NYE!

The fireworks!
New Years eve, Peter and I celebrated in London. Just before our drive up, we made our own pizzas while drinking Buck's Fizz (mimosa) and chatting with mom on Skype. I got to wear my new dress I got for Christmas, and got a new belt for it too! The drive up to London was actually really quick, it took just over an hour. We parked in the O2 stadium parking lot, and caught the Tube right into Leicester Square and walked to Picadilly Circus to meet James, Jessica and Allison. James and Jess were visiting Allison (who is studying in Swansea for a year), and they made a trip into their stop to see Al. They were coming from Dublin and on their way to Amsterdam then Germany. We met them in a pub, and after meeting all of Allison's friends from school, we had a few drinks before heading to the next pub. The entire city was packed, so we made our way as close to the fireworks as possible to stop for a last drink before the show. It was actually pretty relaxed, since we weren't getting too out of hand with the drinks, so we just enjoyed seeing everyone and made our way to find a good spot. We ended up on Whitehall St., so Big Ben was just to our right, and Thames River and London eye straight ahead. Though we were one street parallel to everything, we couldn't hear the music, but could see the fireworks, and they were amazing. People everywhere were going crazy they were so good. 

Getting out of London was a nightmare. Of course, most of the girls in our group had to use the bathroom (including myself), so that made getting out even more frustrating. Basically, all 250,000 people were trying to leave at the same time. There were police on horses blocking the streets just to monitor the crazy traffic flow. Once we finally got out of the street we were on (we ALL had to hold hands to make sure we were together, it was that crowded), we walked a ways away back to their hostel, and Peter and I continued to find an open Tube station. The entire walk, which must have lasted an hour and we barely got anywhere, we were on the lookout for bathrooms. It was clear that we weren't the only ones, as we saw loads of guys stopped off in corners, or along buildings doing their business. Unfortunately, it's not as easy for women, so we kept looking. Pubs and restaurants were closing, and were not letting anyone inside. Once we had left the group, we had to walk all over to find a tube station that was open. Most of them had only closed because they were too crowded. We found a Burger King across one of the open stations, so went inside knowing they'd have a public restroom. But, they had security guarding the downstairs area (where the restroom was), and you had to show them a receipt to get down there. SO! We had to wait in line to order something to get through. Once getting through, there was another LONG line just to get into the restroom, as it only had two stalls. Everyone all around was frustrated. Here we had just walked what seemed like miles through an insane amount of people to finally find this one open restroom. Women were constantly trying to get in the mens bathroom, since they obviously didn't have a line, but there were a few security guards stopping them. This was the one thing that seriously aggravated me about this night. They must have obviously known that these fireworks would attract an insane amount of people, so it would make sense to have some portable toilets placed around the city. Instead, we had guys all over the city peeing anywhere, and really upset women.

Aside from that incident though, it was  a really fun night and the fireworks were the best I have ever seen. It was good to see James, Jess and Al, as I haven't really come into much contact with other American's since being here. Everyone flocked to Peter since he knew where he was going, so it was fun to watch everyone come to him with maps and follow him around.

During the weekend, we took a drive to a place called Sandwich. It was only about 30-40 minutes. Peter hadn't been here before, and it's pretty well known. So we drove through and admired the small town and buildings, and went a few more miles to a place called Deal. This was right along the coast, with a pier and a castle. We wanted to stop somewhere for fish and chips, but the place we went to wasn't as good as we had hoped. Here are some of the pictures we got!