. Michelle and I will be sleeping in the family room. This is going to be awesome.


March 8. 5 PM

I just woke up from the best nap of my life.

Soon after arriving at Chris' flat, he brought us back to the station to meet Tara and Jess. It was sooooo good to see them. This is the longest I've gone without seeing Tara since college started. We all went to Portobello Market. The market looked interesting but it was cold and raining and Michelle and I were exhausted so we didn't take advantage of the sights. Instead of looking at the wares people were selling, we made fun of a lady dressed in bright green velvet with long, blonde dreads that probably hadn't been washed in years. She was the tree nymph. Chris bought ten apples for one pound (two dollars) and insisted I take a bite out of every one.

Tara and Jess wandered into a Lush store. The smell of those make me nauseous but we went in for the heat anyways. Chris and I exfoliated our hands and made fun of the weird products in the store. I spotted one called "Caca." There were many different kinds including "caca rouge," "caca noir" and "caca brun." We were laughing uncontrollably. Partly because we were delirious. Mostly because poop is funny. One of the employees noticed our interest in the product and cornered me to tell me all about it.

Girl: This is an all natural hemp product. You just pick one of them, for example caca noir. Heat it up and then rub it in your hair and it will dye the hair a dark black/blue colour. You can even mix caca rouge and caca noir and get a beautiful tint.

Chris giggled like a five year old while I tried to keep a straight face listening to this British woman tell me to rub caca in my hair.

We walked around the market some more and ran into Emily and Caroline. This was our first, but definitely not last, random BU encounter. Half the campus was there for spring break.

Michelle and I wanted to nap so we had Chris bring us home. On the way there, he decided to narrate everything I did in a British voice.

Chris: The Maria takes a massive bite out of the apple. She stalks her prey and tears into it with her killer teeth. The Maria is a dangerous animal. The Maria tells the Chris to shut up in an angry voice. Marrriiaaaaaaa!!

We arrived back at the flat, got into our PJs and passed out on the couches. We woke up smiling and found Chris, James and Kevin snuggling on couch cushions on the floor. Love permeated the air and all were euphoric.

March 9. 6 AM

Tonight we went to a club called Sirocco. Jess and Tara met us at Chris' flat. They had already consumed at least one bottle of wine. We caught up on the drama of semester two thus far. Tara drunk dialled my mother, telling her how much she loved her, my father and me. We walked to the tube in a group of at least ten.

As we tried to locate the club, several promoters approached us asking where we were going trying to lure us to the club they were sponsoring. After the fifth promoter, this became extremely irritating. It was almost as bad as trying to deposit a check and having the Bank of America people try to con you into a checking account and signing away your soul.

We found the club and stayed for a little while. Michelle and I had Mojitos and danced with the London abroad kids while trying to avoid creepy strangers attempting to join our dance circle. We took a night bus back and rode on the top level tired and excited to get in pajamas. We played caps (a game the boys made up to adjust to the lack of solo cups and the difficulty of playing beer pong in London). Michelle fell asleep on the couch. The boys were sitting on the second couch so I moved to the floor and eventually fell asleep as our hosts argued about basketball and politics.

I was woken at about six by James slamming a pillow into my face. Apparently everyone had engaged in a pillow fight that they thought I should be a part of. I woke up and tried to hold my own but fell victim to Chris and James. They wrestled me to the ground and my glasses nearly broke on my face. The fight ended. I am falling asleep laughing.