July 25

Yesterday was my first day in London. My mom and Ted had an 8 hour layover between their flights so they were able to come to London with me and get me situated. We walked around a lot, dipped into a museum of ridiculously bad modern art (the first “exhibit” was a pool floatie raft toy in the shape of some nondescript animal hanging from the ceiling and filled with firewood) and then they left after a lunch in a restaurant in the Royal Albert Hall. It was weird saying bye and knowing that after they got on the plane in an hour, I would know nobody in the country. But a great jazz group started playing in the restaurant so it worked out okay.
My neighborhood is great. It right above Kensington Gardens and there are tons of cafes, restaurants, and road side fruit stands. There are more hotels and hostels than there are flats, which is good because that means everyone is a bumbling tourist, not just me. So I checked into my hostel- my room is half the size of a regular hotel room and with three bunk beds, a cabinet, table and a sink. Its scattered with the clothes, shoes and shampoo bottles of four French girls I still havent met (I think they either had a really late party night and are still out or they got abducted, in which case, Ill be able to root through their boxes of jewelry and facial products once Im sure thats the case). The other girl is a 27 year old Asian girl with the voice of a 12 year old girl who tiptoed into the room last night with a camera in one hand and 3 shopping bags in the other. She’s adorable and very sweet and is unfortunately leaving this morning for Germany. I talked to her a little about our trips and what to do in London and she gave me tips on which “ca-she-drawl” to visit and told me about the bus system in accented, excited speech: “So you get dere berry erry?… I sink its da bus numba seven?… It take you right to da moo-seum?…”
I think today will be a museum day. I also want to catch the hip hop performance of Shakespeare favorites I read about in the paper last night over my 3 pound Soup du Jour: Who says London is the most expensive city in the world?? All the museums are free too.
This morning I raided the hostel fridge and brought a picnic to Hyde Park- a nutella sandwich, a banana, and a yoghurt that turned out to be four months old- a good reminder to check the expiration date in 15 pound/night hostels.

My roommates finally came back to the hostel- theyre three Swiss girls and a Spanish girl who is traveling alone. The Swiss girls are incredible at buying things. I think they are here solely to buy things. Every time Ive come back into the room, there are more things. Today, one of the girls, came back with a new duffel bag to fit all of the stuff she bought. These girls know how to travel.