“You endure what is unbearable, and you bear it. That is all.” Clockwork Princess

Thursday May 21st was a busy day. Most of us spent the day packing and exploring. I finally made my way to Camden Market with the girls as my last hoorah with them before my dad came.

We made our way through the market, mostly looking for food to eat. We went our separate ways, PC and AR got some sort of potatoes while I decided to get some real Pierogi!

The cute guy at the stall told me that "I should keep smiling because I have a really beautiful smile." he completely made my day! 

AR and AS left to go look for a bike shop somewhere else in London, whereas RT, PC and I decided to look around the market for anything we couldn't live without. I actually ran into my friend SJ (one of the friends I went to Greece with) and her parents who were also exploring the market. They were really nice! But the three of us continued until we hit a cute shop called Collective that sells vintage clothes from the 40s and 50s! 

I found an outfit that I loved and decided I couldn't live without it, so I bought it! 

This picture was taken later in the flat.

We continued through the market after my sudden shopping spree and stopped by a milkshake stand. It was probably one of the best milkshakes I had in my entire life!!! 

After we were done browsing the market, we found ourself heading back to the flat via a bus. And because the traffic system isn't always the best in the big city, we spent almost an hour on the bus trying to get home. Once we got home, it was pack, pack, pack. I was not happy about packing, but we had one more full day in the apartment before we had to leave. 

The next morning, I headed out to Heathrow to pick up my dad from the airport! He was there for less than 48 hours (what an awesome dad!) to help collect my baggage so that I wouldn't have to worry about it while I was in Paris or collecting it while we were on the continent. 

We quickly dropped off his luggage at my flat since he would be spending the night there, and then headed back to the Arsenal stadium (he was jealous that I went without him the week before). We went on a tour (which he was pretty excited about) 

During the tour, we were able to go down and sit in Arsene Wenger's chair (The manager of Arsenal) on the pitch. Let me tell you...those seats were VERY nice! We spent a good 30 minutes sitting in the seats just looking at the beautiful view. I really thought that dad might get arrested because he really wanted to go out and touch the pitch. Thankfully, I was able to pull him back and we continued on our tour without getting kicked out or arrested. 

After Arsenal stadium, I wanted to introduce him to Bad Brownie, so we made our way to King's Cross, where the stand was that day. He was pretty overwhelmed by the brownie so we decided to ride bikes back to my flat. We then crashed at home. 

The next morning, it was time to say goodbye to everyone. 

PC and RT left first, they had hired a cab to come and pick them up and take them to the airport. Not long after, AS and AR left as well. It was just TP and I in the flat cleaning up the remainder of our stuff. TP was on a 2 week trip around the UK and Iceland with her parents, whereas dad and I were on our way to the hotel across the street from Victoria station. 

Because it was so early in the morning, we made our way to Borough Market for a tasty treat (mostly cheese and cookies) 

Especially the delicious Mayfield Cheese

We then spent our time doing dad's favorite past time. Yup, you guessed it, riding bikes! London's got  an awesome biking system that lets you pay £2 for the first 30 minutes and then another £2 for an extra 30 minutes after that. Oh course because this is London, we got caught in the rain:)

We spent the rest of the day riding around, and then we went to the Chelsea stadium and then went and watching Avengers 2 in Piccadilly Circus. We went to dinner that night and headed back to the hotel. The next morning we headed to the tube station, I was on my way to King's Cross Station while  dad was back off to Heathrow to head back home. He would be there less than a week and then head back with Josh and Megan. 

And so this is how the end begins

May 17th was a Sunday spent going to church and studying for my exam the next day. I was a bit worried about my exam because it was essays! There is a reason that I'm a Kine major, not an English. I don't like to write very much, but the exam would offer 4 different questions about two different topics and we had to pick two of them to write two different essay. So needless to say I was really worried!

Monday thankfully went by really quickly and I felt like I aced the final, although I'm sure the grader would have a bit of a hard time reading my handwriting. (Sorry!) The rest of the day was spent relaxing and packing up some of my items that I didn't need anymore into my suitcase. I didn't pack too much stuff cause I wanted to put off packing as long as possible.

Tuesday (the 19th) was spent checking off more things off of my bucket list. TP and I headed to Greenwich because we wanted to see the Greenwich Prime Meridian or the Prime Meridian of the World! (It divides the Western and Eastern Hemisphere and resembles the 0º Longitude on the globe!)  Yes it's found in London (or the general area). It was actually about a 45 minute tube ride southeast of the city. So we left bright and early around 10 o'clock to go seek adventure.

By the time we actually made it to the observatory park, it was quite stormy and we got rained on for a good 20 minutes. Thankfully, once we had made it up the hill, the clouds had disappeared leaving us soaking wet and a sky full of sunshine. On our way up the hill, we met a nice American guy who had just gotten done studying in Germany and who was spending his layover exploring the city. His next stop was South Africa, so he had a long flight ahead of him.

We made it up the hill, but quickly realized that in order to go into the observatory, we had to pay, and quickly dismissed the idea. Thankfully, there was a line drawn outside on the ground that you could stand on and take pictures.

The view was quite lovely on the top of the hill! so we had to get a picture!

After visiting the Prime Meridian, we made our way back down the hill to figure out where to eat lunch. TP and I immediately wanted Byron, and convinced our American tagalong that he had to try it while he was in London. (At this point I mostly ignored him because I was starting to get annoyed by his presence-_- I think it was because I hadn't had to be around another American in a while besides my roomies)

This gate was the entrance to the park. I thought it was very quaint and loved the view with the trees, blue sky and clouds. 

We took the DLR (Docklands Light Railway, the only tube that functions without a driver!) back to Canary Wharf to have lunch at the Byron in the shopping center, and then thankfully parted ways with him (about time!) We then headed to Piccadilly Circus to start looking for some take home souvenirs. There is actually a large shop in the circus that has a whole bunch of different typical touristy souvenirs, but we didn't find what we were looking for, so we made our way back home. 

The next day (May 20th), I made my way to the London Zoo!!! (Finally!) This was something I had wanted to do for quite some time. I took the long way around and got off the Tube at Great Portland Street and make the mile long walk to the zoo, enjoying the weather and Regent's Park. The Zoo is actually located in Regent's Park at the north side and is quite small for a zoo, but had quite a few different animals!

I had to stop by the aquarium and see all of the different fish and water animals. 

Just a hippo relaxing in a mud bath!

Giraffes are freaking awesome. Unfortunately, none of them came very close to the wall. Because I had come so late in the day, many of the animals were sleeping. 

There were quite a few areas that you could walk into and sort of interact with the animals with no touching. The lemurs were one of them. This dude was pretty relaxed. 

In another building with all sorts of animals, they had an anteater walking around and interacting with people. He was pretty fearless, in fact people who had buggies (or strollers) were advised to remove anything from the lower section because he kept climbing into it looking for food. 

My favorite animals, the otters, were unfortunately all tuckered out, but I was still glad I got to see them!

They had an entire penguin enclosure and I managed to snap a picture with this little guy.

Like I said, most of the animals were passed out when I went:( but that's ok!

Of course I had to stop by the famous Reptile House from Harry Potter

Unfortunately, I didn't see him or the Dursely's visiting. 

I had to cut my visit a touch short though cause I had plans for the evening. I went home and changed into something a bit warmer and grabbed my book and ticket and headed back to Piccadilly Circus and the Waterstones that is just down the street from the tube station. 

My favorite author, Sarah J. Maas, was touring the UK with her new series A Court of Thorns and Roses. I had bought her book earlier in the month and I decided that I wanted to also buy Throne of Glass for her to sign as well. I'm glad I arrived early, because there was a bit of a queue when I showed up. Seating began at 6:30 and Sarah arrived at 7!

She talked about the new series and where she got the idea for it. She's a really funny speaker and I truly enjoy her books. She talked and answered questions for about an hour, and then we all lined up for her to sign books. It was a very long process because she took the time to talk with everyone along with taking pictures. It was already after 8:45 when I got to talk with her. We talked a little about the UK and she asked me if I enjoyed studying here. I told her that I would move here in a heartbeat if I ever got the chance and she agreed. Then I asked for a picture:) 

I thanked her and headed back home.

"Saying goodbye doesn't mean anything. It's the time we spent together that matters, not how we left it." Trey Parker

After arriving home from Denmark, it was crunch time for my roomie MC. We had decided that Wednesday would be our birthday day for her since her birthday was on the 9th of May, but some of us were out of town and we couldn't celebrate properly.

We started with a birthday breakfast of eggs, bacon, pancakes and sausage! From there, I left to go shopping for the items I would need for our appetizer dinner and to pick up the cake for her birthday. But overall, most of the day we spent with each other and the girls upstairs enjoying our last moments together as a group. For dinner we had our typical appetizers: spinach artichoke dip, buffalo chicken dip and fruit salsa. I even decided to try and make some patatas bravas that didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, but it was worth a try!

During dinner the seven of us went around talking about our favorite place we visited and our favorite thing that we experienced while studying abroad. After about an hour had passed, we pulled out the cake from Hummingbird Bakery and MC made a wish and blew out her candles!

Unfortunately when she blew out her candles, the sprinkles that were on the top of the cake also got blown off. 

Props to AR for taking these pictures.

After dessert, it was a sad farewell from the girls upstairs. MC was leaving around 8:00 the next morning when a car would come and pick her up with all her luggage and take her to the airport. 

The next morning (May 14), it was hard to say goodbye. I helped MC carry her bags down to the curb where the car was waiting and gave her a big hug goodbye and watched her drive away. (In case you were wondering, MC decided to switch her flight back home early to surprise her mom and sister.) It was weird to have the room suddenly to myself and all of MC's stuff gone. The weather was in accordance with my mood about MC leaving, it was quite rainy, so I decided to put on my pink Wellies and head out. 

I ended up taking the tube to the Arsenal tube stop and headed into Emirates Stadium for a self-guided walking tour. 

I ended picking a good day, because there weren't many people out and about. So I had some of the stops on the tour all to myself. This stadium is HUGE! It holds over 60,000 people at one time! It's pretty new and has some cool features. The roof is made in such a way that it collects water when it rains, which can then be reused to water the pitch later. 

The grass just looked so perfect, I really wanted to go roll around in it. But I was pretty sure that would get me arrested, so I was able to resist. 

When you take the tour, you have the option to take a look around in the locker rooms. 

Which have their own hot tube for players after matches. 

I'm not going to go into too much detail about the stadium right now because I go back later so I'll toss in more details then!

Afterwards, I headed back to the flat so that I could start studying for my final that I had on the 18th. But I did call the parentals to brag to my dad that I got to the stadium and to ask their opinion about what to do with all my luggage (I'll come back to that later as well). They were together shopping at Home Depot and I just had to take a picture because I'm sure it looked funny from an outsiders perspective on their end. 

The next day (May 15th), TP and I went down to Kensington and back to the Parent Trap House because she had missed out when MC and I went. So we went and took some lovely pictures. Afterwards, we walked right down the road to Harrod's because why not? I had never been in before, and let me tell you, I felt very inadequate. 

This place is HUGE, it has 5 or 6 floors and the bottom floor has its food area. Each of the rooms of the food area were categorized differently. There was an entire room for fish, different healthy foods and an entire room for Chocolate! I was thinking of buying some, but when I saw the prices, I slunk away with my tail between my legs. 

We made our way upstairs to Harrod's own Laudree (a fancy french cafe where they serve tasty Macaroons) (of course, too expensive for us once again). We walked around upstairs where the clothes were and finally decided that we were quite unworthy and hustled out of there! It was back to the flat for studying for me!

Saturday, May 16th, was my day to go exploring. When we had gone on our Jack the Ripper walking tour back in February, we ended up at an outdoor market called Spittalfields, which by that time at night was closed, but I was determined to make my way back to! 

I made my way to the market just in time for some tasty lunch! While I was debating on what to eat by walking between the different stalls, someone walked past me with a large tray of fish and chips. I had made up my mind! 

While this market wasn't like Borough (food market), they still had some interesting things for sale on some of the stalls. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything I couldn't live without, so I moved on without buying anything. 

I made my way south and ended up walking over Tower Bridge. It was such a lovely day, but that wasn't my destination. I found my way to a small little market called Maltby Street Market. It was probably one of the smallest markets I had seen. It was just a bunch of different food vendors selling food in an alleyway between a coupe of buildings. (Yes that does sound sketchy, but there were a lot of people there!) After walking around for about 10 minutes, I finally found the stall I wanted! 

I had been told about these brownies by two different people on my travels, and let me tell you, if you are ever in London and are looking to eat the best brownies of your entire life...you need to find these. (Although, I would recommend stopping at Tesco and buying a small thing of milk to drink it with, because these are very very rich! and you are going to want something to drink afterwards!) (My mouth is watering just thinking about it!)

I ended up buying two because I couldn't decide which one would taste better. It was raspberry cheesecake swirl and salted caramel. They were so rich and creamy that I could only eat one in that sitting. 

After stopping at the market, I wanted to check another Doctor Who place off my bucket list and that was the estate that they filmed Rose Tyler's building at. It was a part of London that I had never been to before on the south side of the river. I'm going to be honest, I don't think I found it even though I tried pretty hard to look for it. While I've always felt safe in London, I was feeling kinda iffy about the area that I was in. So while I did look for the building, I didn't try and stay for very long because I was anxious to get home. But don't worry! I made it home alright and I went to bed pretty early because I had done a lot of walking and eating that day!