Kinda cold here innit?

We had a tour guide teach us english. just add "innit" to the end of every sentence. and blimey, it works innit! hahaha

everyday I have been here it has been in the teens celsius degrees-wise. that means hovering around 60. the first two days we had pretty constant drizzle (or less) and yesterday was dry all day, the sun even came out. oddly enough, I do not miss the sun at all! the times the sun actually peeked out from behind a cloud I wished it back. direct sunlight is no good to me. I love the cloud cover, I just wish it didn't usually come with rain. it makes everything damp. I washed out a pair of jeans two days ago and they are still damp. the rooms get pretty cold at night, but we have great comforters, and the bathrooms stay kinda steamy all day - hence the mold.

I really enjoy the lack of sun and the cooler temperatures, but I am not a fan of weather. it rains here too much.

today was blustery, and I would take constant rain over harsh cold wind. also, the sun barely sets here. it is still up at 10pm and I woke up for a fleeting moment this morning at 6am and it was already up again. I guess I am somewhat north of the equator.

Londoners don't smile either. we were warned that on the tube you do not talk. there is no talking on the tube, and if you do, everyone will look at you and listen to your conversation. well, you get 7 american kids, all friends, on a tube and we not only smile and laugh but talk it up too, and boy, were they right. during rush hour, you literally are packed in like sardines and hope your neighbor smells nice, and we were all huddled around one pole laughing at how scrunched up we were and there was a very severe, unhappy looking, london woman near us. it only made me laugh harder.

and you must stand on the right side of the escalator to allow people to walk past you on the left (and they do!) however, if you are walking down a crowded hall, you walk on the lefthand side. one guy in our group mentioned that it felt more wrong to walk on the left side than to see cars driving on the left side, and I agree.

Today was sorta lazy. we went down to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the gaurd, and it really isnt that cool. it is a must-do while in London, but it isnt as neat as you would think, and it is long. basically, a set of redcoated bearskin hatted soldiers march in behind a similar looking band. they are in rows and do some rifle shifts from one arm to the next, and then a second band heralds in a second troop of soldiers, but they are in more normal, bluecoats and berets. there is more rifle moving and the two leaders of the troops shake hands, and then the second band sets up music stands and start playing contemporary easy listening music! craziness! we left.

Then we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. it has some paintings but is mostly a museum of british artifacts. there was a sculpture room, a cast room, a silver room, a textile room, rooms filled with english clothes and furniture and church relics from the renaissance and since. most of the stuff seemed to have been "acquired" through conquests. (our guide also taught us that Britain writes the history and they either have "we won" "we nearly won" or "we don't know what you are talking about" and they never steal - they acquire things. she mentioned that their history books are blank from 1774-1790. haha)

of course, the most fun thing to happen so far is that on top of my sore throat and newly developed cough I have contracted pink eye! yay! yesterday on our big london adventure there were these seeds, or pollen holders or something that were flying all through the air from some type of tree that is planted every hundred feet, so all of us were getting these particles in our eyes and rubbing our eyes and yeah...I woke up this morning with pink eye. I just went to Boots the Chemist (local pharmacy) and discovered a newly made nonprescription antibiotic eye drop! (don't worry mom, I asked the pharmacist and she gave it to me) and I picked up some hand sanitizer as well. me smart.

London is proving an excellent idea and well worth the money! we are looking at taking a day trip to Bath and Stonehenge, and to Birmingham to the Cadbury factory! we already have a school sponsored day trip to Canterbury and Dover scheduled. I am still looking into side trips. I might visit a friend in Germany or go with a roommate of mine to Switzerland. on the other hand I kinda like the day trips, and may just save money and do more things in london (i.e. expensive things) like see a play (mary poppins is onstage right now) or take high tea at the ritz. there is just so much to do here innit?!