It's the final week of London, and it took many unexpected turns. I'm ready to finish this blog as you are. So let's get started.
Day 15: Forever Be Royals
First Day in Scotland, and it's already starting better off than my time in London. For the first time this trip I finally got to sleep in, and in a queen bed, and in air conditioning, and holy $#!8 did it make a difference. I slept in until 11am and the sleep was magnificent. Later that day, I got to meet up with most of the class and hang at the Royal Mile where I saw various street performers, a cool pocket knife/sword that I almost purchased (but didn't want to deal with security issues later), and I found myself chilling at a park nearby. The park itself was actually very relaxing. The only unfortunate thing about that day was once I split from everybody, I went to H&M to buy a new shirt, only to find that it was too big for me. I discovered shirt sizes in Scotland were different, and while I had intended to try it on before buying, there was a long line so I didn't bother. Ah well, nothing like shrinking it in the washer can't fix.
UPDATE since returning home: Success!
Day 16: Night of Spoops & Supers
Second Day in Scotland and once again, Edinburgh is proving to be a nice place to stay. I got some personal work done at Starbucks like I intended to. I then visited the mall around me and did some personal shopping of my own. I also managed to replace my earbuds, but they were crappy ones and were self-triggered by anything I did each time I moved. Luckily I got new earbuds once I returned to Nashville, but it was difficult to work with for the time that I had them. Anyway, later that night I had Hard Rock Cafe, and was invited by members of the class to join them on a ghost tour through under Edinburgh. The ghost tour was sort of mid until we actually went underground, that's when I found things to be a little more interesting than just hearing horror stories. I also went to see DC: Superpets the first chance I had and had a fun time with the film.
Day 17: Stuck in Scotland Part I: Kings Crossed
I didn't expect today to turn into a two part special, but here we are. I'm expected to go back to the Bankside for London and instead... there was an electrical situation with the tracks, and there were no rides back to Kings Cross station as many were delayed. We figured out a plan and purchased our tickets back home and we stayed at an AirBnB that half the class was already staying at. I also got poster work done for class without having to worrying about doing much tomorrow, so it was fine.
Day 18: Stuck in Scotland Part II: Crossed Kings
To make this short and sweet, I traveled back to London at 5am, and later arrived at 10am. Luckily, the train ride wasn't as bad as the last one because that was "the train ride from hell," but I also got to order food and it was pretty decent. The rest of the day I spent napping and doing school work.
Day 19: Pizza Time
It was a work day, I don't believe I need to say anymore but that. Though, I did went out with the class afterwards to grab pizza and a pint, and that was fun. Only night in London where I actually had more than enough to drink though.
Day 20: Eye of the Beholder
Another work day, but I finally got my AR acquired on my poster and the work on my posters was finally complete. Afterwards, Jerry took the class over to grab food at a food truck event going on, only it wasn't food trucks, they were tents. I snuck away however to discover my surroundings and found myself surrounded by an event center where a concert was performing, snagged pictures of the London Eye, and other shenanigans were occurring. I met back with the rest of the group and ordered bacon cheese fries to which they were okay. I finally see the skate park my roommate was talking about, which looked pretty cool.
Day 21: More Than Meets The Eye
The final day in London, but also the final Explore Day. I wouldn't call it my best day in London, but not my worst either. There's lots I wish I got to do today but I didn't really know anyone's schedule, nor what I wanted to do either. Personally, I took it as "let's get fun project stuff done" and worked on Premiere Pro content until 3pm. I went over to the London Eye afterwards mainly because I wanted Ice Cream and to see what was further down. Funny enough I explored an aquarium, a horror area, and I realized how close I really was to Big Ben and got some pictures. The weird comes after when I return back to the Bankside, I decide to go get some ramen at Tonkotsu. I originally thought I was ordering the same ramen I had before, only instead to have ordered a spicy ramen where I found myself nearly moments later rushing back to the same ice cream shop to cool down because it was too much to handle. Afterwards I walked toward the "Harry Potter bridge" to get one last view of London before heading back to the place. For an Explore Day, this was not my ideal, especially afterwards learning all the fun stuff I got to hear others do. But for me, there's not much left I would've wanted to do in London since nothing came to mind. I also didn't want to take any tubes or buses because I had to reached to the point where I was done relying on transportation to go anywhere and having to work around their schedules and hoping that I could find something in time. Regardless though, I think this is a decent send off to London but I feel it could've ended stronger. But alas, this is why Scotland is kino.
Week Recap:
Overall, this week has been fun. I wasn't too huge on Wednesday or Sunday for my personal taste, but I do think it was one of the best weeks of the trip. I really wish I spent more time in Edinburgh and Scotland than in London, because I was personally more happier here. Everything I felt I needed was right in front of me, and I had more accessibility to do things within walking distance that I couldn't in London, and I was happy that we were wrapping up the trip with nothing super eventful going on.
Overall, this week gets a 9/10
Now for the Trip Recap:
You can't say often that you've traveled the world or not. As someone's who's traveled all throughout the United States + Canada, this was a forever changing experience. I got to explore a new culture and visit areas I normally wouldn't. Not to be greedy, but I definitely want to return to Europe as soon as I can and explore more parts of the world. I feel I was in London for too long for my personal taste, so I probably won't return there for a hot minute. But I want to explore more countries and areas from Scotland to Ireland to Italy and later visit Asia and see what else is out there. I learned lots about the shops, food, currency and other amazing things. I don't want to say what everybody else is saying, so I will stand and say that London isn't one hundred percent worth the hype, but it's definitely worth exploring and seeing for yourself. Traveling will forever to be a passion of mine, and this was a refreshing change of pace versus the various mountains and beaches I visit all the time. My next mission from this point forward is that I explore a new part of the world before I turn 30 in five years. That doesn't sound like a lot of time, but I believe I can eventually make that happen.
London gets an 8/10
"So, until we meet again, Stay Gold.
Bang."
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