Weekend in London

Friday morning Steph and I slept later than we anticipated. We quickly packed our bags, called a cab, and made our way down to the Gloucester Green train station to meet up with the boys. After enjoying a nice lukewarm Stella on the hour train ride into London, we got off at Paddington station. For being my first time in London, I can say I was proud of myself for finding my way around such a big city with ease. The buildings reminded me somewhat of the ones in D.C. and the Tube train system very similar to the Metro. We got to our newly built hostel in the Paddington district, ran into the UMASS guys from Oxford in the lobby (ooph), and put our stuff in our room filled with three bunk-beds. We took the scenic path through Hyde Park and went up to Piccadilly Circus (the Adam’s Morgan, Georgetown-like area of London). We met a rather entertaining local named Han at a tavern and continued to explore. That night, we had a “lovely” dinner at the Pride of Paddington, Jack met up with us, and we made our way to the one and only, Tiger Tiger nightclub. This was after, of course, the boys wanted to be escorted to the “Sway Bar”…no thank you. Steph and I called the shots. After that the pictures will have to suffice…let’s just say we may or may not have gotten a knock on our hostel room door at 5 a.m.
Saturday we all woke up to what may be the HOTTEST room I have ever been in. Seriously, why does England not believe in air conditioning?? We got out of there asap and made our way down to the Westminster Abbey area. There we saw Big Ben, the London Eye, Parliament, etc. We stopped at a couple of places for our Pimm’s fix. Later that night, we had another group dinner at an Italian place. We went to several different places, including the Absolut Ice Bar (although we didn’t exactly get into the ice part), and ended up with a new friend; Amos (supposedly goes to Harvard…right). We somehow managed to end the night with Chinese food and sleeping in Jack’s 4x4 dorm room at the London School of Economics. All in all, the night was a success, encountering “T-Pain’s uncle, a Russian mafia bouncer, Amos, and of course…getting iced.
Sunday was a little less enjoyable, practically getting kicked out of the hostel for checking out late, among other things, and having to brush my teeth and wash my face at the train station. Steph and I still managed to make a 4 hour shopping spree to the original Topshop in Oxford Circus after getting lunch. We made our way back on the train Sunday night.