London Calling: February 2012

It's been a really long time since I've updated my blog, whoops! Since I last blogged, I've visited Wales, fallen into a good routine, booked a lot of flights, and.... I turned 21! (Wow, when did that happen!?)
First off, Meagan visited this weekend! It was so great to see her, I've really missed everyone who isn't here. It's so weird to spending almost every waking hour with people for 9 months for three years, and then living and going to school in different countries than them. Especially when they're your best friends!!! We had class all day Friday, and then we picked her and her 3 friends up at the High Street Kensington tube station that night. We all went back to our flat, made them pasta, and went to a bar/nightclub named Verve. I had a pretty good time, but most people didn't like it very much. I think we may have just picked a bad night to go. I was really excited that the bouncer wished me a happy birthday at the door! It was only 5 pounds to get in, which is pretty good as a cover charge for weekends here. I decided to splurge for my birthday and get a 7 pound cocktail... and it was SO worth it! It was called a Japanese Fizz, and it was so delicious! It tasted like melted Hagen Daas raspberry sorbet.

Japanese Fizz: 2 parts Midori, 1 part Rasp. Schnapps, rasp. puree, and oj.

The next day, we had a tourist day with Meagan and the girls. We had lunch at Arch Angel, and then we headed over to Westminster. We saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, literally on top of us when we got out of the tube station! Then, we saw the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, among other things.

Hey, Ben!

London Eye

Westminster Abbey, where Royals are wedded :)

Standing right where Kate walked in!

London Eye

Hello!

Good evening, Ben!

That night we went to Camden and ended up at a bar named Monarch. It was really crazy in there! I helped Meagan and her friends check their bags, which they had to bring with them, as they had to leave the bar at 1:30 am to catch their early flight back to Barcelona, behind the bar and then we got a seat in the back. We had a pretty good time! We left pretty late, and went to McDonalds. We happened to walk in while this lady was going... absolutely nuts. She was holding a caution wet floor cone, waving in the air, trying to attack someone with it. They were screaming, and they pulled her out of McDonalds three different times... she kept getting back in and attacking this group of people! Eventually, the police came, so she wasn't able to get in again.. but that certainly was a show! We were a little worried about getting hit by accident, but this nice guy behind us kindly told us how these things work in Britain. "You see, in America, its just chaos. But in Britain, its organized chaos. As long as you don't yell or do something to get involved, you just enjoy the show!" (Gotta love british humor... and accents!) And that we did!

Meagan, me, Katie, Erin, Lia (and Dana in the background) :)

I turned the big 2-1 this past Monday, and I had a really great day! I woke up and went to my British Life & Cultures class. On the way home, Lia and I stopped at a convenience store, and I bought a few Strongbows and a Malibu & cranberry juice can. The guy asked if I was over 18, and Lia, very excitedly told him, "It's her 21st birthday today!" His response? A mere, "Okay." I guess it really isn't a big deal here, which kind of took the excitement of the day away, but that's okay. Then, Lia and I took the 9 down to Hammersmith. We went to Primark, and then I got dinner at Tortilla. I had a chicken fajita wrap, which was pretty good! From there, we went to Urban. I got a really pretty cream knit blouse to wear that night, a watch necklace, and some really thick, warm, wintery socks for 40 pounds.. which is great, especially for Urban! We poked around in TK Maxx after that, and then we headed home.

We all got ready to go out. I was in the main room, and Lia told me that Katie needed me for something. I should have found this shady, but I went down to our room, and Katie told me, "Oh, I wanted to borrow your perfume, but I found mine, so never mind." We then walked down the hallway, and walked into the main room.... and everyone was gone. HMMMMM. So I walked into the living room, and saw balloons everywhere. Then, I turned and heard everyone scream "Surprise!!!" It was so nice! They bought me a cake, which was delicious, macaroons (!!!!!!!!!!!!), a HUGE, shiny "birthday girl" pin, which they made me wear all night long, a card, and a BEAUTIFUL watch that I fell in love with at Urban a few weeks ago, but couldn't bear to pay the price..!

The beautiful watch that Lia, Katie, Erin, and Dana gave me for my birthday. (The brown one)

That was really, really great, and I was genuinely surprised! I was really touched, but I held myself together :) Then, we left for Roadhouse. We got there a little after ten, which is when free entry ends. They tried to barter the 5 pound fee to get in, but the bouncers wouldn't budge. Then, they said "Not even the birthday girl!?" And their response? "Oh, the birthday girl can come in for free! We can do that...!" So that was awesome! I felt sooo special :) When they checked my ID, they wished me a happy birthday, and said "come in this way, birthday girl!" They let me in through the VIP line, which was also very cool. I walked right in, past the cashier, and downstairs. VIP! We checked our coats, and headed to the bar. Happy hour lasted until 10:30, so I decided to get two drinks at once, to save some dough. I ordered a Passionfruit Daiquiri and a "Hollywood Hills" which had vanilla vodka and raspberry liqueur, with other fruity things in it. I definitely liked the daiquiri better, but both drinks were pretty good! The lady gave me such a great look when I ordered two cocktails at once, but hey, I ended up saving about 5 pounds that way, and only ended up spending 10.20 that night... success!

Mondays at Roadhouse are karaoke night, so we had some interesting music. But it ended up being a lot of fun. It wasn't that crowded, but hey, all that matters is that I was with my friends on my birthday, so I didn't mind. We just had fun with each other, and decided to go home around 1AM. Here are some pictures from the night!