new year's eve [london, england]

Good flight. Arrived at Heathrow in the morning to find Sam and Richie waiting for me - a nice surprise. Met up with everyone at Danny's YMCA hostel (Don't ever stay there. Ever.) Took a short nap to get over the traveling and sleeping pills and headed out for our New Year's Eve! Went to a 70's theme club with a pool (http://www.carwash.co.uk/ - worth checking out) and had a blast meeting loads of blokes and dancing the night away. Got back to Danny's room about 4am and slept on the floor until the tube started running at 7am to get back to our own hostel in Greenwich. Long, crazy time.

Sidenote 1: Someone purposely drove their car into a puddle near the sidewalk to soak a well-dressed couple - Our first bad impression of the British.

Sidenote 2: Kebab is not a good drunk food.

night of departure

Said goodbye to Mom and Dad and set out on my journey. My plane was delayed, which kept me in the airport for about 5 hours. I was feeling alright until I saw a little boy crying because he was leaving his parents to go on a plane - made me tear up a little.

on my way out the door

Hey everyone! This has to be a short one because we're about to leave for the airport. It has completely not set in at all that I'm leaving, but I'm so ready to go. I hope I don't have to wait to long in the airport because that always makes my nerves worse. I just want to get in the air! I'll post again when I'm in Europe!!!

leaving tomorrow night

Sam's already in England tonight with our friend Richie. I'm wrapping things up here getting ready to leave tomorrow night to join up with them at our hostel in Greenwich on Sunday morning. My emotions come in waves of anxiousness and excitement, with extremes of terror and elation in between. Every once in a while my eye starts to twitch and that's when I know I have to do something to get my mind off it all. I played the piano for about 2 hours today trying to do just that. Tonight I'm taking a very strong sleeping pill.

pre-departure

I'm leaving in two days. My biggest stress has been trying to see everyone I know, while getting myself ready to go - the times I've felt the most positive and ready are the times I've been completely alone - painting the house while my parents were at work, watching TV late at night, and driving to D.C. to see the National Gallery. [NGA's modern gallery is one of the best I've ever been to, especially the Calder exhibition - http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/install.shtm]

Some of my initial random thoughts are: I want to meet people who will travel, not just party; I'll spend all of the time I'm not in class exploring; I want to go to Southern France and Africa the most; I can't speak Spanish very well; and if the cuisine lives up to itself (beans and fish according to my mother), I should come back 15 pounds lighter.

[photo credit - http://www.nga.gov/image/a00022/a0002235.jpg]