heading home

I spent nearly 20 hours in transit to get home, including a 2.5 hour bus ride to London Heathrow, where Heather and I said goodbye (she's now staying in England to study abroad for the next five months), waiting several hours for my flight, taking the 8 hour flight, getting caught at customs in the US because I’d spent time on a farm, meeting my parents, and driving to Newark and then home. Customs took forever because they had to take my shoes away for inspection upon reading my immigration card, which I was all too honest on-- not only did I declare that I had spent time on a farm, but I also admitted it was a dairy and beef farm. Something something mad cow something? I finally was released from the grand inquisition and found out the following upon seeing my parents:

1. They are now married.

2. They lost the photocopy of my passport in Newark.

This is hilarious because:

1. They got married over 24 years ago.

2. We were concerned I would have to forfeit my passport.

This was resolved by:

1. They did get married, and had the permit for their marriage license, but apparently had never gotten the license and didn’t notice the difference until recently. They picked it up on their way to the airport though. Better late than never.

2. We drove back to Newark and somehow, by luck and great surprise, we found the paper across the street from where my parents initially dropped it.

And now I’m home, and sucking at getting used to the time zone!

whirlwind tour of London

The Marnham family let Heather and me sleep in, so we got a rather late start, not arriving in the city of London itself till after noon. Katie gave us a really awesome whirlwind tour, including: Green Park, Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, Trafalgar Square, The Millennium Bridge (or the Wobbly Bridge, depending on who you talk to—it didn’t open in time because it was too wobbly), the River Themes, the London Eye, the Parliament Building, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street, and loads of other lovely places. Katie sent her mother a text message along the lines of: we're standing on a bridge in St. James Park, with views of the London Eye and Buckingham Palace, and they're taking pictures of the ducks. Heather and I are so amused by all the smallest differences from home, including the animals in the park!

We finished the evening by going to an Irish Pub, where Katie taught us most of the British slang we would need to know over a few rounds of New Castle Brown Ale. It was kind of hilarious being three young women there (I was even asked for ID!) surrounded by middle aged men wearing kilts.

We departed from Newark about 9PM local time. I didn’t get much sleep on the flight; Heather didn’t get any. At least Virgin Atlantic is AWESOME. Full meal, complimentary drinks, and dozens of movie and tv choices to watch on an individual screen on the back of the seat in front of you. All right, student discount flights!

We arrived at London Heathrow about 9AM local time. Katie Marnham met us at the airport! We took The Tube back to hers in North London (small town called Enfield) and took naps. My nap was only about an hour, so I got to enjoy tea and biscuits (cookies) with Katie and her mother and sister and some friends. We ended up just walking around Enfield that evening, and stopped into three different pubs… this is the first time I've changed time zones so radically and my body isn't particularly pleased, but the rest of me is pretty excited to be here!