BES Journal Week 3

     Week three of my time in London began with my first week of attending classes at London South Bank University. On Monday I went to South Bank to find the buildings where my classes would be so I wouldn't get lost on the first day.  I was beyond nervous on Tuesday because I didn't know what to expect and was terrified of getting lost, even though I already knew were my classes were. They're the kind of nerves that aren't really logical, but don't really go away. I loved my American Cinema class and someone else from the program was in the class with me so I didn't feel so alone. My next class the following day was a little more nerve wrecking because my student ID card wouldn't let me in the building and I was sent to the student center. I was sent there twice, then to the security desk, before my card finally worked. By then I was 20 minutes late to my first day of my Current Issues in Journalism class and was freaking out. Luckily, she let me off the hook.

    Friday morning I left with Kiley, Kate, and Hannah for a weekend trip to Ireland. I was beyond excited. I'd always wanted to go to Ireland. I wanted to go everywhere. After a long trip taking the train for 4 hours and then the ferry for 2-3 hours, we finally arrived in Dublin. The hostel was nice and the guy at the front desk was very funny and kind. Everyone I met in Ireland was super friendly and made lots of jokes. I'd grown accustomed to the more reserved, quiet Brits so I found myself surprised, but really liking the way everyone in Ireland seemed to be. We took a tour on Saturday to the Cliffs of Moher including Wild Atlantic way and Galway City. The Cliffs of Moher were absolutely breathtaking. It was like walking into a film. I was standing there marveling at the beauty of it and was just taken aback. I definitely want to return one day. It was my favorite part of the trip. It was extremely windy to the point where I had to hold onto a rock to not get blown away and I had to chase after my hat that flew off at one point. It was also very cold, but the sun was out and there were blue skies. It was very worth it. 

     

     Sunday was when it all went downhill. We woke up at 6:30 am and I used the last of my money to pay for the taxi to drive us to the ferry. It turns out that our ferry had been cancelled without anyone notifying us and the next ferry wouldn't come until 8 pm. Kate had her internship Monday morning, there was no wifi so neither of us could text anyone to let them know where we were, and three of our phone's weren't working because giffgaffe didn't work in Ireland. We didn't know where the airport or anything was and that would require us paying another taxi driver to drive us there. We didn't have money to stay another night in Dublin and pay for a hostel. We began to panic. Thankfully, the lady at the front desk must have felt sympathy for us because she transferred us for free to a ferry coming at 3:15 pm. So we sat there for 7 hours, starving, waiting for the ferry. I was so exhausted I fell asleep on the floor and Kiley thought it would be funny to take a photo calling me a hobo, haha. 

Walking to the ferry we'd been transferred over to with all our stuff.

     I felt motion sickness, had a headache, and my stomach hurt the entire ferry ride. When we arrived at the train station in Wales, we found out the next train didn't come until 4:45 am the next morning. It was horrible. We stayed in the train station for 9 hours overnight. The floor was freezing and we were starving. To make matters worse, a homeless looking older man at the station started talking to us and insinuated he wanted money. He decided he was going to get on the train with us and get off with us. He was nice, but by this point we all began to feel slightly uncomfortable. Hannah, who was outside checking for the train, called us and was yelling at us to leave. Fearing we'd missed the train, we took off running with all our bags and were horrified to find the train leaving. It turns out that it wasn't our train and Hannah had been panicking about us being alone in the station with this man. It was a huge misunderstanding and we were all yelling on the verge of crying. Finally with a beating out of my chest heart, I got on our train and passed out. I was beyond happy to arrive in Euston Station in London and lay in my bed Monday morning. The previous day had been crazy, unexpected, unwelcome, and a wasted day. It was both the best and worst trip of my life. Needless to say, I'm glad to be back in London.