Christmas in England

If you're wondering why I haven't updated in FOREVER it's because I was in England and had no Internet. I'll start at the beginning, it seems like the best place to start....

Last Sunday (the 20th) I woke up super early for a Sunday. It sucked. I got ready and then headed for the train. My flight was scheduled to take off at 1:35ish so I was super early when I got to the airport at 10:40ish. When I got off the train I saw that it was snowing really hard. I started to get really worried because I had no idea what to do if my flight was canceled. I stood at the departures board forever because I was there so early. A lot of flights on different airlines flying to London-Heathrow had already been canceled because of the snow. That had me really worried because if those flights were canceled, why would Air France fly? I finally saw my flight on the board and it said that it was still scheduled to depart on time. I was super excited and headed to the check in counter. There were so many Air France counters I had no idea what one I needed. So I asked this guy and tried my best to say everything in French, but of course, he replied in English. The line I got in was so incredibly long. I hoped that it would move fast but boy, was I wrong. By the time I got into the actual line with the ropes or whatever they are called, I had been standing there for about 30 minutes. This girl named Ines was standing behind me in line. She's also a student in Paris for the year and we were on the same flight to London. She was so sweet. Apparently she had be trying to get home for break since Friday but because of the weather, every way she tried to get home was canceled. We seriously stood in like for over 2 and a half hours. I was ready to lose my mind. I called home (it was around 4 in the morning at home) and had my dad check my flight to see what was going on because none of the people working at the counter (there were 4 people working by the way....there were like 6 counters closed) had said anything about out flight. It was way past the time that they check in people for the flight. The flight ended up being delayed until 2:10, which wasn't that bad.

I finally got to the counter and the woman told me that there were no more seats left on the flight. I really didn't understand how that was possible because I booked the flight over 2 weeks ago. I guess they had to cancel a bunch of flights to London so all the people who didn't get to fly out were put on this flight so of course, I got bumped off. The woman told me that I could try to get on the standby list but I guess the chances of me getting on were slim to none because there were already a bunch of people on it. She gave me the option of taking a later flight at 4 and she would give me a 150 Euro voucher for my next flight or I could get 75 Euro cash. I told her that I'd take the voucher and she printed me a ticket for the 4pm flight. After going through security I went to the gate to sit and wait for 3 hours. Ines was there too. She got put on standby. We talked for a while and waited for the plane to come. It was delayed by an hour. She ended up making it on to the flight. My flight wasn't listed on the board at the gate so I had no idea what was going on. There weren't any of the boards that list all of the departing flights close to my gate so there was no way I could check unless I walked all the way back to security, which I really didn't want to do. Finally they announced that the gate changed so I went to the new gate and waited. I talked to a few people waiting for the flight and everyone was really nice, just frustrated that a little bit of snow, seriously it wasn't even 2 inches, could affect this many flights. My flight was delayed until 5:20. By now I had been at the airport for 7 hours waiting for my flight. I felt really bad because Lex, who I was staying with for the week, lives 2 hours away from the airport and I kept telling her that my flight kept changing. The flight got delayed again, and we didn't end up leaving Paris until a few minutes before 7pm.

By the time I landed in London I was exhausted. I stood in line for customs and didn't fill out this form that I was supposed to fill out before getting in line because the sign that said to fill it out wasn't very visible. I filled it out and went back in line, got my passport stamped and got my bag. I found Lex and her girlfriend Marisa and we headed for the car. It was so nice to see Lex again. I honestly don't remember the last time I saw her. She thinks that it was right after she got out of boot camp but I had no clue. We talked the entire ride to her house. It was pretty weird in the car because they drive on the other side of the road so I just felt really awkward for some reason. Her car looked so bizarre with the steering wheel on the right side of the car.

We got to Lex's house and two of her friends, Pamela and Richmand (I think her first name is Talia or Tilly or something like that) came over and we started playing beer pong. I had never played before but it's not like it's rocket science. The only thing I had to eat all day was a yogurt in the morning, the snack on the plane, and some candy because all the food at the airport was expensive. I lost the first 2 games so that pretty much sucked because I really do not like the taste of beer. At least is wasn't crappy beer like Keystone...it was Bud Light, which wasn't that much better. I then won the next 3 games. Yeah, I'm a pro. I stopped playing after that and just watched. I don't even know what time I went to bed but the next morning I woke up and it was 11:30am. Marisa didn't get up until after 1 and she made some toast and coffee...I was starving so I really didn't care what she was making, I would have even eaten eggs, that's how hungry I was. She brought out all Lex's movies....she has like a million. Oh, Lex was at work by the way. She's in the Air Force, I probably should have mentioned that. She lives just outside of base which is in Lakenheath, England. I couldn't tell you where it is on a map. Anyways, so we started watching this show called Supernatural with the guy named Dean from Gilmore Girls and this other guy who was like a million times hotter than Dean. Here's 1 of the 3 pictures I took when I was in London. Marisa is on the left, Lex is center and obvs that's me on the right.

The show is about these two brothers, Sam (Dean from Gilmore Girls) and Dean, the hot one. They hunt ghosts and stuff. I know it sounds incredibly lame but I was pretty good. We seriously watched it all day and night when Lex came back and brought Popeye's with her....delish. Before I went to bed I had to watch a happy movie because Supernatural was pretty scary. That's a lie, it really wasn't that scary, I'm just a wimp. The next day we watched some more Supernatural and movies. On Wednesday, after a day of Supernatural, I went to base with Lex and went to the grocery store. They have all American products and food there. It was pretty awesome. I guess they ship in all the food. You even pay for stuff with American money. We made tacos for dinner that night and they were amazing. Lex's friend Vicki and her boyfriend Richard came over for dinner and we watched more Supernatural.

On Thursday, Christmas Eve, we watched more Supernatural. Lex and Marisa left to pick up Marisa's 2 year old son Korey from his dad's because he was spending Christmas with her. Vicki came over and hung out with me, watching Supernatural, drinking a bottle of wine and eating potato chips (yeah, we're classy) while they were gone. We played beer pong that night. I think I only played twice, I really wasn't into it. On Christmas we went to Marisa's parents house and Korey opened his presents there. He's really cute and super British but he's also a pain but he's 2, what else does he have to do? After that we went to Marisa's Grandma's house for Christmas dinner. OH.MY.GOD it was amazing. I seriously ate so much it was insane. They had turkey, beef, brussel sprouts and peas, which I really didn't like, potatoes, and this biscuit called Yorkshire Pudding. It was so good. I called home and was really sad because I miss my family and really wished I was at home with them for Christmas. We stayed at the Grandma's later than I thought we would. When we left we seriously almost died because the roads were icy. It was so scary, at one point I thought we were going to hit this car that was on the shoulder. It was really scary. We made it back to Lex's house in one piece after dropping off Korey with his dad. A bunch of Lex's friends came over and we played more beer pong, what else would we do? Then this weird lesbian tried hitting on me. She kept asking me if I smoked. No lie, she asked me 3 times. I was like no, I'm good and got off the couch. It was bizarre. They all left really late and I started watching a movie but fell asleep.

Saturday, Lex didn't have to work so we seriously watched Supernatural and pigged out all day. I was hoping that we would go into London but I don't think Lex had the money to go. I was pretty bummed because she said we would go and see the city but I understand. I went to bed pretty late and on Sunday we watched a few more episodes of Supernatural and then left for the airport. We left at 1:30 because Lex said it would only take 2 to 2 1/2 hours to get to the airport, so I would be there with a lot of time to spare. We got stuck in so much traffic it was horrible. Lex said that she has never sat in that much traffic while going to the airport. My flight was at 6pm and they stop checking people in at 5:30pm. By the time we got to the airport it was 5:10. I had to pee so bad I ran to the bathroom and then found the line for the counter, which was really long. I figured I would miss my flight and had no idea what to do. Then, this woman asked if any one was on the flight to Paris at 6. I pretty much screamed ME!!! right in her face and she pulled me out of line and checked me in right away. I took my bag to this other guy because I guess it was too big or something....whatever, they don't know what they are talking about. It took me FOREVER to get through security because the British don't know how to put their liquids in a bag. By the time I got through I heard the final boarding call for my flight. I ran like hell to the gate but of course it was really far from security. They made the call that the gate was closing when I got to the gate. They let me on and I seriously couldn't breathe. It was bad.

Some how I ended up in business class so I got some fancy snackies. I was really light headed throughout the entire flight, I have no idea why. We landed in Paris and I went through customs and got my bag. I made it back to the apartment around 10:30 and started washing my clothes because they smelled like smoke. I didn't go to bed last night until 3am. I just could not fall asleep. Mathilde is here. She got up at 7 and woke me up because she was playing music. I was like well gee, thanks Mathilde. She came back at 12 and took a nap. I was still washing clothes and she stopped the machine because she said it was "too loud" I was like well whatevs sleeping beauty. I needed to take a shower but I wasn't sure if it was going to be too loud for her so I didn't. I ran to the store in leggings because it was the only thing I had clean. I got some food for the week and got more minutes for my phone. When I got back I ate some lunch and Mathilde left. She still isn't back so maybe she'll be out for the rest of the night. I hope she is because she was annoying me today.

I seriously only took 3 pictures in London. Here's another one of them. The week pretty much consisted of Supernatural and beer pong...Lex said that I had to come back for one weekend so she could take me to London. I think she felt bad that she had to work all week and we didn't get to go to London because she was working and she didn't have the money. The picture above is me and Lex. My legs look uber skinny. So when I got back to the apartment I walked in to the living room and saw Renee's Christmas tree. It doesn't even look like a tree!!! It's real though, whatever it is. It's about time she put up some Christmas decorations. When I walked into the bathroom I noticed a new toilet paper on the holder thingy....it has Santa's face on it. Yes, Renee has Santa toilet paper. I don't know how comfortable I am wiping with Santa's face on the paper...that's a little weird. I took a square and took a picture of it because I think it's incredibly weird.

Tomorrow I'm going ice skating with Amber. I finally finished all of my laundry and I'm just waiting for all of it to dry. I have shorts on because I had no pants that are dry. My legs are freezing. Over all I did have a fun and relaxing week in London and it was really nice to finally see Lex again.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas!

A bientot!

Tomorrow I'll write down all the funny British things I heard during the week....this post is long enough!