One of the Lecturers drove my friend Danielle and I back to Southampton in 3 1/2 to 4 hours, which was just the perfect amount of time because we made it to our train with 15 minutes to spare! We were heading back to London with ALL of our things from the semester-- and looking back at that I cannot even imagine how we carried everything.
We connected with one of my father's friends who lived in Central London, about 4 "blocks" away from Oxford Street. A perfect location.
We went to sleep, and then woke up bright and early to get ourselves to the Bus Station because we were headed to Amsterdam!!! Danielle and I stayed two nights in Amsterdam, and we found the people on a site called Couchsurfing.org It is a great site to connect fellow travelers in the hopes of finding somewhere to stay in a foreign city. Also, the site could be used if you would just like to meet up with a native and need someone to show you around.
Anyway, the first night we had was very interesting to say the least. Danielle and I were obviously exhausted after coming off a 12 hour bus journey and it was difficult to make the guy we were staying with understand that we just wanted to go to bed. Anyway, we lived and were moving to another couple's place that evening, but that meant that we had to carry all of our stuff with us that day. We went on the Sandman's Free Tour of Amsterdam which was very good and very entertaining. It ended at Anne Frank's House, and it is with deep regret that I was not able to go up into the attic, because the line was 2 hours long and we had limited time and money. Here are a few pictures to illustrate all that was done :)
The couple we stayed with the second night were absolutely precious. They made us a fabulous vegetarian dinner and fresh pressed mint tea-- which I later tried at home! We traded a lot of stories and ideas and had an overall great time with them! The day after, we spent some more time in the city and then headed back to the station to go on our 12 hour bus ride back to London.
Once we hit the French Border we had to all get off the bus and through Boarder Control. I was very excited to tell them that I was leaving the UK the next morning and that I would never have to go through boarder control again. I got questioned so heavily, why did i pick Southampton, why was I still here, how can I afford my studies, do I have a job? etc etc etc. 10 minutes later, I was stamped and ushered through to head back to the bus because we were getting on the Ferry to cross the Channel to Dover. We were a bit annoyed because on the ferry there was no real place to sleep and it was absolutely frigid. But one of the most amazing things, we got to see the Cliffs of Dover from the ferry as the sun was rising. It was gorgeous and way more impressive than I ever imagined!
Later that day-- i cannot remember if when we got back to "our" apartment if we slept or just showered and got ready for the day--
anywho-- we arranged to meet some friends to walk about London and get some drinks at this bar called All Bar One.
Here are more photos of that (A photo says 1000 words right?)
I then went out to dinner with Cape Cod family friends to an a fabulous "Chip Shop." I had salmon fish and chips which was probably the most delicious thing in the world-- maybe. But it was pretty good!!
Next morning Danielle and I were up at a glorious 5:30 or 6am to catch the first Tube to Heathrow-- for our final flight home!!!
Arrived at Dulles!
And thus concludes my time abroad! I had an amazing journey, and thank you all so much for sticking with me and reading my blog. I will hopefully remember to continue to update it every once in a while (Especially because I have an awesome penguin story!).
So Long!
Sara
