sunday morning flower market.


anna and lesley are gorges.


raspberry martinis = the most delicious drink ever.

a shot of camden market


the ceiling in the front entrance of the victoria and albert museum


tipsy...to say the least. but i'm riding on the top deck of my first DOUBLE DECKER BUS!!!

this weekend was interesting, but a lot of fun.

on friday, josh and i went to the victoria and albert museum, which i really liked and i can't wait to go back to. i spent the afternoon working and then i came home. after much debate, josh and i decided to go to this awesome sounding bar called "fluid." the book talked about how it's a japanese-style bar, and it sounded like the coolest place ever.

josh and i got COMPLETELY lost trying to find it. like, we weren't in the right direction at all. eventually we settled on another place, but i tripped in front of the place. the bouncer asked if i was drunk. i explained i wasn't. he kept on asking me, and i got frustrated and yelled at him and he kicked me out before i'd even gotten in.

we went to another bar down the street. i got drunk. all was right with the world.

yesterday we went to camden, which was fun but insanely crowded. camden is a huge, trendy, touristy market in london. it has a lot of punk/goth/indie clothes and accessories. it's a very cool place to go to. and they have mulled wine :)

last night anna and lesley came over and we all decided to attempt fluid again. this time we got there, except it turned out to be very trendy and you needed reservations to get a table with a couch. it was awkward, but i drank a raspberry martini. it was the greatest drink of my life. i also had some sake. we finally left fluid and came back to drink at the pub across from our flat. i got amazingly drunk (again) and that was my night.

today i explored the east end markets. i really liked spitalfields, but it was crazy expensive. brick lane was a little seedy and junky. next sunday i hope to go to portabello market, but i might be exhausted from my trip to bath, wales, and stonehenge!

*sharon

straight pubbin' ps- i like guinness beer

artwork at gloucester road tube station
THE BIRDS!!!!! seriously, i'd never seen so many birds before.

rockin' the tower bridge
me at tower bridge!!

that is what it looks like to leave the westminster tube station.

so far, london is going very well although i do miss home. the food here does not cut it. i want wingz, wegmans, and livingston bagel. haha.

i've done a lot of sightseeing over the past week. on saturday we took a walk with bill, the program manager. i saw big ben, westminster abbey, downing street, what's left of whitehall palace, london bridge, tower bridge, and tower of london.

on monday afternoon josh and i decided to go inside the house of lords, which was kind of disappointing. however, i was thrilled to see that the men were wearing wigs. wigs are nice. josh and i also visited the churchill museum/the cabinet war rooms, and went into westminster abbey. i stood on top of george fredric handel, charles dickens, AND winston churchill. hellz yeah mothafuckaz!

tonight i saw "coram boy," making my first trip to the london theatre. it was a very good play, although it was disturbing at some points. the set was elaborate and amazing.

i've been keeping busy. i love city life, though. i'm sure it'll get old at some point but i like the rush and i like walking everywhere. it makes me feel more proactive.

*sharon

today my phone rang.

i answered it, and i thought maybe it was my grandparents. but actually it was a british man asking for someone named stephanie. i explained that he had the wrong number. we said goodbye.

about 15 minutes later i received this text message: "hi sharon just called u a while ago. are u as beautiful as ur sweet voice?"

i ignored it.

another 20 minutes later he tried again. "shall i wait 4 ur reply?"

i ignored it again.

how desperate do you have to be to bother people like that? that sucked!

*sharon

well, i'm here. i arrived in london on tuesday and my life has been nonstop since.

yesterday, i found my flat. we are living in maryleborne, in a small 4 person flat. there is a pub across the alley from our entrance, so that'll be pretty fucking sweet.

after finding our flat, josh and i walked through Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens. Hyde was a little creepy and Kensington was very lively and beautiful. Hopefully i can post some pictures soon.

i haven't done much sightseeing but that will change over the next few days. today i may go explore parliament and tomorrow it's buckingham palace, big ben, westminster abbey, and tower bridge.

i have already been to 4 pubs. just wanted to throw that out there.

*sharon