Mi vida en Granada: February 2014

I wrote this entry on the plane from London to Chicago, sorry it took me so long to post!
I have officially been in Spain for a little over a month and looking back, it has flown by !! We have a week off of classes called "Semana Blanca" so everyone in the program took this opportunity to travel around Europe. My friends and I decided it would be the perfect time to go to London!! I have always wanted to go there but never thought I would actually get there. We left for London on Friday February 7, and took a 7am bus from Granada to Malaga and a flight from Malaga to London Gatwick. The flight was a little under three hours and of course I downloaded The Parent Trap on my iPad to watch during the flight to prepare me for London! We arrived in London at around 2:00pm and let me tell you , London is much different than Granada. The pace of life is much faster in London; spaniards take their time doing everything, they are never in a rush, while everything in London is hustle and bustle. When we landed in London we had to take a train and the underground to our hostel. It was quite overwhelming to be in Grand Victoria train station, almost like a scene from a movie with everyone rushing around me as I struggled to lug my suitcase up the many stairs.
We stayed at a hostel, Astor Quest, that was pretty close to the main touristy areas. Our room was pretty small with 3 bunk beds and one small bathroom. There were only 5 of us, but 6 beds, so Friday and Saturday night we were joined by an Italian guy named David who could hardly speak any English and spent most of his time out of the room; luckily Sunday and Monday night it was just the 5 of us . The hostel had a free continental breakfast and kitchen so we were able to cook pasta one night for dinner.
I under estimated how much money I was actually going to spend there. Everything in London is so expensive because the conversion from dollar or euro to pound favors the pound heavily. Granada spoils me as it is so cheap compared to London. But instead of worrying how much money I was spending, I decided to live by the motto YOLO: you're only in London once. It was very refreshing to have food that is similar to the food from the United States! I ate very well during the whole trip including a meal at chipotle with Casey because we missed it so much ! In my opinion , the chipotle there Is different than in the United States. The hot salsa is much spicier and the cheese and rice are different as well.
After we got settled in on Friday, we went out for dinner and drinks with some British girls who had studied abroad at the University of Illinois last year. It was nice for them to be able to take us around to good spots. The bar we went to made me feel so old because 18 year olds could get in, we felt like we were the oldest ones there later on in the night.
On Saturday we started our day by watching the changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy that day which made the experience a little unpleasant so if you are traveling to London, I would only recommend it if the weather is good . We got there at around 10:30 to get a good spot close to the gate. I wish we had more time to go back to the palace because it was almost impossible to get a good picture of it with all of the people there for the ceremony. After we watched the ceremony, which took about an hour, we proceeded on our self-guided walking tour through the city. We walked by Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square and through the main streets of London. I also regret not going in Westminster Abbey, if I had more time there and an unlimited budget I would have loved to see where Prince William and Kate were married.Saturday night we went to a pub to have a drink and a relaxing night close to our hotel.
On Sunday we went to the natural history museum which was awesome. It was very interactive and had things for people of all ages. My favorite exhibit was that about natural disasters. The exhibit had a simulation room of what the major earthquake in Japan that happened a few years ago felt like . After that, we went to the science museum which was also so cool and offered a lot of things to do for kids. We had lunch at a cute cafe and then proceeded to go to Abbey road ! To my surprise, the road is heavily traveled by cars so it took some excellent timing to be able to take a picture like the picture of the Beatles. That night we made pasta for dinner in the kitchen and hung around the hostel because we didn't want to spend anymore money and were extremely exhausted.
Monday, our last full day, was my favorite of the whole trip! We decided to splurge and pay to get in the Tower of London and it was a great decision, I really recommend that. Being able to see all of the history there was incredible ! The Crown Jewels were my favorite part, I have never seen diamonds sparkle like that. We were also able to see king Henry VIII 's armor and where Ann Boleyn was beheaded. After the tower we walked by the London bridge and throughout London . After Casey and I had our chipotle, we went to a cafe so Mackenzie and Julia could get fish and chips and a meat pie. If I ever return to London, I will definitely go back to that cafe because everything looked absolutely delicious all for a really fair price. Monday night we stayed at the hostel again because we had to pack our stuff for an early check out in the morning.
Since we have a whole week off of classes most people in the program are spent the whole week traveling through Europe. While my friends continued their travels to Paris and Amsterdam, I caught a flight back to Chicago to surprise the boy for our anniversary and Valentines day. My next entry will be about my time back in the States, but for now, here are some pictures from London!