Ridin Solo

Greetings!

So the last few days have been quite eventful as far as sightseeing goes. I went to Buckingham Palace and took the tour inside that they only offer in the summer. I am glad I was able to be here for that because it was absolutely stunning. It was every bit of the fairy tale place I imagined. Walking through the staterooms and taking in all the beautiful paintings and architecture really made me want to take classes in art history. I feel like I could have understood the significance of what I was seeing a bit more had I had background knowledge. This was the day that I took my first tube ride. I was building the tube up in my head as some terrifying underground trap full of people, but actually it was quite pleasant and very easy to navigate. With my first inclinations of the tube said and my fear of showering in my tiny shower at the dorm, I am beginning to think I am claustrophobic.

Yesterday was my first day on my own because my friend had to start school. I was so proud that I road the tube by myself yesterday from where I live to Oxford Street. It's the little accomplishments that keep me going! I discovered that Oxford Street is my own personal heaven, it has so many stores to visit and look through. I made it through about 20 and I hadn't even made a dent in the list of stores. TopShop in itself was a day long experience, there are floors and floors of clothes, shoes, accessories, and even a hair salon. I also went to two amazing department stores, BHS and John Lewis. I wish I could buy all the cute home decor they were selling and ship it off to my future apartment. Oh wait you have to have a job to have an apartment, never mind. Also, I am proud of my self-control that I exhibited yesterday, I only bought two things and I needed them for school. I am learning the ways of being frugal very quickly here because everything is SO FREAKING EXPENSIVE!

My interesting day did not end there, I got home and decided I need to work out. Even though I am getting plenty of exercise walking around London, I figure I should keep up my organized work outs going to maintain my discipline and focus on being healthy. I hop on the elevator that takes you to the work out room, press the floor I need and nothing happens. So I naturally press it again and then it starts beeping loudly, at this point I am not in a panic. I then press the door open button and it makes the beeping even louder. Ok the panic has set in, I am in fully hyperventilating and trying to think logically. I press the emergency button and wait a few more minutes, still freaking out because once again I think I have developed claustrophobia. No one has come to help me and it has been about 10 minutes at this point, so I notice that the door of the elevator are slightly cracked open so being the panicked insane person I am at this point, I attempt to pull them open. By some divine miracle I pushed them open a bit farther and finally almost all the way open. I leaped through the opening quickly as I could and I WAS SAFE! It took me a few minutes to compose myself and stop hyperventilating but I eventually did and finally went to work out, but I decided to take the stairs this time.

Oh this day continues to get slightly more unfortunately humorous. After my workout I was pretty hungry. So I decided to boil some water to make pasta. Sounds easy enough right? Well I turn the stove top on and let the water heat up and begin getting the sauce ready and usual cooking tasks. I look over and the water isn't even bubbling and it has been close to 15 minutes at this point. Check the burner and it seems to have cooled off. Well come to find out that this stupid safety stove only stays hot for 10 minutes at a time and will automatically shut off after that time no matter way. At this point I am lividly pissed and just want to scream, I AM STARVING! So using my Boy Scout ingenuity I take a plastic bowl and proceed to microwave my noodles like Easy Mac. They actually turned out fine, but this did not quell my anger towards that stupid stove. How the hell is anything suppose to get cooked or even warm for that matter in 10 minutes on a stove top that doesn't get nearly as hot as my hair straightener? Hey that's an idea, I might start grilling chicken with my straightener.

With Love From Lindsey

P.S. After my noodle fiasco I decided to stop by the Golden Arches and enjoy some chicken nuggets. First meal I have had that was exactly what I was expecting!