Keep Calm and Carry On

Hello everyone! Long time, no talk. Or update for that matter. I am so incredibly sorry for taking so long to update you all. School actually started to require some work. Who would have thought that studying abroad meant you actually needed to study? It’s a lot different here. For the first half of the semester, almost no one does homework, but then for the second half, teachers start dishing out assignment after assignment and you find yourself with six papers to write and four blog entries behind. I know you all have been on the edge of your seat for the past month waiting for me to tell you about London so here it goes.

London was AMAZING! I absolutely loved it. Four days there were just not enough. We arrived on an early Thursday. (We had to leave at 4 AM from Galway and since no buses leave before 8, which would have been too late to make our flight, we had to take a taxi to Shannon Airport.One of my friends suggested taking a bus Wednesday night and sleeping overnight in the airport, and then she saw the glare I was giving her and agreed that Thursday morning was the way to go.) When we got to London, it was only 10 AM, but it felt like 3 in the afternoon. We headed straight to our hotel to drop off our bags. Number 1 reason why I love London: the Tube! The Tube is London’s underground transportation system, and it is amazing. I could have spent the entire four days riding the Tube, getting off at different stops, and navigating my way around the city. It’s like a grownup puzzle. There are so many ways to get from point A to point B, and it was a contest amongst my friends to see who could find the fastest route. I was torn from my will to win and my desire to ride the Tube for as long as possible.

That first day we saw as much as we could from Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square. At Trafalgar Square, my friend Amy was meeting one of her friends from home, Zack, who is studying this semester in London. He took us to see the National Gallery, an art museum right on Trafalgar Square. All the museums in London are free. It’s so cool because you can spend an hour or all day in there if you want. As we walked into the museum I heard a voice saying, “Notice on your right the brush strokes. During the 1500’s this style was very unusual which makes this painting worth what it is today.” I looked around for the tour guide giving a very scripted and boring tour to a group of very unfortunate individuals, but the only person I saw was Zack. I didn’t know whether to laugh at the sheer fact that Zack had speech prepared for us or to cry knowing I couldn’t get out of it. Thankfully, we were all very tired from our day of traveling so we only stayed for an hour. We headed back to the hotel, found a nearby restaurant for dinner, and called it a night.

The next day we went to see the London Eye. For those that have never been to London, the London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel, the tallest one in Europe, located right on the River Thames. It overlooks Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and so much more. It is really neat because you can walk all around the passenger capsules, which are made of glass so you can see everything. I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who is afraid of heights. Next we took a tour of Wimbledon. My friend, Amy, is a big tennis fan so it was her dream to see Wimbledon.I don’t care too much for tennis, so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the tour. Although I have many favorite parts about London, Wimbledon definitely ranks pretty high up. We got to see all the tennis courts and even sat where the players do while being interviewed in the press box after a match. After Wimbledon, we made a stop at King’s Cross Station. For those of you who are not Harry Potter fans like myself, this station is the starting point for the Hogwarts Express. We took advantage of the photo opportunity and took a lot of pictures at Platform 9¾. That night we went to the Broadway show, Jersey Boys. I had already seen it with my family back home, but I never pass up the opportunity to see a Broadway play. It was just as good as the one in Chicago, but toward the end of the play, after the actors were getting more and more tired, you could hear their British accents coming through. It was quite comical actually.

The next day, we went to Notting Hill (Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, anyone?). There is a famous market there on Portobello Road. It had so many cute things. I also bought part of my sister Bridget’s Christmas present there. Don’t try to weasel it out of me, Bridge. I’m keeping it a surprise. Later in the day we went to Tower Bridge, the very popular bridge in London. It was so extravagant! Before we crossed the bridge, Hannah spotted two men being interviewed, and one of them had on a Comcast Sportsnet jacket. Later, we realized that it was Anthony Adams, a defensive tackle for the Chicago Bears, being interviewed before the game on Sunday.(Actually, we had no idea who Anthony Adams was before this, but we got a picture with him!)In honor of the English Shakespeare class we are taking in Ireland, we thought it would be appropriate to see the Globe Theater. Now it isn’t the actual Globe Theater, just a replica of the first one. It was interesting to see what it would have been like to watch one of Shakespeare’s plays in 16^th and 17^th centuries. In honor of the Olympic games next summer, the Globe Theater is putting on every single one of Shakespeare’s plays. They have theater groups coming from all over the world to perform. There is even a group coming from Chicago. Way to represent Chi-city!

The next day we went to Tower of London. This is not to be confused with Tower Bridge or London Bridge; however, Tower of London is right between both of these bridges. Instead Tower of London is a historic castle, also known as Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress. It is filled with a bunch of different historical pieces like the suits of armor former kings have worn and the Crown Jewels of all the previous kings and queens. The Crown Jewels was my favorite part. There are even the jewels the Queen wears to open Parliament every year. After our tour of the Tower of London, we were off to my favorite part of the weekend, the Bears game! I was so excited to see my beloved Chicago Bears play. Sunday afternoon football games is one of the things I miss most about home, after my family, friends, and Giordano’s pizza.There are so many American football fans in England. I have never seen so many NFL jerseys, and not just Bears and Buccaneers jerseys either. I saw Ravens, Dolphins, Eagles, Raiders, Rams and Titans jerseys too. You name a team and someone was wearing their jersey. It was like a football rainbow with the sea of colors surrounding Wembley Stadium. The game was so much fun! We had the best time, although a lot of mine was spent explaining to the Brits around me what was going on. The Bears made us proud and pulled out a win! Leaving the game, I came to realize I have only been to two Bears games, one in London and the other at Lambeau field.Don’t worry Soldier Field. We will meet one day. Christmas present, Mom? That night, since some of my (insert here: an adjective for “cheap” that only my hilarious Uncle John could come up with) friends didn’t want to spend money on a hotel for another night, I had the pleasure of spending my first (and last) night in an airport. Needless to say, I spent the entire next day catching up on my sleep.

Well, I guess that’s all I have for you right now. I apologize for waiting so long to update you. I think my dad is the only one who appreciates my effort to make good grades. Every time I talk to him the first thing he asks me is, “How is school? How are your classes? Are they going alright?” After reassuring him that school and classes are going well, I would ask if he has read my blog (obviously I haven’t asked him this in the past month since I haven’t written anything, but when I would ask him before that) and he always says, “It’s on my to-do list.” Maybe if I wrote a blog entry on how my classes are going he might read it. Then on the other hand, I would probably lose the interest of the rest of you, so I’ll keep thinking of something that might interest both you and him. I will try tomorrow to write about my week in Dublin, Northern Ireland and Roscommon, but don’t be upset if you don’t get to read about that one until early next week. Anyways, thanks to all of you who have stuck with me this far. I can’t believe I only have a month left here. Talk to you all soon!

Love, Molly

Amy, Hannah and I watching the Bears pull off a W

Hannah and I outside Wembley Stadium

Hannah, me, Anthony Adams and Allie (notice Tower Bridge in the background)

Hannah and I at Portobello Market in Notting Hill

Off to Hogwarts

Wimbledon

The view of London from the London Eye

The National Gallery

Just got off the phone with the queen, no big deal

Hannah and I outside Buckingham Palace

Westminster Abbey

Amy and I outside Big Ben and Parliament