England was full of fascinating adventures, although my time there was quite short. Our group spent much of its time in the city of London with a few travels here and there to other areas of Southern England. From learning how to travel the Underground (the London Subway system) to wandering the ruins of Stonehenge, England is a very beautiful and very green place. Many Americans are perhaps used to the greenery giving way to tons of housing complexes, but England not only has plenty of parks within it's large cities with vast rolling hills inbetween, but its people seem to have a love for gardening. Not only that, but they are skilled with it as well! But enough of the general idea of England; it's time for some of the stories from my trip, albeit some are quite strange!

The ride over was long - 8 hours long to be precise. I was pretty antsy and sleeping on a plane just doesn't suit me, so I kept myself occupied with books and my best friend, Amber. At one point, her and I decided to play a game of War with my playing cards, and to add a twist, I was trying to guess who would win each hand. After getting an entire game correct (what are the odds of that?), Amber upped the anty and I found myself having to guess either color or suit of the winning card as well as who had it. Again I never missed a card. Two hours later we got pretty freaked out by my "psychic powers," but thankfully it was time to land!

Another crazy story? Well, I had never heard of giving a customer beer for having to wait too long for food at a restaurant. Typically in America, the bill is lessened. In London, however, it seemed far more customary to offer up a free beer or pot of tea. I tried the beer, but discovered that I'm not fond of anything that tastes so bitter. For the record, it was Guiness, and while I've since developed a taste for it, for a first beer it really wasn't for me. The funny thing is, while the drinking age is at least 18 in England, we were all only 15 or 16. Telling us we had the option of beer versus tea as our consulation for waiting so long on our meal was like asking if we wanted candy or a pile of dirt.

Probably the most bizzare event, however, was that we ended up celebrating the Fourth of July in England. At first, we thought our guide must be a little crazy. Afterall, why would England want to celebrate an American Independence Day from Britain? Yet sure enough, the restaurant we were treated to that night had covered every table with an American flag, and as a gift to us, served us cakes with sparklers as the candles! There was even a fireworks show outside shortly after that! I still don't know why they were celebrating it (if that is even what they were doing)... Looking back on it, it surely was a comical thing for the Brits, and it's fairly easy to assume that during the summer - especially over a holiday - Americans would be traveling through the country, so it makes good sense. Still, it was pretty hilarious and makes a wonderful story to tell!

Perhaps I should get to what we did in England... We were able to catch a glimpse of the world-famous tennis matches at Wimbledon, but unfortunately could only afford the £12 cost to see the lesser known players. I still felt it impressive to know that somewhere on one of the ivy-covered terraces, Andre Agassi was probably playing a great match against another player with equally amazing talents. After Wimbledon, we were able to visit Harrod's, a very famous yet expensive department store in downtown London. It's so expensive, in fact, that two security men at the doors check your pockets, purses, and backbacks before allowing you to enter, and then you have to keep your purse and/or backback in front of you at all times! The worry wasn't so much about one person coming in and stealing, it was rather the worry that one person would grab something and slip it into the backpack of someone else, an exchange that would be much easier to see with both bags in front.

Our visits to the city of Bath, Oxford, and Canturberry were very exciting as well. London closely resembles a large American city, such as New York City, so getting to see the more simplistic side of Europe in the outlying towns was a true change from what we were all used to. The Roman baths in Bath still ran from the springs below, and the remains of numerous tile mosaics made by the Romans were still around on the walls and in protected cases. Bath is a very quiet and peaceful city, so imagine my horror when I accidentily set off the very loud security alarm in the Roman baths! A guide was supposed to have taken our listening tapes at the end, but I didn't realize that and the guide had left to get a new rack to hang the devices on. At least they speak English in England so I had an easy time explaining what had just happened! Oxford was very small and simple, but I still enjoyed it. I wish that our schools looked like the ones we saw in Oxford! Grand stone walls with cobblestone walkways and little gardens throughout the courtyard... what a sight it all was! Canturberry was simply a trip to see Canturberry Cathedral, which became my first church to see outside of America. European churches are massive! Not only that, but they are so intricate and beautiful, both inside and out! I began to appreciate all the fine details that went into the building of the various structures, but I think many others began to get bored with seeing so many old churchs and buildings...

All in all, my England trip was much too short. In ten days I think we were able to get a very good crash course in London, and while we saw a lot of various places, we were never so rushed that we couldn't take anything in. I do wish we could've had more time to see more sights, but for only having eight full days, I think we did rather well! A very well-planned trip on the part of our guide in London as well as my teacher. I plan on returning someday to spend a little bit more time taking in some other sights I have yet to see as well as bring someone along with me who I can show all the wonderful things about London to (on top of visiting Scotland and Ireland - they're so close that it's a shame not to!). It's a great city full of the hustle and bustle of the kind of city Americans are used to, but yet it marches to the beat of its own drummer. A great starter country for anyone new to traveling and worried about a language and cultural barrier and just wanting to get their travel feet wet!