Home Sweet Homestay

What a day of travelling. Up at 6am to catch a ferry from Ireland to Wales. After this four-hour journey, we loaded a bus to travel 2 more hours into Wales. Apparently, this ride was a rough one but my state of slumber prevented any awareness or human interaction. We dined at a lovely tea room in Wales, where we exercised our new currency (pounds) and faced a menu that didn't include fish n' chips or Irish stew. We re-boarded the bus after freshly made cream ice cream, journeying for four more hours into London. From here, my roommates and I took a 45 minute journey into Crouch End, where we are staying. The cab driver was from South Africa and had amazing insight into not only London, but all things rugby and living around the world. His stories made the journey much less painful.

We finally arrived at Jeanette's house and had a gorgeous dinner waiting for us. Jeanette is unreal, so well-traveled, wise and hip. I'm currently downloading her c.d collection because her music taste is so amazing. She's travelled to nearly every continent, has friends everywhere in the world and hosted students from everywhere. The room in which I'm staying has signatures all over the wall, from students as far the Middle East and as close as Texas. The houses look straight out of Harry Potter and were built in 1890 ("New for London", according to Jeanette).  So excited to get into London tomorrow!