The flight went smoothly...I sat next to Kristin from UVM and we chatted for a bit while playing with the TVs and trying to get them to work. Which they didn't. Dinner was served around 8ish. Then around 10:30 it was time to try sleeping, but the air hostesses thought it'd be a good time to sell duty free things and get into an extensive conversation about perfumes with the passenger in front of me. Chanel no. 5, Dior, A&F has a new fragrance that can only be bought in the states! Criminal! I put on my iPod and fell asleep for maybe 30 minutes.
And so it was that I flew out of a sunset and into a sunrise. All in a matter of 6 and a half hours. Flying over England was beautiful in the early morning hours. All the lights from the sky look like tiny orange crystals against the lush green land. As we approached London, fog set in over the city and I don't even know how the pilot found the strip.
2 am EST - up 18 hours :
From the tarmac we were shuttled to the terminal. While walking to customs, we met up with Aaron, also from UVM and Jeff, from somewhere that I don't know yet. The customs woman was curious about my trip and I was flattered by her interest. Then I realized that was her job.
3 am EST - up 19 hours:
The four of us make our way down to our luggage and out into the meeting point. I felt like a runner finishing a marathon. People were thronging, pushing against one another and holding signs with names on them. And then, like Stephano Baldini, our JFK group was broadsided by a large Greek (Italian?) man in a suit, bade to follow him, whisked into an elevator and packed into a VW van for the scariest car rides of my life.
3:45 am EST -up 19:45 hours:
We arrive at the Park Hotel and can't check in yet. Instead, myself, the JFKers, and a few other new arrivals take off to find a coffee shop for some breakfast (It's now 8:45 am in London). After some coffee and a croissant, we go for a stroll in Hyde Park, which is across from the hotel. I fed some funny ducks my crackers from the plane.
6:30 am EST - up 22:30:
We return to the hotel to a lobby full of students waiting for their rooms. It is first come, first serve based on our initial arrival time in the hotel. There are a lot of us, and about half are going to Paris for the semester, as AIFS combined the two semesters on the London stopover.
7 am EST - up 23 hours:
A room!! I unpack my stuff a bit, wash my face, change, brush my teeth, and head upstairs to meet Hillary and go to the Globe! We end up leaving closer to 1 pm, but we make it just in time for the start of The Merry Wives of Windsor. For just £5 or £6 (I don't remember, things are seriously hazy at this point), roughly $10-$12, I got a Groundling ticket and was able to stand on the ground (duh) and watch the show. My back hurt but the play was fantastic and thoroughly entertaining, so obviously it was worth the trip.
12:55 pm EST - up 28:55 hours:
I make it back to the hotel with 5 minutes to spare before the welcome reception starts. I run upstairs for a shower, can't figure out how to get anything but the hand-held shower head and cold water to work so I deal, try to dry my hair and throw on some make-up and I make it downstairs by 20 after 6 pm GMT. Snag the last glass of red wine.
1:30 pm EST - up 29:25 hours:
Mingle, mingle, mingle. Salzburg or Paris? Paris. Oh, nevermind. Groups start peeling off in search of dinner. I invite way too many people to dinner, run upstairs to grab a sweater, fall up the stairs, recover, grab my sweater, and go outside. I can't find anyone I was talking to and instead JFK (minus Kristin), Brian M., Brian S., and some girl I didn't meet and I start walking towards Queensway Street for dinner.
2:30pm EST - up 30: 25 hours:
My innate ability to find a good pub emerges and we walk into The Kings Pub (or at least I think that's the name). Food! (Finally, since the wine on an empty stomach wasn't a good start). I order a Hoegaarden and the glass is too big to fit my hand around. Carmen, who I introduced myself to on the walk to dinner, orders a Pims. We're already getting along great when she drops the P bomb. Paris. Bummer.
3:45 pm EST - up 32:10 hours:
We stop back at the hotel and upon the recommendation of the bartender, hop a bus to Piccadilly Circus. Imagine Times Square, with less traffic, less bright signs, more narrow winding streets and people all over them drinking.
Figuring we can't go wrong unless it gets too expensive, we make our way into The Yard and Loftbar. Carmen spots it first. There's way too many guys here for a straight bar but the boys are making their way up to the bartender, oblivious. We let them know, and they are mature about it so we stay for a drink. I talk with Brian M. as I watch him get checked out from behind.
(From left: Jeff, Brian S. Brian M, me, Carmen and Aaron)
From there we cross the street and silently and unanimously decide to wander in to a sex shop. The last straw for Brian M. (with the gay bar a very recent memory) comes when I point out the Ass-Master. Back out on the street, we are wandering, but not aimlessly. I think I find the White Horse! No, it's not, I may be drunk but I still sort of know roughly where I am.
We walk into another bar (please, like I even know the name) and they have TIMOTHY TAYLOR'S LANDLORD!
I buy one because Dave demanded it. Delicious. It tastes like grapefruit. Carmen orders one and so does Aaron. A promoter tries to get us to go into a club, ladies free, guys £5. We debate for too long, but just long enough when your drunk.
Brian S. talks to this guy:
We don't go in. Instead we pop into one more bar. The bar closes at 11:30...I think, so we can only order a half glass. Brian M. and I share a Guinness and we move onward.
After much debate, we climb onto the right bus and run into a jovial homeless black man singing show tunes. Brian M. and Carmen strike up a conversation with him. After we get off at our stop, we try to find a packy, wander into a gas station, realize we should have done this earlier, and walk back to the hotel.
8:30 pm EST - up 37:05 hours:
Back in my room, we're talking about god knows what and I'm musing about forgetting playing cards. Kristin comes back to the room and we call it a night, a hectic, exciting, tasty, gay, funny, completely and simultaneously exhausting and thrilling night.
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