Probably the biggest culture shock to London is that there are a lot of white people and I don't know all of them.

LONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

Not that I'm excited or anything.

Yes, I am indeed in London, but I'll see if I can do a more chronological update.

The hotel at which we stayed for the retreat was literally the swankiest hotel ever. I'd never been somewhere that crazy before. We had a triple, with a big living room, bedroom with full bath, bedroom with half bath, and kitchen. Moving from tents to the East African Hotel was a bit intense. But also great, because the bio kids came back so I got to see (/room with) Hillary and Rachel R and share all our stories.

I felt a bit bad, as I was really excited to leave Africa. I had had a great time, but the last three weeks were not as interesting as the rest of it, and I got quite sick of some of the people. Plus, London, Dublin, Nantes, home. So of course I was excited.

At the hotel we presented, which went well but was a long day. Did evaluations and such. Had a final dinner together. After dinner most of us jumped in the pool and started an African whirlpool---we ran around the pool in one direction for a long time until the current would just sort of take us. It was ridiculous and fun. Ethan joined for a bit. At one point we all decided to hold onto each other as we ran, and I was holding Ethan's arm and every time he turned the corner he would pull it really hard and pull me (and everyone attached to me) with him and I'd almost drown a little, except it was fun.

The bus ride to Nairobi the day after was long, but not bad. I passed out for most of it. David Sperling met us at the hotel and it was good to see him. For dinner we went to a mall, which was a huge culture shock. Not only a mall, but a mall decorated for Christmas. We felt a little thrown off.

The trip to London began with a cab ride to the airport in which we drove with the windows down and almost hit a cow on the way, and ended with a trip to the hotel in a bus with a zipped up fleece and blowing on our hands, no cows in sight.

Today--God I can't believe it's all been one day and it's only 3:30--Rachel, Hill and I came in on the Underground ("a Picadilly line train with service to Cockfosters," they reminded us at every station) and dropped our stuff at the hostel. It's literally right on Hyde Park and is awesome. As we started heading to Picadilly Circus we ran into Natalie from our trip, who had been staying nearby but was moving to a different hostel. She fed us a baguette and we helped her move her stuff. Got to Picadilly Circus and investigated cheap tickets--Rachel's going to see Wicked tomorrow and Hillary's going to see Blood Brothers. I want to see Avenue Q but have to check again tomorrow for cheaper tickets.

We did the National Portrait Gallery, which was pretty cool, and Trafalgar Square and Westminster Abbey and Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. All were lovely, and made even more so by the cold (but not too cold, I'm not even wearing underarmor) and occasional wind and most often sun and the last leaves falling from trees. I love this weather. We also took the underground (we have a three-day transit pass so we can ride anything as much as we want. I love city train systems) up to the Tower of London, but there were too many people for our tastes (plus it costs money, which is never fun), so we came back. Got some groceries (baguettes and goat cheese and grapefruit juice!) and now here we are.

I think tonight we're going to see Buckingham Palace tonight after dark, maybe just wander the city after dark to begin with. Tomorrow is possibly more museums, probably King's Cross Station ('cause we're nerds) and maybe the London Eye.

Next day I go to Dublin by myself! Crazy!