"Home is not a place, it is a feeling." (Part Two)

I stayed overnight at the hotel on Friday and then Dad and I met up with Arcadia at Tower of London (literally 2 minutes walking distance from his hotel room). Arcadia staff pre-ordered tickets for us students, but ended up having enough left over to give Dad one. So we both got to tour the castle for free! :)

Two pretty crazy stories that took place here:
-Two little boys (heirs of the throne) were murdered by their uncle so that he could become king in 1483. Their bodies weren't found until 1674 (!) when some workmen in the Tower dug up a box and found the princes' skeletons (in the picture below, I'm standing on the steps up to the room where they were allegedly killed).
-After one particular king was beheaded (I don't remember who or why), the family realized that they had forgotten to have a royal portrait made of him. So they fetched a servant to go retrieve the head, had it sewn back on, and propped him up against a wall. The artist was given 24 hours to paint the portrait. The tour guide said, "if the King's stare seems a bit vacant, now you know why." Yeesh.

This ingenious method of keeping enemies out...utilizing high tide and low tide.

BEST view yet of Tower Bridge

Me attempting to be cool.

We then met up with Ally and the three of us walked around the London Bridge area. It was such a nice day and the view was beautiful:

The rest of the afternoon was made up of Ally laughing, me taking pictures, and Dad spoiling us. And by spoiling us, I mean really spoiling us. It was nice to not have to pay for anything all weekend! ;)

Afternoon Snack :)

Lunch at this really neat Mexican restaurant. The building was made out of storage container thingies (I don't know what they're called) pictured above. We ordered margaritas on ice...I was not exactly a fan (as you can see).

Exploring the park around the London Eye. So many street performers, too!

Then we headed back to the hotel to show Ally the beautiful view from the Sky Garden (and so Dad could change for an evening at the theatre!):

Bottom left: another view of where Dad and I went for appetizers the night before. Bottom right: Tower Bridge.

                        I have no idea what I thought I was posing for in this one (left).

While in Central London waiting for the show to start, we wandered around Piccadilly Circus and bumped into a big Malaysian festival:

And while we were there, I got to meet this brand new guy for the first time over Skype!

 

It was hard to hear Grandma due to the loud Malaysian music, but I'm glad they called!

And then it was time for Kinky Boots!!

It was truly an awesome day :)

The next morning, we had a yummy English breakfast at the hotel and Dad used his IT skills to fix my computer...(sort of):

And then it was off to Paris for him and off to another week for me!

They Call It #Adulting.

Five lessons about life I've learned this past week. 

1.) Some meals are successful. 

On Monday 19 September, I made spinach and cheese stuffed chicken with our group groceries (for Marisa and Melanie and me). It was nearly 9 o'clock before it was done, and we scarfed it down in no time. 

About 10 of us pitched in to make fajitas on 11 September. Dee-lish-ous. 

2.) Some are not. 

 I ordered this for dessert, as an attempt to be adventurous. Why, I don't know; the ingredients were far from appealing: plain greek yogurt with chia seeds, pistachios, and fermented bananas. There's not much I don't like, but this makes the list for sure! I tried to eat it, but after three bites, I physically gagged and threw it out.  

3.) Sometimes you need a little bit of order.

Later that evening (Tuesday 20 September), we threw a group meeting to discuss how we are going to survive three months of communal living :) Not all of us are pictured here, but here's the majority of us:

We've got a good system down; chore chart, rules, etc. Not because we are little kids who need to learn good behavior, but because living with this many people is difficult! Imagine sharing a sink and two stoves with fourteen other females. The little trash can in the kitchen needs to be emptied several times a day! 

4.) It's okay to accept help.

Ally folding a scarf and telling me I need to organize. 

Kat made me a 'cake in a mug' because I was stressed out (not that I condone stress eating!) :)

Emalie taming my messy hair in a braid.

5.) Things don't always go as planned.

Me, Amanda and Zoe at Canary Wharf.

Arcadia pre-booked a boat tour of the city for us, but conflicting emails and Facebook messages had some of us thinking we were meeting at 9:30 and others believing it started at 8:30. Add in confusing texts about directions and no wifi to text, the three of us ended up at Canary Wharf...about an hour away from the rest of the group. Disappointed but not deterred, we decided to do some exploring on our own.

Zoe posing somewhere random along the way: 

It ended up being really fun. We took the tube to London Bridge (below, middle). And on the way there we passed a random church and went inside to check it out. We kind of forgot that it was a Sunday...a bunch of people were dressed up and about to have mass. Half of the church was open to the public for museum-like purposes (it's so old!) and the other half was occupied. I wonder if the people who go there regularly think about the centuries of people who sat there before them! I don't have pictures of the inside of the church because I didn't want to disrupt anything, but it was beautiful.  

I'm a little bummed we missed the boat tour (especially because I probably won't spend the money to go myself), but it was a nice touristy day nonetheless!

And that is it, friends! I'm somewhat caught up (next post: Dad comes!!)