I Must Away to the Colonies!

Well it's Friday. My last day in London. I wasn't sad to go, but I also wasn't elated to leave. I felt kind of apathetic about it. I mean, I was sad to leave my friends with whom I had spent pretty much every day of the last month. And I was sad to leave London. Glad that I wouldn't be there for the Olympics and that craziness, but still sad to leave the city. And I was happy to come home to see my family and friends. Not happy to return to work or the research paper that I need (and still need) to work on. But definitely happy to return to the comforts of home.

My last day in London started early....too early, and overall, we really didn't do that much. I woke at 6 a.m., unable to fall back asleep, and just decided to start my day. I packed everything, really happy that I had brought an extra bag with me for all of the gifts and souvenirs I purchased. Melissa, Jenny, and I met up around 10 to get some breakfast and do some last minute shopping. We grabbed lunch and decided what to do for the Olympic Ceremonies. The British Studies Program was going on a boat cruise from 4-8 but we decided not to attend. Something about spending 4 hours on a boat with a hundred or so undergrads doesn't really sound like a good time to me.

For the ceremonies, we headed to Trafalgar Square to see if they were showing the ceremony there. They weren't so we just found a bar nearby that was and settled ourselves there. Jenny, Melissa, and I enjoyed dinner and drinks before the ceremonies started. We were almost unable to watch them with sound because the restaurant had so rule about never turning off their stupid techno beats. However, another patron stepped in and took charge to get the sound turned up so we could all enjoy the ceremony. (Opinion: I personally really enjoyed the opening ceremony. I know that those in the United States got a play-by-play of it, which sounds really annoying, but we were able to see it all without commercials. Danny Boyle is crazy but I still thought it was cool.)


We called it a night rather early since I had to be up at 3 a.m. to get my taxi to the airport. I said my goodbyes :( and got a few hours of sleep before heading to Heathrow. A week before, when I made my taxi reservation, everyone in London was threatening to strike. Thus, I planned on getting to the airport early in case there were any issues. Well, no one went on strike. And traffic was non-existent. I was there before the United Airlines counter even opened. And then....

I found out my flight was delayed two hours. This was just the news I didn't want to hear on about three hours of sleep. So I spent the next five hours at the airport. Being angry. Writing blogs. Purchasing Olympic gear with cash (since they only took Visa and I didn't have a Visa.) I finally boarded the flight at 9:45 and settled in for a nice 7.5 hour flight across the Atlantic. The only saving grace was the fact that I was able to get my own seat and didn't have to share.

I landed safely without an issue and made it through customs without an issue at all. I was home! And someone was there to greet me :) What a great ending to a very, very long flight. And then, my month-long trip to England ended. It was over. I'll add my final words in another blog because it's taken a bit for it all to sink in. Cheers.

- Kate