And in the end...

July 4- Happy late 4th of July everyone :-) It's weird being in the UK for an American holiday. Nobody celebrated it or thought anything of the day...obviously. However, we did pass a few Americans who were decked out in patriotic colors. It was hard to even recall that it was a holiday! Anyways, this was our first of the two days free in London. The girls and I slept in....such a relief...and then decided to go out shopping for more souvenirs and try to do the Harry Potter Bus tour. Unfortunately, we found that the bus tour only ran on certain days and that day was not one of them. Drat. There was a walking tour but nobody was interested at all in walking more :-P We went into the heart of all the shopping places for quite a long time and spent most of the day there. After walking around probably more than we would've going on the Harry Potter tour, we decided to go on one of the boat tours of London in the river. While walking over there, Cheshire wanted to go to Westminster Abbey. We walked over there and got a bunch of good photos and then just relaxed in the front lawn for a while to give our feet a rest. I had do visit the gift shop, of course, but fortunately for my suitcase I only bought a small little gift for mom. Then we ventured off to find the river boat cruise and the one we wanted to go on didn't have any more going out. FIGURES! Luckily, there were several boat cruises in that location, so we had to walk down the river a bit and find the next one. That one worked out fortunately, but it was a closed in boat. It was nice and all, but we couldn't really take pictures of all the places we were going by. We got off at Greenwhich and wandered around for a while until we found the train station back to King's Cross. We got some dinner and then Katia and I turned in for the night and watched a movie. It was a fun day full of walking. Seriously, my feet and legs have NEVER hurt so bad in my entire 21 years of existence.

July 5- So this day, we all got to sleep in again. Yay! It was not only our last free day in London, but our last day of the trip :-( It was a sad day...but we still were determined to make the best of it. After dealing with the jerk at the post office, me, Cheshire, Anna, and Katia all went to the London Zoo! It wasn't a very large zoo, but we got pretty good views of all the animals. Especially the gorillas :-) They also had a butterfly house that I really liked. There was a kind of butterfly there that I had never seen before. The wings were totally transparent, but they were outlined in black. They were sweet looking. Katia also got to see the tigers :-) After a couple hours at the zoo, we hurt again and decided to go back to King's Cross. So we all walked back to the train station where the zoo was and literally jumped on the next train. We got there RIGHT AS a train was about to leave, so Katia leaped in and Anna followed. Then I jumped in behind Anna and Cheshire was behind me and the doors closed on her! We tried to get them back open but they wouldn't. Sadly and also humorously (:-P) we left Cheshire at the train station. When the three of us got to King's Cross we decided to wait around for her to make sure she got back okay. We waited and waited and waited and waited and called about a thousand times. There was no sign of Cheshire. After waiting for a while and also having the time to turn in our Oyster cards, we finally decided just to head back to the hostel and hope that she knew where she was going. When we ventured out of the train station it was raining...ugh...but Katia got a text from Cheshire saying that she was back at the hostel. Good grief....It was quite a memorable moment. The last train ride of the trip certainly was a special one. We got back to the hostel and everyone still had to pack and such. All of us rested up for a bit and then found some dinner later in the evening. We had some good conversations in the top floor of McDonalds and then came back to the hostel to finish packing and get ready to leave SUPER early the following day. We all hung out some more once we got back to the hostel (my sincerest apologies for those in the room attempting to sleep) and then called it a night.

July 6- This day was a very bittersweet day for me. I was so ready to see my family and be with them again, but I was so NOT ready for my incredible vacation to be over. The day started early at 4AM so we could all meet up and get a shuttle to the London airport. Our flight left around 8:30, so we got there with plenty of time to spare. The plane ride was not as dramatic for me as the first one was, but it wasn't exactly smooth sailing either. We all started to board the plane and I was one of the lucky ones who was selected to go through my carry on bags before I went on...joy. I didn't mind them searching, but it was literally impossible to pack by bags again. That was frustrating. I honestly think they had to hold the plane for me because it was taking so long. So I finally got on the plane and got settled in my seat. I fell asleep for short bits of time throughout the plane ride. There were actually several empty seats scattered throughout the plane, so Katia came up and sat in the empty seat next to me. That made the ride better. Also, as I was watching TV on the screen on the back of the seat in front of me, my screen caught a virus or something and didn't work for the rest of the trip.....sigh.....The plane ride finally ended and then we all had to go through customs and such to get to our various connecting flights. Sadly, my flight was in a different terminal than everyone else, so I had to part ways with the group sooner than I had expected :-( I said my goodbyes to those that I saw and then went to my gate. I picked up a bite to eat and had to get used to using dollars again. My little puddle jumper plane boarded and then I was on my way to Kansas City. The flight was about 2 1/2 hours and I slept for absolutely none of it. It didn't seem horribly long, but I was anxious to land and see my family. We finally landed and I was greeted by my parents and sister with a huge poster, balloons and BRIGHT flowers :-) It was quite a welcome. After we got home, I distributed all the stuff I had bought for them and showed off my pictures.

Now here I am the following night back in Overland Park. It's good to be home, but I do miss my new friends and being in England. Although I was sad to leave and am still sad that I'm gone, it is always good to leave on a high and wanting more than leaving bitter. I truly had a fabulous time and couldn't have asked for better people or a better place. Thank you to all who followed my blog and to those who shared all of the very memorable experiences with me.
To all my study abroad friends- you made the trip such a joy and I am so blessed to have spent the past month with such great people and teachers. I will most certainly be in touch. I will also be posting my final blog assignment eventually :-P
Cheers!