:(

My flight to Spain was cancelled. Along with my dreams of seeing the Plaza Mayor, the Prado Museum and testing my Spanish speaking abilities. I was denied visiting my 'mecca' because, from what the email said, the Spanish government has refused to comply with the minimum wage requirements. I had to choice to switch my departure time to the next day (which did not give me a flight home) or to cancel the ticket for a refund. So I opted for the refund. The preparation for September 29 - October 2 has been immense. I have taken care of every step of the way, flights, hostel, activites, planning/packing only to have it taken away from me :( This was the trip I was the most excited for, even more than Italy. I never thought I would have the opportunity to go back to Spain but I did/do. I wanted to eat bocadillos and croquetas and paella and new things, and have sangria and get drunk and make out with a random Spanish guy and possibly live there forever. What stinks more is that it ruined a really fabulous day. Kellsey and I explored a REAL secret passage way. Spiral staircase equipped with multiple spiders and there webs. I even caught a frog today. Not to mention I have yet to find out if the train tickets we bought at 1 today are refundable. I might have spent 53 pounds for a train to the airport for nothing. Oh and I have a GIANT exam tomorrow. Not a problem.

Beware

I am my parents. This is getting a bit disgusting, everyday I can pick out qualities in myself that stem from mom, derek, whootie, or gramps. Not that these are bad people to be like, but I'm 20. After being told about once a day that I look like mom by Kellsey, and then realizing that I don't care if I leave without make up on. I still have on mascara and chap stick. Then watching some of these ungrateful kids prancing around this castle and complaining. I just feel like kicking them down a well. Like I told mom, this is a priveledge and some people just shouldn't be allowed to have it -- there's Derek. Also I'm trying to still stay cute most days, and not look like a scrub because as whootie says, when you dress nice you feel better about yourself; and then there's gramps. I caught myself saying, "could that girl have bigger teeth" and that just reminded me of something gramps would say :) I told mom, I've put so much effort into NOT turning into dad, that I have turned into everyone else.

Fireworks

After a stresssssful day I was extremely glad to be done with homework and classes. All I wanted to do was get on facebook and stalk some people, like your average 20 year old. Facebook was down :( for like an hour, and I was already tired but I quickly became cracked-out. I lost it. Then Taylor came down and we played this weird game that made me feel like I was 12 and Facebook was finally resuccitated. I've been trying to figure out trips and talking to people back home, which is hard with the time difference, and facebook is my major link. It had been storming pretty good which is rare for England, and I looked up in hopes to see lightening, but instead I saw fireworks. I don't think I have seen fireworks in over two years :( So right now I can see them from my window, lighting up the stormy sky and at times I can see the silohuette of Beaver Castle's steeple. They have my favorite kind, the kind that looks like gold rain. Its weird how giant combustible lights in the sky are peaceful.

My Package!!!

Thanks so much mom :) The granola bars are so awesome, I missed refined sugar and transfats :) They don't have that here lol I know I already told you, but the first granola bar I had I ripped in half first, only to find a dog hair. Normally that would be upsetting but I just laughed and thought, at least Ford is alive :) It really made my day, and will make many more better now that I have snacks. I will be sharing with no one. I bet I could get 20pounds for those sour patch kids; everyone has turned into such a hoarder since we've been here. I bet at any given moment 75/130 kids have a peanut butter sandwich in their backpack. I waiting for this to turn out like The Lord of the Flies. Kellsey and I will be samneric, I feel bad for Piggy already.

Lincoln

we had a school field trip to lincoln, a town about 1 hour away. i was so thrilled to get on the bus :( it was the worst bus ride of my life, worse than the whole trip to edinburgh. i threw up for real this time. once we got off the bus it was so windy you would think that we were in chicago. i had only packed my rain coat in my backpack because there was a 60% chance of rain, so i wore my yellow raincoat all day 9-5. we split up into our groups and we learned about the roman influence, the jails there, and the cathedral. it was again very beautiful. lincoln was originally a roman town called lin-colonia and now shortened to lincoln. it used to be the most metropolitan/biggest town in england at one point only to be usurped by york. everyone moved to york or back to the country and the place was sort of a ghost town. it survived and became THE place for hangings. from all of england people were sent to lincoln to be hung. outsiders would take trains to see this as a form of entertainment. probably the most impressive thing i have seen this entire trip was 1 of the 2 existing copies of the Magna Carta. it was amazing. that document has altered history in so many ways and for the better it was crazy to see in person. lincoln was a very long day.

Edinburgh

i think the school employed the worst bus driver alive. i was soooo nauseous the entire time. it was a 6 1/2 hour drive from school to edinburgh. he also managed to get us lost in the city and back all the way down a street. this is a giant coach bus p.s. we got to the hotel and i stayed with kellsey and tpaq. we put our stuff down and walked around. it is just such a beautiful place, the people are much nicer than in london and seem more to be on vacation time than rushing... the next day we ate a fancy breakfast which we were late for. if breakfast starts at 8 then that means you are sitting in your chair ready to order at 8; not how we do it here like, 8 means 815. after eating we walked all day. we saw the edinburgh castle, arthurs seat (a volcano), and all sorts of neat shops and such. it was really a nice time. i got sam a gray 1920 top hat from the Cassilis family house/manor and haggeled with the owner :) we all rode a bus, which we turned into a 'tour' bus because we were too cheap for the actual tour. it was fantastic :) edinburgh is such a beautiful places.

on the way back we stopped twice. the first place was at hadrian's wall. we got lost on the way, in the country. again i had my head in a plastic bag. also hadrian's wall isnt there, but remnats are... so it was like 2 feet of walls so a basic lay out of what used to be there was the onlything visible. cool but nothing like i had in my mind. hadrians wall was one of the greatest defenses in england. i was expecting to walk on it like the great wall of china, not the case.

we then went to durham where we got lost again, we were supposed to have 2 hours solid to visit a castle. we had a little over one hour and the dean told us just to go eat lunch lol so thats what we did. it was three hours home from there. we got back in time for dinner, hallelujah.

here's a tip: you seat yourself almost everywhere. so dont stand in the doorway waiting for someone to come talk to you.

Really?!?!?! I mean really?!

okay this is not going to have proper punctuation this time. so the wednesday before we went to scotland kellsey and i were headed to sainsburys to pick up some snacks for the trip because i often turn into a psycho when im hungry. we arrived in the parking lot and i was the third person out of the backseat. i put my hand on the edge/door jam?? and the girls who were in the front seat got out and the last one slammed the door. on my hand. the door LATCHED and they had to open it to get my hand out. i remember yelling OOOWWWWWW and then kellsey yelling open the door! i didnt expect to see fingers when i looke at my hand but they were all there, bloodied to hell. apparently everyone else thought i hit my head and was like, wow she is over reacting... until they saw my hand. so tpaq grabs my hand and holds it above my head to help stop the bleeding and i latch onto kellsey. we get back in the van and book it back to school. why not the hospital you say? protocol. f protocol. the nursing teacher meets us at the door and this whole time i thought i was going to puke. some biotch who is the ASSISSTANT TO the assisstant of student developement was like, (in a british accent) no ziggy cannot take her to the hospital anymore she must call a street car (a cab). so all sorts of cuss words are going on in my head at this hoe, but this extremely good looking boy, who is a nursing major, got in the way between the biotch and kellsey (which was good for the biotch). he asked me, now gracie can i see your hand for a second, well it doesnt look to bad but it might be a little broken, can i get you some water? so he did, and i told kells that i was gonna puke. so boy and tpaq are running around trying to find a trashcan while i was sitting down. drew (the boy) grabs the metal trashcan from outside and rips the top off (like the metal shell) and in the sweetest voice he was like, here gracie. i didnt puke which was great but the lady was like "its not protocol, ziggy isnt allowed, its not in his contract." well then ziggy came in :) he said something like, now you listen im taking her to the hospital. so we got in what i believe was ziggy's personal mini van and he drove kells, tpaq and the nurse to the hospital with me. i had stopped crying at this point. we got to the hospital, didnt ask for ID when i checked in and said it was a 2 hour wait. what the what. and to top it off they didnt have ice, or icepacks. i went 5 hours, in a hospital with no ice. i was seen in the eye examination room by a doctor wearing chucks, and she sent me for xrays. i had 2 xrays taken then we waited some more. turns out that two of my fingers were broken, so they were taped up. probably with the wimpiest tape in the world. we got back to the manor in time for dinner, mexican night. by then most people had heard what happened. i was the first person this semester to go to the hospital :)

later on i had to fill out the accident report and had to find the girl who crushed my hand. i didnt get a look at her face but kells did. so i went up to her to ask her name and she thought i was going to sue her. idiot. i told her it was just for the accident report.

a week afterwards (after scotland) kellsey and i went back to the doctor to figure out what to do next. it was stupid. turns out only my right ring finger is broken, above the first knuckle and the nail growth plate was broken too. they gave me cloth bandaids and a sling. not a regular sling. its called a cuff and sling, which is a pink foam that wraps around your neck and there is a loop for your hand. they made me wear it out of the hospital for a broken finger. then kells and i walked for a half hour to get to the school bus stop, waited 2 hours and went back to school, only to go to our classes and take a test.

this whole time i had been writing and eating left handed. tough job

Really?!?!?! I mean really?!

will type incident later when my crunched hand feels better

The Incident

After waking up, getting dressed, and put together I sat in the window sill for about 10 minutes. Climbed down and started my homework. About 5 minutes later a bird flew in the window!! Right where I had been sitting. With no glasses and one shoe Kellsey and I ran out of the room into the hallway. I don't know if I have ever run that fast in my life. After calming down, I put Kellsey's glasses on and went to try to get the bird out. I shooshed it out with an umbrella but it was so frightened by us that it pooped on the window sill. It was craysy. Thinking about it now, I can hear Max saying "shoo shoo-shoo-shoo," like on Bones. Thank god it wasn't one of the giant pigeons.

London..

Thursday:
I had classes, ate dinner, and then everyone loaded on the buses. It was 3 1/2 hours to London but it went by pretty fast because Chris talked to Kellsey and I the whole time :) We got there around 9:30 put our stuff in the rooms and went out for a drink at a pub. I can't remember the name of it but it was exactly what you would expect of a pub; dim lighting, dark wood, drunk locals. I had 1/2 a pint of Strongbow and I was really disappointed in myself for not trying something new, but it was my first time ever ordering in a bar so I cut myself some slack. We went back and went to bed.

Friday:
Kellsey and I ate the nasty continental breakfast, like we did everyday, then went out exploring. I happen to be a huge fan of continental breakfasts and like them when most people don't, but the "toast" was pre-toasted/cold and there was never enough milk for cereal. We tried to go to The British Museum for about an hour and a half. It was fifteen minutes away but we kept getting turned around. London is not set up on a grid at all, and roughly every three blocks the street you think you're on will inevitably change names. We spent about 2 hours in the museum. My favorite thing that I saw was the Rosetta Stone. It was just fascinating to see a physical link to history and civilizations 1/2'' of glass away. Everything else there was amazing too but that was my favorite. I laughed when I saw the Easter Island head because it made me think of the Night at the Museum where the guy goes, "want more gum gum dumb dumb" then I laughed because that's Derek's favorite part. In trying to find the museum however, I asked for directions and was promptly told that I asked incorrectly, given false directions, and told that I was indeed not from the United States but from Spain.

We wandered trying to find Leicester Square so we could purchase tickets to see a play. We really wanted to see The Lion King but it was very expensive, so we got tickets for Chicago instead. We somehow ended up in Trafalgar Square. There were dozens of metal hand prints.. I guess, of famous actors, kind of like the stars on Hollywood Blvd. We passed the Natural History Museum but did stop in the Portrait Gallery. It was very weird but it was a cool concept. Kellsey and I just kept walking and we ended up by the river. We were seriously confused how we found the river when we hadn't crossed a single bridge yet, turns out it was the Thames :) On the other side was the London Eye (a ferris wheel with enclosed seating) and street performers. We crossed the bridge and midway one of us noticed Big Ben.. because it is so difficult to spot. Our map we were using did not have a key/legend telling us how many inches were equal to miles so we were soley going off street names.

Once we crossed there were people dressed as statues, magicians, dancers, (2) Charlie Chaplin..., and people in the grass eating. After being falsely told again, how to reach a store we were looking for, we ran into a street market, like with food. Kells and I found our way back, the whole time looking for SOHO to shop. We never found SOHO. Also apparently I become crazy when I don't eat so, I think I might have been a bit unbareable :( We stopped and ate the best pizza in the world then got ready for the play once we got to the hotel. Since we were in heels we hailed a cab to take us to the theater. Kellsey, Taylor, and I went and we had great seats. The music started and we were all so excited and after about 5 minutes I was already disappointed. The entire band was on stage and not in a pulpit, Roxi and Velma's hair was flip-flopped, and no one was a decent singer. Needles to say we left at intermission. We were planning on meeting up with people at a club but didn't end up doing so, which was for the best. After walking at least 3 miles in heels back to the hotel I was toast. Thank god I packed my sleeping evelope thing because the sheets were just awful.

Saturday:
After eating another awful breakfast, Kellsey and I booked it to the Thames to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Well... I confused Buckingham Palace with Westminster Abbey on the map so we went to the wrong place. Luckily we got there in time. We actually managed to see their "dry run" and inspection, only to realize that there was a giant mass of people behind us on the other side of the street waiting for the soldiers to march. After trying to sift through the madness/mob of mean people we decided to find Princess Diana's Memorial site. We walked through three parks, on the trail that the guards carried her body before burial, to find a circular ring of water flowing. With kids in it. In their swimsuits. I was so disgusted. This was a memorial site for their Princess and people didn't have the decency to respect that. We didn't stay long.
We cut up Oxford Street with the destination of King's Cross in mind. Apparently Oxford Street is shopping central. It was like NYC on crack. We only stopped in one store, it was as crowded and chaotic as Filine's Basement in Chicago but as big as a Super Target. With that many people and bargains to be had, of course a fight would break out, 4 feet away from us. A clerk and customer got heated! It was all BLOODY THIS AND BLOODY THAT! The customer called the clerk a "fucking Asian bitch" only to be called "a hoe, and a slag." Well "slag" must be a very bad word because as the customer was already being restrained by other workers she broke through and the clerk was rushed to the back of the store. Kellsey and I decided that "slag" means slut+hag, in which case the clerk was accurate. The customer continued to yell, "I'm waiting for that bitch to get off work! I'm going to kick her ass! I'll be waiting outside!!" Scarey stuff.
After we left the crazy store we walked for what seemed like days and decided to get another pizza :) We recouperated and then walked to King's Cross to take our pictures at Platform 9 3/4. We of course thought that it would be between platforms 9 and 10. So we snuck onto the platform and it wasn't there. We went through a security gate backwards to find it :) But we have our picture and again walked back to the hotel.
I think we took a nap and then we got ready to go out for a drink. Well the first try didn't work. We tried again about two hours later and found a group of people to go with. Half of us were going to walk and the other half was going to take the tube. Well that didn't work out either. We walked about 3 miles to nothing and back. Kellsey, Taylor, and I just got a drink at the bar next to the hotel.

Sunday:
Happy birthday to Sam and me! Well I was kinda disappointed because no one said happy birthday to me at breakfast and it was only until my teacher saw me that anyone said happy birthday because she said it first. It was nice of her but I was still bummed. I had a 3 1/2 hour bus ride to look forward too as well as a 4 hour tour of some building. I just wanted to get back, get settled, and do some homework. Mom called me, I talked to Sam, and then I talked to Derek later that night, and I was really glad I got to talk to them. We got off the bus, dropped our stuff off in the living room, and ate dinner otherwise we were going to miss it. Kellsey and I got back and did our Biology lab and British Studies homework. Luckily for me, not all of my group members had sent me their information... I will never approve of group work when I am a part of them. I tried to plug in my electric toothbrush too and it won't charge :( I just want dentist-clean teeth.

Monday:
Waking up was HORRIBLE. I was dead tired. The British Studies lecture almost put me to sleep, then during class we had to present our information and one of my group-mates goes, "Yeahh... I didn't send you anything." To which I replied, "I figured that out." Then I went to Biology and turned in my lab. Went straight to lunch. Went to the room did homework for my class that was coming up at 4:10, put in laundry and was almost late to class. Good news is that my map test got moved from this Thursday to next Thursday. I still have alot of homework to do in my classes though. It's raining and I was actually going to go on a walk today but not anymore. I am so tired.