My first time in an igloo.

Thursday, July 12th, 2007
London, England

Today was a heck of a day. I woke up at 9 AM, walked to Leicester Square with Rebecca to get Harry Potter tickets, and planned on coming back to run with Julia but we got back so late that Julia had already gone running and come back. You can walk for hours and not even know it in this city because everything around you is so nice to look at. Anyway, we bough tickets for Friday night at 8:40, and they were nearly 20 pounds a piece, that's almost 40 dollars!! I refuse to ever pay so much money for movie tickets again. It is funny though, because different seats are different prices and your tickets have a seat row and number on them and everything.

When we finally got back, I showed the other scholars where Tesco is and of course couldn't leave without buying more. I found a 3 kg bag of pasta for one pound. I was stoked--it's Fusilli and it looks really good. I spent about ten more pounds on groceries, but I have been cooking just about every meal. I also got some more water.

After Tesco's, we went looking for show tickets for tonight. We went to the Apollo Victoria, where Wicked is playing, and also went to look at the theatre with Billy Elliott, and then we went back to Leicester to find out prices on other shows. We decided we got a late start looking so we would wait to see a show. We got lunch at Garfunkel's, and I ordered an American Hot Pizza, which is definitely not American. It was funny. It was actually pretty good, in contrast with what many people say about London food.

After looking for tickets, we went towards Oxford Street and the girls went into several stores. I found an H&M and made a couple of small purchases.

When we got back, I made myself some pasta, and it was freaking delicious. The pasta, the sauce, everything was tasty. I was proud of myself, and decided that I would be eating a whole lot of pasta in the coming days.

Later on, Julia and I met up with some of her friends who are doing the FIE internship here for the summer. We went out to an Ice Bar, and it was an experience:

You need a reservation. You only have forty-five minutes inside. It is in the heart of London, right next to Picadilly Circus. You walk in and they put a royal cape over you, with a hood, gloves, the whole shebang. Your receipt entitles you to one drink from the Igloo Bar, and your drink comes in a glass made of us. Everything inside is made of ice, from the clear ice London signature telephone booth, to a map of the city, to the ice brick walls. It was sooo neat.

Afterwards, we went back to the Kensington area, where we went to a pub for the remainder of the evening. There was a live band, and I had such a good time. I tried a Strong Bow for the first time, and danced the night away. Somewhere in there I ran into Elle, and she screamed as she dropped her lime on the floor and gave me a hug. I had NO idea she was out here. It was crazy!!!

After a long night out of fun, Julia and I bussed our way back to Victoria Station, before making our way home.

I crashed pretty hard, and got a good seven or so hours of sleep before it was time to wake up and go running once again!!