Hello friends,
I apologize for not writing sooner, but it's been quite busy since I've arrived. There is so much to tell I don't even know where to begin. Well, I'll start with the bad news first. After spending only two days in the UK, I sadly got both my wallet and iPhone stolen from my dorm room almost immediately after arriving. Being the ignorant person that I am, I thought the lock at the front of the building was enough security to protect my belongings. Boy did I learn my lesson. I left my stuff for literally two minutes and they were gone when I got back. I was able to cancel the credit cards, and although I lost my drivers' license, I still have my passport thankfully. I did lose some cash as well but I'm pretty sure I had spent majority of the pounds I had converted before coming over here....So the past few days have been somewhat stressful seeing as I have had no means to support myself. Thank goodness for the 30 luna bars I packed in my bag and some pretty amazing people I have already met on this trip. I can't even tell you how many have offered to loan me money. The guy at the front desk, who I just today became familiar with as Chad, automatically gave me 40 pounds right after the incident had happened. Claire and Kara, my two closest friends on the trip, have been so sweet offering to pay for literally EVERYTHING(Claire offered to loan me money for a potential trip to Croatia this week!!)  And even my flatmate Pat bought me bedding. Those are just to name a few of the incredible acts of kindness I have been receiving these past few days. So we are finally starting to move into the better news!Even with everything that happened with my wallet and phone, I have still had the most amazing six days I could possibly imagine. So far I've taken a bus tour of the city, taken a river boat cruise on the River Thames, gone to a comedy show, been to so many cool, trendy nightclubs and pubs, and met numerous fascinating people from around the world that I am already getting sad I have to leave in May(talk about a Debbie Downer mentality). As of now, I only have about seven minutes left to blog before I have to go meet with the banker to set up an account here in London. I do, however, want to get a blog out seeing as how I have greatly neglected posting these past few days. So please excuse my random intermission.....
As I mentioned in my previous blog, at the airport I met up with Claire, one of the girls in my group and now a very close friend even after only a few days. It ended up being quite a hunt considering there were numerous locations of the place we had planned to meet. We did, however, end up finding each other. This was extraordinarily nice as the process to get to the hotel was quite confusing for us Americans. Hate to do this but I have to make it to my appointment!Cheers for now. I'll try and blog when I get in tonight.
Blog Continuance:
Well I am officially in for the night!It's 2:40 a.m. here and sadly that has been a record this whole week. I guess I'll pick up where I left off. Basically Claire and I did make it to the hotel in Kensington, a very upscale location in London.

 Claire taking a picture in our little black taxi cab

We were the first to arrive and considering we had about an hour before we met everyone in the lobby, Claire and I grabbed a beer down the road where we were not asked for i.d.(a quite satisfying and pathetic feeling for a 20 year old like me). We eventually met the group, all awesome students from all over the "States" as the Brits call it. Our directors, James and Elizabeth, took us straight to dinner where we all enjoyed excellent English cuisine and plenty of red and white wine for the table. I ordered chicken and mushroom pie with mashies, or mashed potatoes. Whoever says typical English food is bad should really try out this restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised myself. After dinner our directors suggested we all go out for drinks if we were feeling up for it....and we were!

Some of the group at only the start of the night.....

Next day basically consisted of getting to know London, such as the cruise on the River Thames, bus tour....lotty dotty dah

Kara and Claire at Piccadilly Square

Beautiful Kara with Trafalgar Square in the background on the bus tour

The group in front of Tower Bridge(NOT LONDON BRIDGE) after the Cruise on the River Thames

The London Eye

Big Ben is actually the bell of the clock not the Tower. This structure as a whole is actually Saint Stephen's Tower. Did you know this Harrison?

"Drinks and Nibbles"-Came on our menu at the extraordinarily cute, trendy Mexican restaurant we ate at in Soho. Just thought it was cute: )Dessert is called pudding. 

Some of the amazing people on my trip: )