24 hours in Britian

I'm currently drinking tea to ease my throat as the snow continues to come down outside in my parent's apartment in moscow. Mom's making Taylor and me waffles. My British excursion was fun and frenetic. My decision to meet Whitney at her college in Norwich was a bad idea in terms of the amount of time and money it took to get there, but it was a really unique slice of life that I would have missed just doing the tourist thing in London for a day.

I arrived in London Heathrow at about noon. I took the train from the airport to Paddington station of Paddington Bear fame. Amazing space of curved ironwork and glass. Gave me some ideas for my pool, although it was way too gothic in form. Took the tube a few stations over to London Liverpool Station, another gigantic rail node, and then hopped a regional train to Norwich. Two hours later, I arrived at the station and then hopped on one of the double decker busses out to the university. I got there around 6 and met Whitney out at the bus stop. She's living in a dorm with a bunch of other British students on campus. Each person has their own cell, with a coed communal bathroom and tiny kitchen which was crammed with students, dishes, and appliances. It reminded me of my dorm days, and though I miss the constant social interaction, I enjoy having a similiarly sized kitchen just shared with one other person and not 20.

I grabbed a shower, Whit made us some pasta and we played some cards with her friends. Afterwards, we all got dressed up and headed down to the student union. The drinking age of 18 translates to significat differences in the british student union. For instance, it contains two separate bars and a large dance floor/club with its own bar. We hit the bar first and then went up to the club around 11. British college students at least at this place, dressed a lot more sophisticated and had a more sophisticated bar than most places around Tempe. I was impressed.

They had two decent young DJs spinning a techno/synthpop mix for the first hour and then they brought in a professional DJ who did a lot more hand mixes. Pretty hardstyle techno. The show was sold out so the dance floor soon became a mosh pit. We left around 1 as it was just too overpowering and intense, all of us now partially deaf.

Back at the dorms, we watched part of a movie and I crashed on the floor. As wiped as I was, I was still struggling with jet lag and my cold (not helped by the partying) and so I didn't sleep comfortably or very much. At 7 AM I got myself and Whitney up and she walked me out to the bus stop. At the bus stop, we met one of whits friends from the dorm, a guy we'd gone dancing with. He was even more surprised to see us. He hadn't slept all night, with the usual dorm drama going on after the party, so figured he'd make a surprise visit back home in Ipswich.

I said goodbye to Whitney, and the two of us hopped on the bus and went to the train station. I was really lucky he was there because the bus didn't go directly to where it picked me up and I might have missed it. At the train station, I didn't see the train to London on the departures schedule. Jamie, Whit's friend, talked to the information people and learned they were doing work on a section of track. I was really glad that I decided to leave early. So we hopped a train to Diss, and then took a 'coach' to Ipswich. Jamie left me there, off to spend some time with his parents, and I boarded the train to London. It was interesting talking to him, finding the cultural differences of another college student.

In London, I was dismayed to find the direct route to Paddington station was closed, so I had to figure out an alternative route. Not too much of a problem. At Paddington, I picked up some fresh organic orange juice and some pastries for breakfast. Man, I've missed European food. Caught a train back to the Airport. Heathrow has a really obnoxious layout which feels more like a piping system than anything else. Narrow, twisitng labrynthine corridors, holding tanks for passengers, and way too little daylighting. The way the airport is laid out, passengers have to wait in a cramped mall setting with all kinds of stores blaring music and video and sounds. They only show the right gate 30 mins before scheduled departure.

Flight to Moscow was good and short, about four hours. The flight was uncrowded and quiet on the saturday night. Made into Moscow airport and through immigration and customs with no problems. Met mom right outside with her white fur coat and huge fur hat. With no traffic, the ride home was quick. I grabbed a quick shower and went right to bed.