Today was an amazing last day in Europe! Ahhh that is so sad to say, but I have had a great day! The continental breakfast was amazing as usual. I am in love with the hot chocolate. It is the best hot chocolate I have drank in Europe, and it is too bad my last time drinking it will be tomorrow. Anyway, Hannah and I broke off from our group and did our own thing. When we left the hotel, it was pouring. That was the only downside to the day. We were going to take the bus to King’s Cross Station to see Platform 9 ¾, and we waited for the bus in the rain for forever. We eventually decided, screw it, we will take the Underground and spend four pounds. Things started looking up when we weren’t being rained on inside the Underground, and we decided to ask help about buying a ticket. The man at the counter was super nice, and we decided to spend £6.50 for an all day Underground pass. That’s a huge deal compared to a £4 one way ticket. He told us all we have to do is ask when you are unsure of something, and that is so true. So, we took the metro to King’s Cross. The Underground is so fast compared to the metro in Paris, and it is a lot nicer and newer. We finally got to King’s Cross, and had to ask for directions to Platform 9 ¾ a few times, but we eventually found it! Ahh it was so cool and made my day!
We then took the metro to Regent and Oxford Street, where all the shopping is. We went to H&M, and Hannah bought a lot of clothes, and I bought some hair accessories. We just window shopped for a while and were heading in the direction of the Harry Potter premiere at Trafalger Square. We had lunch nearby Trafalger, and we were done eating by 4pm, which was perfect timing because that’s when the premiere started. Right when we walked outside, we heard the crowds screaming and were fully immersed in a ton of people. We wandered around for a while trying to find a good spot to see the big TV screen and not be yelled at by security. It took us a while, but we eventually found a good spot considering we didn’t camp out for seven days. We had to deal with crowds pushing at us and light poles and things blocking the screen, but I got a good view of the screen and took pictures of all the stars!! It was amazing seeing Daniel Radcliff, J.K. Rowling, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and everyone else! I can’t believe I was at a Harry Potter premiere, let alone the last Harry Potter premiere ever, and I was in London for it! What a way to end my experience in Europe. I can’t even believe it.
Towards the end of the premiere, me and Hannah stepped on a ledge, so we actually got to see with our own eyes Daniel Radcliff and J.K. Rowling. They were pretty small, but I still got to see them! The screen was plenty big to see everyone clearly and take pictures. Overall it was an amazing experience, and I will remember it the rest of my life. I still can’t believe our luck showing up right on time and getting a good seat when people camped out for seven days! Now I know they got a much better spot, but I am not complaining about where I was with the minimal effort I put into it.
Hannah and I headed back to the hotels afterwards and hung out for a little bit. Wittney then came back, and she talked about Harrod’s, which Hannah wanted to go to the whole time we’ve been here, so we decided to go back into the city and go there. It closed at 9pm, and we left at 8:15pm, so we rushed through the Underground as fast as we could. It was stressful, but we got there at 8:40pm. We had to ask a cute guy working there where to find the Harrod’s Arcade (gift shop) because that is where I wanted to go to get some souvenirs. I had to rush through the store, but I found some cute things. I would have liked to spend more time there, though. The whole area near Harrod’s was full of cute stores, and I wish I had gone shopping there today. When I come back to London, I am definitely going back to that area. It was really pretty and had good shopping!
We then took the Underground back and everything went smoothly until we got to the last stop. We exited the station, and the area didn’t look that familiar but we kept walking anyway. We wandered for a while confused because we were at the right stop, but we took the wrong exit. We had to go back to the Underground station and discovered there was a huge train station within the stop as well, and we had to walk the whole length of it to get to our exit. I had no idea our Underground stop was so big, let alone there was a train station in there!
We were hungry too, and Hannah knew there was a Subway nearby, so, with a heavy heart because I knew it would be closed, we tried to find it. I asked this guy for directions about where Subway was, and I kept saying the Subway restaurant because I knew he was confusing that with the Underground, and then he called it the tube, which I thought was funny. He didn’t know where Subway was, but we found it a minute later and it was open! Thank God! I got a turkey sub, and added corn as one of my toppings, which turned out to be yummy. I wish the USA offered that. I also bought potato chips that looked exactly like Lays, but the brand was Walkers.
We got back to the hotel and ate our glorious meal. We then all packed our suitcase for tomorrow morning and got a scale to weigh them. Apparently my suitcase is 77 lbs., which I refuse to believe. It was 50 lbs. coming here, and there is no way I bought 27 lbs. of stuff. I am just gonna pack it as much as possible, so that my duffel bag is light. The duffel bag is the worst part of my luggage because I can’t wheel it around. I then will redistribute the weight when I get to the airport.
I can’t fathom that I am leaving Europe tomorrow. It is just so sad. I have loved my experience here so much. I always knew it would end, but it seemed so far away, and I just put it out of my mind every time I thought about it. I really am sad. There is no other word to describe how I feel. I have put a lot into this trip, and I never thought about what I was going to do for the rest of the summer after I got back, or my life in general. These past weeks have been a great escape from the real world and all the worries I left behind on May 28, so it just sucks that I have to deal with life again! I am just going to take my life day by day and see where it takes me. I have fallen in love with Europe, and I am going back here…soon preferably. I really want to come back after I graduate to go to school, work, or travel. I don’t care which one as long as it takes me back!
Well my traveling day back to the States was complete hell. I ended up staying for 25 hours, and that is how long it took me to finally get to America and fall asleep in a Charlotte hotel. Let me take you back to the beginning though…
So Wittney and Bryan left the hotel before me and Hannah because Bryan had an earlier flight and Wittney just wanted to get to the airport as soon as possible, so they left around 6:15am-ish I think. I woke up at 5:50am to re-pack my bag and make sure I had ample time to get ready. I decided to pack more into my duffel than I had planned and redistributed the weight at the hotel because I was nervous about my bag being overweight and didn’t want to deal with it at the airport. Hannah and I headed down to breakfast at 6:45am, and I ate way too much. I wanted to take advantage of my last scrumptious breakfast at the hotel and my last European breakfast!
We then went back to our room, got our bags, checked out, and began our journey back home. The Underground was a five minute walk from the hotel, but my arms were already burning pulling my luggage, so we took some breaks. We asked a man under an Assistance booth about what metro ticket we should buy, and he was very nice and helpful and gave us good directions on how to get to Heathrow airport.
Traveling within the Underground was difficult with our luggage. We had to go down escalators, deal with crowds, and deal with getting onto the actual trains. We took an elevator at one point to avoid walking up stairs, which was really handy. At another point, we had to walk down some stairs, and two nice men helped each of us with our heavy bags. I couldn’t believe our luck and how nice people can be; it just really surprised me!
We finally got on the last train to Heathrow and had about a 45 minute ride. We met some people who had been on Africa for several weeks, so they were interesting to talk to. When we got to the airport, we just followed the crowd and eventually found the U.S. Airways counter. I was so nervous about paying an outrageous fee for my overweight bag, but when the lady weighed it, I couldn’t even find where to read the scale, and she didn’t comment on the weight, so I got away with it! I was so excited because I knew my bag was definitely overweight. However when she printed my tickets, she told me my flight to Philadelphia was delayed, and that I would miss my connection to Charlotte; not good news. The flight was delayed from 12:20pm to 2:20pm I think, and that forced my arrival to Charlotte from 7pm to 10:45pm. I was not happy about this, but I wasn’t really thinking about it and was just happy I got another connecting flight.
Hannah and I went through security easily. However, I got randomly selected for a full body scan. I had to step in this machine and lift my arms above my head. I then had to wait for someone to call the security man I was with to confirm my scan was clean. It wasn’t a big deal, but I wish I didn’t have to do it. We then found Wittney, who was waiting for us right outside security. We caught each other up on our mornings, and I then just wanted to go ahead and find our gate, so we could settle down and not deal with our bags. I learned that the Heathrow airport operates differently than airports in America, and is exactly like a train station. You don’t know what gate you will be at until right before you are scheduled to board, which is so inconvenient. We had to wait around in the general area, until 40 minutes before our flight to know where to go. Train stations are the same way, but you never knew until like 15 minutes before your trained left.
So we sat down and waited for a while. I bought a bottle of water and got a free newspaper with it. It had an article about the Harry Potter premiere, which was fun to read, and I kept it if I ever end up making a scrapbook about my European experience. The girls slept for a bit, and I did a Sudoku in the paper to kill time. We then found somewhere to eat and sit down, and I got a hot chocolate and pain au chocolat; had to get one last fix!
I was worried about contacting my mom to let her know about my flight delays. The wifi at the airport wasn’t free; you had to pay £10 for internet access all day, which wasn’t worth it to me. Whenever I turned my computer on, though, my Skype came up and asked if I wanted to link it with the internet, and pay for the internet that way. I already had credit on there because that is what I used to call my family in Europe, so I tried that. It ended up not working, and linking it with the airport internet took away $5, so I only had 11 cents left to call with, and no one answered when called. I was pretty annoyed about losing $5 of my skype credit because it said it would only cost 19 cents a minute. I then tried a pay phone, but it ate all my coins and didn’t work. I then tried my credit card, and it finally worked, and I ended up leaving a message explaining everything. At 1:30pm we found out which gate we were and headed to it. It took like 15 minutes; the airport was so spread out! You had to have someone check your passport and ticket to even get into the waiting area for the gate, which was different than how America does things. There wasn’t enough seating, so we had to sit on the floor, which was annoying. Of course, our delayed flight wasn’t on time, so we had to wait even more. I don’t even know what time we finally got to board the plane and take off, but we were already pushing into maybe missing our connection, so we were worried.
The plane was really nice, though; A LOT better than the plane to Paris. Me and Hannah had two seats to ourselves, and we got TV screens! Hallelujah! I watched three movies; The Adjustment Bureau, True Grit, and Alice in Wonderland. I have never watched three movies one after the other, but it was good entertainment! You could also play games, watch TV episodes, and track your flight and all sorts of information like how fast you were going and your arrival time. It was nifty. So overall, the flight wasn’t so bad. Watching movies made the time go by very fast. I was ready to get off that plane, though. My back was hurting, and I was worried about missing our connections because we had to go through customs in Philadelphia.
When we got off the plane, we first had to go where they check your passport and ask what you are declaring and all that. I have had to deal with some strict people before, so I was nervous because I didn’t declare the beer I brought over. It went smoothly, though, and he didn’t ask too many questions about the clothes, chocolate, and postcards I declared. We then had to get our checked bags and scan them and go through security, but that wasn’t that bad either. I don’t even know why we had to get our checked luggage. We just did a little scan with it, and handed it back to the people. I feel they could have just done that themselves. I then had to go through another desk and give my declaration form to someone, and she didn’t even glance at it and let me through. Overall, customs was really lax. That was nice, but kind of worrying to me if you think about it. Oh well.
We had a long walk to our terminal and gate, but we made it. It was nice to go straight to our gate, instead of waiting around before they tell you where to go. I was hungry for dinner, so I got a philly cheese steak sandwich; gotta take advantage of being in philly! It was really yummy! I only ate half to save the other half for the plane ride. While eating though, we learn our flight was delayed until 11pm meaning we wouldn’t get to Charlotte until 1am. Ahhh oh my god, I was so frustrated at this point. The weather in Philly was bad, so I think that was the problem. They told us to go to another gate at one point, so we all had to move. We waited for a while there not really knowing what was going on.
Meanwhile, a lot of flights near Charlotte were getting canceled, so we were worried our flight would be canceled. I slept on the floor for a little bit because all the chairs had bars, so you couldn’t lay down. We then had to move gates again! This gate was so full that we had to sit on the main airport walkway for a while. We just waited, waited, and waited not knowing if our flight would be canceled or not. We finally got a seat in the gate, and I finished my sandwich. Around 11:30pm, all the sudden, they tell us to start boarding. I was so tired and out of it at this point that I didn’t really have any emotion about this other than I couldn’t wait to sleep on the plane.
And that’s what I did: sleep. I slept on and off the whole ride. When I woke up the first time, it was absolutely freezing, so I couldn’t ever really go to sleep again. It was really cold and miserable. I only had a light sweater and no other layers, so I just curled up as much I could and half slept. We finally landed at 1:15am and headed to the baggage claim. Hannah’s dad was waiting for her right when we walked in, and I had to call my mom to learn she was just waiting in the car outside. We waited for our bags for a while, and they finally came. It was hard saying goodbye to Hannah. I cried. I had been with her since day one and we had traveled together every weekend, so it was hard to finally say bye to her. I think all my emotions about everything surfaced to in that final goodbye. I was just glad to finally be in Charlotte and, at the same time, really sad that I wasn’t in Europe anymore and that my study abroad was over.
I walked outside and found my mom’s car immediately. I was still crying when I finally got to hug her and see her for the first time. I was pretty much dazed about everything. I loaded the car, and we drove five minutes to the hotel. We were in a really nice hotel, and the bed was sooo comfy and soft! I thought I would pass out immediately, but it took me a while to fall asleep, which surprised me a lot. I went to bed around 2:30am, and for some unknown reason, I woke up at 7am and couldn’t go back to sleep. I have no idea how my body is dealing with no sleep for 25 hours and then sleeping for less than five. My sleep schedule is pretty messed up, so I hope I can make it right tonight and go to bed at a normal hour. I can’t believe it took 25 hours to get back yesterday. I just can’t. It didn’t even feel like it took 25 hours.
Well that is my story about getting back to America. I still have to drive three hours to get to Cashiers, and then I will finally be home. I am so sad right now. It is sad that this is my last blog entry. I don’t want to stop writing because that means my experience really is over, and I have no more stories about yet another day in Europe. I know I will go through culture shock being here; I think I already am. The first thing is I hate our money system here. Europe has the right idea having 1 and 2 dollar coins; it makes so much more sense and is so convenient. Our bills here our ugly compared to the Pounds and Euros too. The driving everywhere will suck too. I miss the metro already. It is so convenient, easy, and affordable to use. I think I just like big cities. Everything is so compact and close; it just makes things easier.
Ahh I am rambling too much. I just need to stop writing and finally let go and have closure. I have written this entry over the past few days, and it is now Sunday, so I have been home for a full day. I am slowly getting used to my new life here, but I am still missing France too much. I have made wonderful friends though and looking forward to seeing them soon is the only thing that is not putting me over the edge in sadness. Also, the prospect of once again returning to France is helping me deal with everything. As I said before, I WILL come back. I am making damn sure of that. Hopefully, after I graduate, I will return for a year…or two or three! Thank you all for reading my blog, and I will be sure to create a new one when I return to Europe. I love you all!
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