There is such a thing as traveled-out and I've reached that state. I think I was already there with still a week left to go in the internship but the small chance that was dangling by a thread that I'd still be able to go to Spain with James and Stephanie was staving it off, making everything ok. Now, I don't really have anything to look forward to (minus my cousin's wedding, but no offense Janne, Spain is just so much more exciting) except going home. I've still got a month over here, possibly more depending on when I can get my flight changed to. Plus I've been sick the last week, not hacking and coughing up my lungs, thank god but a terribly swollen throat (tonsils, lymph nodes all that good stuff) and just being plain exhausted all the time. Like today, I woke up from a ten hour sleep and in about half an hour, all I wanted to do was curl up and go to sleep for another twelve hours. I just miss home and knowing where I'm going to be for the next month or two and having a routine and having a place where I can just stay in my pajamas all day, eat some cereal and watch some movies or read a book. I feel like since I'm traveling and in a new place, I've got to go out and see it and get to know it ... but sometimes all you want to do is stay in. And that's hard to do in a hostel.
Anyway, that's where I am right now, at least emotionally/mentally. As for physically, I'm in the west part of London near Notting Hill (like that one movie with what's her face and Hugh Grant, totally watched that one night while I was here and feeling like crap). I've gotten to see a good bit of the city just wandering around. There's this place near London Bridge (omg, there is actually a London Bridge, totally didn't know that!) call the Borough Market, or something like that, that is fabulous. I went there yesterday with an old friend from high school whom I haven't seen in almost five years. It is this HUGE farmer's market with full on built stalls and wonderful food to buy. There was one place that had Apple and Elderberry juice that was to die for. Yeah besides that, I've been to some museums (but at this point they're all starting to feel the same) and I saw the changing of the guard outside Buckingham Palace which was pretty cool. And they are setting up some stands for the Queen's Birthday; apparently she has two birthdays: her actual birthday and her official birthday. Her actual birthday is early on in the year so she decided to give herself a second one to make more pleasant (weather-wise I assume) for everyone to celebrate. Well that's London in a glance; I think I'd have more to say on it, if I wasn't so travel-worn already so, hopefully I'll be able to make another trip back later in life when I'm feeling a little fresher (I hope the rest of my trip plays out better).
Oh and last weekend was a blast! I spent it in Berlin visiting an old roommate from the Trees who is studying abroad there. I was only there for two nights but he showed me a good time. The first night we pregamed at his place, went to a house party that was practically a little America with a few other people visiting and then around three in the morning went out clubbing until eight. Our group was me, the old roomie, an American friend of his I've met in the states, an Irish girl from County Mayo (Clare) and a few other people that I don't really remember. At the house party we met some pretty cool people, one guy in particular: this British guy named Tom was just throughly interesting. For a good chuck of the night he was part of a conversation on politics focused on American policies. There was another American girl taking part that was so pretentiously dumbassed I wanted to slap her a few times so I ended up taking breaks from the debate for various intervals. Most of the other Americans I met there were pretty similar though and they really got on my nerves. I don't really know how to describe them sensibly so I'm just not going to try (I might be able to in conversation so ask me about them if you're really that interested).
Anyway, around three in the morning, the party was dying down so a bunch of us (including Tom and Clare) went clubbing at Tresor (not sure how it's spelled). Soooo much fun! Most of the people were just doing the European sway from foot to foot and do a fist pump every now and then. I tried doing that for a while but it got boring so I started going full at it, my kind of dancing which is mostly just spastically moving around to whatever beat there is. It was starting to get pretty hot and there were a few guys were their shirts off, so I figured why the hell not and took mine off too. I'm pretty sure a few guys took pictures of me while I was dancing, so that's cool, I guess. The next night we went to another house party that may as well have been a club for the amount of people that were there and the fact that they were giving out jello shots. Oh shit, I almost forgot: earlier that night, I needed some cash so Clare took me out to show me where an ATM was and get a flash of vodka. We had a good conversation, I forget about what, but sometimes if I'm taking with just one person and they have an accent, I pick up on it (especially if I'm not particularly sober) so I started taking in an 'Irish' accent. I really hope she didn't think I was poking fun, don't think she did but whatevs. Then when I was leaving the Sunday, there was a minor fiasco with the public transport and me not knowing German but it all worked out in the end so that's cool.
Tomorrow, I'm headed off to Oxford for a few days and then to Ireland to visit family and the likes, so that should be fun!
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