Oh London.

I don't know what to think of today. It is beautiful outside and feels like summer (which I guess it officially is since finals are over) but when I think about the fact that I was supposed to see my family today and take them to the market and Hyde Park and Nando's I just want to cry. We had a meeting this morning in the classroom and our directors told us that we could stay for a few days in the centre... so we aren't getting kicked out even though technically we're supposed to be gone. I have a flight rebooked for Wednesday afternoon so hopefully the skies will be clear enough to fly through. If my family can't be here, at this point I'm just ready to be home.

But I'm here in London without them and figure I should make the most of this time. So this morning I went for a run around Hyde Park and to the Serpentine...the long lake. Then I went to Camden because it's a cool little market. I had fish and chips for the first time. Figured I should do that before I leave England.

Oh, and this is for my mom: I tried a deep fried candy bar. We saw these on Food Network and wondered if they were actually good-they are. You have to get past the fact that it increases the likelihood of having a heart attack by about 25. But when you don't think about that it's pretty good.

We went to Trafalgar Square for the tulip festival (aka beer festival)...which ended up being less cool than I imagined. Just lots of people and stands and a stage with no band. But there were pole vaulters! That was cool. And random.

Me, Sarah and Margaret in our ugly Primark sunglasses. Sunglasses in London?! What?! The world really is ending.

I went skinny dipping in that fountain the other night. Oh wait...that was just a dream.

There's the National Gallery. And a rubbish collector on the right.

From there we walked to Parliament Square and took pictures in the red phone booths. Yes I'm really using the phone...?

Ope, there's Big Ben too. Hello there.

Then we strolled along through St. James's park...it was really pretty with all the flowers in bloom.

More of St. James. There's Buckingham in the distance

I've lived here for three and a half months yet this was the first time I've been over to Buckingham...hmm. Check.

These are the tulips in front of the Palace...we were just so happy to see them we decided to have a sit.

We decided to walk home from there, which was a lot further away than we thought. I think it was about 16 miles. Maybe a little less. My faithful Birkenstocks even started to hurt my feet. It was nice though because it was so sunny. It was really weird, all the parks were packed with people and it didn't feel the same going through them as it did for the rest of the semester. I guess not a lot of tourists like to go to parks when it's freezing outside like we do.

And finally, a picture in front of Kensington Palace. I walk or run past this every day yet I've never documented it using a picture taking device. Me and my friend Victoria!

So I tried to distract myself today from thinking about what I would be doing today if there wasn't a natural disaster blocking the airspace.Volcano in Iceland...stop erupting!

Oh, and yesterday we went to Borough Market. My favorite place in London pretty much. And I finally tried an ... Ostrich Burger!!!

This was the culmination of my Borough Market experience. This was the moment I had been waiting for. It was a good one. I'll miss this market, I love it so. But wait...Pike Place is only an hour away from my house. And there's a farmer's market downtown. I won't be completely deprived of a market. Thank goodness...that was a close one.