londontown.

Being in London was awesome because I experienced all the comforts of home without the emotional attachment. The first week I was there with my parents and my friend Kristen in canary wharf and then the last three days Kristen and I moved in with our friend tatianna and her bf in Stamford hill.

day 1
Kristen and I didn’t get in until about 1 am because we got caught up at the border and we all ended up sleeping in. After that we went over to Tower Bridge and the tower of London. My knowledge of English history is pretty dismal considering it revolves around the American  revolution and the book the other Boleyn girl, but it was cool to broaden my horizons. even though there was an ice skating rink in the moat…very authentic defenses. After that we went to Churchill’s war room. That was awesome because everything was preserved so well and the museum itself was very modern. Churchill was also really into painting and some of them were done in Morocco! After churchills war room we headed over to harrods department store to see their christmas decorations, very similar to macys. and finally we went over to chipotle to indulge in some burritos and beer. I don’t think ive ever eaten something that has tasted better. Thank god for chipotle and its beauty. It was also funny having white british kids take your order, it kind of loses it authenticity lol

CHIPOOOOOOOOOTLE!!!

the macys of london

tower bridge

i like this picture of the tower of london because you can see the modern buildings in the background.

towerrrrrr of london

christmas eve
My parents left early to go see princess Diana stuff and kristen and I stayed behind to go shopping and do laundry. We ended up getting a late start and didn’t get to h and m until about 4 minutes before it closed. We were kind of wandering around to find a pub to hang out in and we stumbled across a festival that was Bavarian winter wonderland themed. So we spent the rest of the night with a german beer in hand, bratwurst in the other, as well as the occasional pretzel, waffle or ride. It was the best Christmas eve surprise ever, there was even fake snow. Overall awesome night!

bavarian winterwonderlandddddddd

beautiful, just beautiful

christmas
Christmas everything was closed but my parents went out the night before to some food from a store that’s like equivalent to a whole foods, needless to say it was awesome. We spent most of the day hanging out and exchanging presents and EATING!

yay christmas!

bssssha!

ommmmnommm

LETS EAT!

boxing day
Boxing day usually doesn’t present a problem in terms of things being open but the tube workers were on strike so that really limited our options. We ended up going to greenwich and seeing the observatory where time is set (like greenwich mean time-GMT). It was during the day so it obv wasn’t open but the park surrounding it was like something out of 101 Dalmatians. All of the owners and dogs looked alike and everyone was running around. After that we went to eat at a really old pub called – tarflagar tavern. After that we took a ferry to Westminster and saw Westminster abby, Buckingham palace and big ben. London essentials. We also went to the movies. Kristen and I saw the girl with the dragon tattoo and my parents saw mi 4. I forgot how effing loud movie theaters are but it was cool to experience again

big ben!

buckingham palace

westminster abby

ondaferry

trafalgar tavern

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!

day 5
On Tuesday we went to the british museum and saw the rosette stone and other treasurers that the britsih empire picked up. There was a lot to take in but my favorite is still the Smithsonian lol  That night we also went on a jack the ripper tour in whitechapel and saw where it all went down. It was cool, I was expecting more of a performance and for it to be like a play but the guy giving the tour was like giving his oral argument about jack the ripper. It was cool to get all the facts and theories and too see the pictures they have. People got messed up for real

this would be perfect for 3id kbir lol

kristen and i as fertility gods, obv

day 6
On my parents last day we went to Windsor castle and my other boleyn girl knowledge helped me out again. It was cool to see how well preserved everything is, also how old. In America something from the 1920s is old but England takes that to a whole new level. There were a lot of cool paintings and statues and stuff but it was really gaudy. Kristen and I decided we were proud of our ancestors who weren’t impressed with all that and broke freeeee! There’s something not right with people willing to be led by a family that didn’t do anything to get power…oh wait, the bush family doesn’t count right? too soon?

windsor castle

bba

day 7
Kristen and I went over to tat and dhuvals place, we ended up going out in camdentown and we went to a modern pub. I also got my nose pierced. So far the only thing people in my village have asked was if it hurt, and that’s a pretty standard question so I think people are cool with it.

day 8
Kristen and I went to a mall and almost had heartattacks and ended up going to an area covert garden, its more like avenue shopping without the fancy names and we both remembered why we left America in the first place. – fear of packs of teenage girls equipped with daddys credit cards.

new years/coming home
for new years we ended up going to tatianna friends apartment and rang in the new year. Good times had by all. I don’t have any pictures from the night but once I get some ill put them up. Happy 2012!

For the flight back to morocco we got to the airport early which was really lucky because I ran into some baggage problems with ryan air. Caution: tickets cost $20 because they rip you off when it comes to baggage. Anyhoo I thought I had a 20 kg weight limit for my bag, but in reality I only had 15 kg. my bag itself ended up being 25 kg and the woman was like okay take out 10 kg and I was like well cant  I just pay a fee and she was like uh sure, that will be TWO HUNDRED POUNDS. I almost fainted but apparently the rule is that it is 20 POUNDS PER KG OVER. That is like robbery. But Kristen and I ended up wearing like 20 articles of clothing between us to get the weight of my bag down. We went through security and our hands were going numb because we had so many layers on lol we looked ridiculous but we didn’t get a picture. I looked pretty dumb though running around the airport trying to find plastic bags to stick my clothes in.

Im happy to be back home and back in morocco. I hate living out of a suitcase so its nice to be able to throw my stuff all over the place and not be in constant fear that im going to lose my passport or something. London was awesome and im excited to see the Olympics this year!