Saturday 3-19-11

The plane ride here wasn't too bad. They had a lot of movie choices and the plane was relatively quiet. When we arrived at the airport we had to go through customs and then get our bags. Luckily no one's bags got lost. The airport was very similar to the ones in the US but I did notice some differences. They use the term "toilets" instead of restrooms and they use "litter" instead of trash. I also notice that a lot of their ads were very large compared to ones in the US and they seemed somewhat cheesy. The men were making funny expressions and such in order to "woo" the women. We got our tube (subway) passes for the week. I thought it was very strange that Swinder had to pay for all of our tickets separately. It didn't seem efficient at all and it made me wonder what they do if a large family tries to get passes. Do they all have to pay separately?

One of the many British ads at the airport.

I was so excited we finally arrived in Europe!

We arrived at the Kent Hall Hotel and it wasn't at all what I thought a hostel would be like. We have 6 girls in our room but we all have plenty of room and our very own bathroom which is nice. It was very hard to flush the toilets and the water pressure could be stronger, but the hostel is very nice. All of our rooms are close together which is nice and very convenient. We relaxed for awhile and I noticed a huge difference on TV. The ads were "sexy" and others were extremely cheesy. I noticed that the Europeans were more accepting of their sexuality and they have sexier ads but they're not necessarily obscene or anything like that. The other ads were funny because they would use bright flashing lights and have their eyes wide open. It was interesting to see all of the differences. 

A picture of our hostel room!

Swinder took us to central London which was so packed! There were hundreds upon hundreds of shops and restaurants on the road we were on. One thing I immediately noticed was how fashionable everyone was. No one was wearing sweats and all of the women were in heels and bright or patterned tights. I also noticed that the men were dressed VERY nicely. They all wore very nice dark jeans and a collared shirt and usually scarves and petticoats. They were dressed more metrosexually than American men. 

 Central London at night time!

The classic red telephone booth!

When walking on the main road, I was surprised to see so many American food chains stationed in London. Every corner had a McDonald's or Starbucks but their menus were changed to European's tastes. We went to a pub called The White Lion to see what the culture was like. I can't wait for more British experiences! We decided to call the night early and come back to the hostel so we could get a good nights sleep. Tomorrow is going to be so much fun! 

Til next time,

Jackie