The area the hotel is in is called Islington I think. Its kinda interesting. A few blocks up from the hotel there is a street with a lot of stores and shops. We decided we wanted phones so we walked to a Carphone Warehouse, which sells really cheap phones, and prepaid phoneplans. I got this super cheap phone called a Alacatel, it was only 3 pounds and with the plan I got which was Virgin, it included unlimited texting and 120 minutes and was 20 pounds to top up. Right after I got the phone I saw a Barclays next to the place and decided to take out some money just to make sure I can. After we all got phones we decided to get some food. We went to this place called The Arc. The atomosphere of the restaurant was kinda cool, but the food was terrible. Luckily I only decided to split nachos with someone, and it only cost 2.50 pounds, so it wasnt a big lost.
After we walked around we got back to the hotel and moved our stuff into the room. I also saw Sarika, which was exciting and went to hang out with her and a few other girls for a bit, they wanted to get phones so we went to find the place I went to before. We kinda got lost and began walking in circles so we decided to just go back to the hotel because it was time for our first orientation meeting. Everyone was really tired, and the meeting was extrememly dull but very informative. I found out that I got the two trips that I signed up for so I will be doing the Adventure Weekend in Wales and the Manchester Weekend in England-so I am very excited about that.
After the meeting we wanted to get some food. Luckily the area we are in is full of pubs so we decided to go to this really cool pub and get authentic British food. It was a pretty good deal 7.95 pounds (12 dollars) for a drink and fish and chips. I decided to order a Guinness from the tap. It was the first time I ever drank Guinness, and I didnt realize that it was black. It was very stout but I managed to drink it all. The fish and chips were delicious. It was kinda odd because they gave us plain white bread and butter with the fish and chips, it almost seemed like two slices of wonder bread, but maybe its a British thing. The actual fish and chips was very different from the way it is served in the states because it was an actual entire filet of a fish covered in beerbatter, rather then pieces, but nonetheless it was still amazing.
After dinner we went to run a few more errands and then went back to the hotel, everyone kinda went back to their rooms but I wanted to meet with Kristina and Lara so I texted them and they came down to the hotel. They seemed like they are really loving their new flats, though I heard some interesting stories from them about some experiences they already had here. Kristina decided to take me to Big Ben (St Stephens Tower) and Westminster Abbey because I told her that my first day was kinda bland. We took the tube which reminded me a lot of the NYC subways, but only cleaner. After we got the Westmninster we went to take pictures. It was kinda rainy but very amazing to see all these landmarks lit up among the night sky. I saw Big Ben, the London Eye, the Parliment Building, Victoria Tower and Westminster Abbey all within a matter of minutes. It was very British and I took a good number of pictures, and they came out pretty well considering it was at night. I cant wait to go back there and actually see these places for real.
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