I wrote this blog post the morning after our last night in London. I have been saving it in my notes app for a time when I was feeling hella nostalgic, and I decided that after watching Prestyn’s 16-minute vlog, now was a good time to finally get around to posting this!!!!!
Feeling like reminiscing for a second. Last night, we all sat up on the roof talking about some of our favorite moments from the last 6 weeks and wanted to share with the class. These are in no particular order.
- Magic Mike XXL
• I genuinely don’t know if I’ve ever laughed harder in my life. I also don’t think I’ve ever been more entertained in my life. I am so glad we paid extra to be on the floor because talk about an awesome view. Those men DELIVERED a show. An honorable mention of this night was meeting the group of Scottish boys where one said he hated Jews (Ariella and Alli are Jewish), the other one looked like Big Red and had Prestyn in a chokehold, and the other one is going to West St. Paul for 5 weeks in August. The world is so small.
2. Kyla & I’s workplace summer drinks party
- If you didn’t know, Kyla and I had the same internship unironically. It was at a PR firm for cars. Super chill. But since it’s so laid-back, not many people come into the office, so we didn’t know that many other people besides our supervisor (who was out of town), Oscar & a select few other people. Oscar is another intern who’s from London and he knows everyone, but we barely knew him. Anyways. We get to the party, already tipsy because we obviously had to pregame. We walk in; all eyes on us. No one knows who we are. But we get into conversation with some of the people who just kept pouring us prosecco. 5 or 6 glasses later, we are told that we need to finish the bar tab, so it was time to start ordering cocktails. We probably all know how the rest of this goes.
- We end up talking to Oscar for like 3 hours. We fucking closed the place down with these people. It was so funny talking to him because we asked him what he knows/thinks about the states and we ended up talking about Claviclar and the ASU frat president who frame mogged him (???) for like 30 mins. I absolutely loved life this night.
- I don’t know if I’ve ever been this drunk in my life. Threw up after I showered. Prestyn had to bring me water in bed. I had to take Zofran at 7 pm the next day because I was still hungover.
3. Malta dinner night 1
- Once again, involves us being drunk. We are in Valletta and find a place that’s doing BOGO spritz. We obviously get 6. I actually don’t know what happened, but somehow we get hammered. All 3 of us. The blind leading the blind. I take 7 photos of me in a beach hat with different angles to see what it looked like
- Then, we’re at dinner. Fire focaccia sandwiches. More drinks. We are the loudest people in the entire street. All of a sudden, our waiter comes over, and I start asking him for the exact price of a vodka soda. I did NOT need a vodka soda. As I was talking, he grabbed a napkin and told me I had food all over my face. After he walked away, I think Prestyn and I started crying tears of laughter. I was so drunk I had food all over my face that the waiter deadass grabbed a napkin to wipe my face. Humbling for sure.
- Honorable mention: an hour later I screamed so loud in the middle of the street because I got scared by a parrot. I was hungover by 11 pm that same night.
4. Harry Styles concert
- Emma Hess came to town!!!!!! We have been talking about going to Harry Styles at Wembley for the last 6 months. I’m so glad that we were able to pull it off because it was AMAZING. Harry Styles knows how to put on a show. Hearing Carla’s Song live while studying abroad should’ve been illegal, though. Or Fine Line. SOTT was magical. One of the best concerts I’ve been to!
5. Dublin with Ana
- This trip was SO FUN and I was so glad we were able to pull it off. If you don’t know Ana, she was an exchange student at HF my junior year and we became best friends. She came and stayed with me in MN the summer of 2023. We met up in Dublin for a weekend, and it was so amazing to see her and catch up. I can’t believe it has been 3 years since the last time I’ve seen her, because it feels like no time has passed at all. It’s so awesome to have a friend like her, where we can just pick up where we left off as if no time has passed. We bar-hopped, went to Howth, sang some Oasis, went to the Guinness Factory and just enjoyed each other’s company.
6. Reunited with Andrea and Eleanor in Paris
- There is no better presence than Andrea Walters. Our house was so quiet without her this semester. Such an easygoing and laid-back person; I just love you if you’re reading this. I’m so lucky I was the first one who got to see her after her 4-month study abroad in France!!!! And of course, seeing Eleanor is awesome considering we spend every waking moment together from the months of September to May. We had super yummy pizza for dinner. Best friends forever.
7. Seeing Mamma Mia in the West End
- I just love Mamma Mia. Top 4 on Letterboxd, easy. It made me homesick tho because it makes me think of my dad. When it was just him and me for a couple of years, we would always watch Mamma Mia before going to bed. Every time that Super Trouper scene happened, that’s when I knew it was bedtime. And then I made Ariella SOB when I told her that my first dance song at my wedding with my dad would be slipping through my fingers.
- An honorable mention of this night was getting barricaded at McDonald’s for the MC who was acting like an auctioneer with everyone’s McDonald’s orders.
8. Family dinner on the iQ Vega Roof
This was our second weekend, and we took a day trip to Brighton. Brighton is a super cute beach town on the coast of the UK, and it was a bank holiday weekend, so it was PACKED. But then we came home and made pasta for everyone and ate it on the roof. We got wine drunk and watched the sunset over Vauxhall with a fat bowl of pasta. What more could you want?
9. Anytime I ate a puffy cookie or drank a Blank Street matcha
- That’s all. I fucking loved those places. I wish I had more pics, but I don’t.
I think I will be mourning this time in my life forever. There is no place like London. Be back next summer!!! #BritishOpen