Thursday I had class from 2 to 3 and then I ran with my bags to catch a bus from St. Andrews to the train station at 3:15. Tricia, a friend from my study group, and I got a 4:20 train from Leuchars. The train ride was long, 6 hours direct to King's Cross. I couldn't see much because it still gets dark kind of early here (although I've heard in the spring it stays light until 11 p.m.). We arrived in London right on time, met some Colgate friends in the train station and hopped a cab to their flat. A cab, if you have 4 people, is actually cheaper than a tube ticket for each (about a pound fifty versus a 3 pound single ticket), at least for a trip that short. I fell asleep almost immediately - traveling is exhausting, despite the fact that it's 6 hours doing nothing.

On Friday we aventured to Portobello Road and the market there. It was much colder and windier than St. Andrews, which is actually saying a lot. I was excited to see Portobello Road, having been obsessed with Bedknobs and Broomsticks as a child. I'm also always excited by the rows of what we would call townhouses painted all different colors:

Tricia and I then went to Oxford Circus, which I don't have a picture of because my hands were entirely too cold to take out of my pockets. Oxford Circus, I felt, was ultimately comparable with New York City at Christmastime. Full of people, full of noise and shopping, terrible for those with claustrophobia or social anxiety. We enjoyed shopping at Topshop and H&M, neither of which you could find in St. Andrews.

Towards the afternoon we had mastered the tube, and I had found a deep appreciation and sympathy for those who experienced the 7/7 bombings, as they're called here. The tube is incredibly far underground, with escalators abounding, and they are extremely busy all the time. Here's a picture, which I risked security to take:

Friday night I met up with two friends who went to Cumberland High School with me, currently at Syracuse in London for the semester. We went to a few pubs in Chinatown, which is gorgeous at night by the way:

She lives in an amazing flat with 10 people in Hyde Park Mansions, and I thought they looked just like London should. But that's just a side note. In the UK, it takes a special bar, pub or club to have a late license, so most are only open until 11, and it's extremely expensive to go out past 11. A cover charge might run you 8 pounds, or about 15-ish dollars (I'm still trying to convert in my head) if you want to go out late like Americans do.

However, Saturday, after an adventure at the Camden markets and a failed attempt at Harrod's (the tube line was closed and neither of us had a map) I went with a few Colgate friends to a club on Oxford Street called Mean Fiddler. It didn't open until 11 and was a 5 pound cover charge, which apparently was fairly cheap. We were promised live bands and indie rock, but inside I found ridiculous crowds and clouds of smoke and an incredibly loud excuse for a DJ (can you tell clubs really aren't my thing?). It's still legal to smoke inside clubs here, at least until March 26th. I left Mean Fiddler, almost deaf and desperate for air, at 2 a.m., avoided a "minicab" (they're supposedly illegal), and grabbed a bus back to my friends' flat.

Sunday was a traveling day again. Tricia and I took the 6 hour train at 10 a.m., which was incredibly early after having gotten only 4 hours of sleep, but we truly enjoyed the view on the ride home. The King's Cross - Dundee line goes through the fabled English countryside, by English manors, the Edinburgh palace and castle and the ocean. For almost a commuter's train, it really is scenic.

I arrived back at St. Andrews exhausted and desperate for some clean air. London was fun, and I'll be back in a few weeks for a class trip and some touristy stuff and sightseeing. For now, I'm glad to be back in small-ish town life.