BRIANNA: days 2&3-One tired traveler

So, remember how pulling an all nighter was on my bucket list? If in 24 hours one only gets 1.5 hours of sleep does this count? What if it’s 1.5 hours in 30 hours? Cause that’s how my life just went.

Sleeping on an airplane is very difficult, especially when there’s turbulence. Especially even more when you’re flying over the ocean and the pilot tells you there’s a storm. Then every time you just drift to sleep the flight attendant keeps asking you questions like- chicken or pasta? Orange juice? Coffee or tea or orange juice? Orange juice? Water? Golly gee whiz! How much orange juice can one person drink! I don’t know why they were so adamant for everyone to drink orange juice.

AND. The plane felt like it was in the arctic. That super thin, super see through, dark blue, 100% polyester thing they called a blanket did little to make my Goosebumps go away.

Oh! I forgot to tell you about “my new best friend”.

The lady that sat next to me from phoenix to Philadelphia was crazy!! Seriously. She talked the ENTIRE time. She told me about how no one messes with her because she could beat the crap {but, insert other word there} out them. And how her parents were heroin addicts and how her boyfriend and the father of her adorable little 1 year that was with her has triplet boys with another woman and they were born 6 months after her daughter. But how she loves him still even though he’s a bad father. And how her house burnt down, and how some guy did something at a grocery store to make her knock down 4 shelves. She was talking so so loud and the lady in front of her was annoyed with her and she kept looking back at us and glaring. So then she talked louder to annoy her more. But, the best part about this lady was that her baby started to cry for like 15 seconds and the lady in front of us looked back and glared. Well, that’s when fierce mom came out in her. So then the entire plane got a lesson in swear words, especially the f word for the next 20 minutes about how no one disrespects her daughter. Ad ven ture. I had no idea what to do with my self.

But, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. She finally shut up long enough for me to do my own thing for like 10 minutes and I read the book of mormon. Well, this lady wanted me to tell her what it was about because she’d never heard of it and I told her. And guess what? She totally wanted one. So she wrote down her address for me and I’m going to send the missionaries to her house with a BOM. I’ve never done this before, but it was really cool. Even though this lady was kind of nuts….. It makes for a great story and adventure.

I feel like I haven’t slept in a week. But good news, here at the Frankfurt Hahn airport, they have really nice hard cement floors for sleeping on. Yes, I did sleep on the ground. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned about Europe {ya know, because I’m a pro cause I’ve been here 12 hours….} it’s that nothing is convenient or complimentary. There aren’t drinking fountains even at the airport because they want you to buy a drink. But guess what? I filled my water bottle in the sink in the bathroom. And you people probably know that I strongly strongly strongly dislike drinking water from a bathroom. But it’s worth it.

I guess I look I know what I’m doing and that I’m german {compliment or insult?} because 3 people have asked me for help in german. And then when I say “umm…. Uh, sorry, I speak English….” They look confused. Regardless, I have no idea what I’m doing.

during our layover, lindy, steve and I went on a little adventure. where we found cool things! :D

like horses, a playground, yellow flower fields, cool village, nice cars, soooo pretty!

Well, I wrote that first part at the Hahn airport.

we walked around

Next on our adventure, fly to London. Ryan air is…. Interesting.

I slept most of the flight. When we landed these horns and music went off and congratulated us an on-time flight. Haha

Last night was theeeee craziest night ever. Customs took forever, the train took forever. By the time we got to sleep it was close to 4am. And the in between parts I’m not sharing because some of them may want my mom to come pick me up. But, I’m alive and safe and well. So, it’s fine mom.

This morning, we were provided an “English breakfast” Didn’t know what this meant and I forgot to take a picture so I’ll describe it to you.

Toast

Eggs sunny side up

Bacon

Sausage

And baked beans

Never in my life have I heard of breakfast being served with baked beans. I thought those were strictly for BBQs… But it was really good! Especially because I’d just eaten junk food airport food the past 2 days.

We bought an any bus/train/tube pass today for London and made good use of it. We went to waterloo {and I started singing the abba song and no one in my group knew it. FAIL!} the eye, parliament, and Westminster abbey, and this thing called elephant and castle. Oh! And I rode a double-decker bus. :D I had the idea that there were like 10 double-decker busses in London. No no. more like 10 thousand. Literally! I understand why people think of the double-decker bus when thinking about London.

I must say, Westminster and parliament building are so incredibly detailed and elaborate. They are stunning!!

Also, every vacation I’ve ever been on people get annoyed with me because I stop and take pictures of everything. Being with photo majors is awesome! ‘Cause we ALL stop and take pictures and understand what it’s like.

Also, I’ve decided that if you read this blog that you can’t make fun of/laugh at/judge how I look in pictures the time of the study abroad. Because a-I don’t have a straightener so my hair is going to look funky. B- because I’d rather sleep than put makeup on. C-because my suitcase was too small to fit clothes and jewelry in so I’ll be wearing mostly the same few things. D- Because it’s humid here. E-because walking around all day is tiring. F-because it’s my blog.

Anyways, here are a few random pictures. {from my point and shoot. I didn't edit any of them. so, don't judge those either.}