JMU Dance Takes London: long live England.

Saturday June 23:

We had a late start to the day considering we didn't go to sleep until around 4:30 the night before! Surprisingly I was part of the early crew who woke up at got breakfast at our fav spot, Cafe 49. I got the most delicious Cafe Mocha...when I get back to the states Starbucks is going to be such a let down. And had a sausage egg and cheese on a baguette....it was unbelievable.

Then it was off to Notting Hill to experience Portobello Market, yes the famous one from the movie! It was absolutely adorable and dangerous! I went a little crazy on the shopping, but the prices were too good to pass up and I have been having shopping withdrawals in London trying to save money! That all went downhill at the market, OPS! We had a run with the queen and king of Thailand who happened to be doing some shopping themselves. After spending the afternoon bopping around all of the stands in the streets we grabbed some cupcakes and headed back home to Bloomsbury.

I made my second trip to 49 Cafe to grab a fresh salad I'd been craving for dinner and walked over to The Place a dance center for a performance by the company Hofesh Shechter. They were incredible movers and I am obsessed with their style of dance but the choreography was a little lacking for me. But it was nice to watch an actual dance show after so many plays the past couple of days!

After the show a few of us went out to a club called Ministry of Sound that we had read about and friends had recommended. It was a super huge and had the biggest dance floor/room I have ever seen! We danced the night away. It was the perfect example of London night life...definitely a one time experience thing! It was just a little expensive, but worth it!

Best sausage egg and cheese ever.

Notting Hill!

In the tube on the way to Ministry of Sound.

crazy crazeeee.

Sunday June 24:

Well today was full of surprises! We got up and had only planned on going to Trafalgar Square but the day turned out to be quite eventful. Trafalgar Square was having this free music festival called West End Live and all of the broadways shows came out to do small performances. AKA we were singing and dancing the day away. We couldn't have asked for better weather, sunshine at last! After singing Mama Mia and getting our faces painted fooo freeee (because we are five years old) we walked through the National Gallery to see some paintings and enjoy the beautiful building.

We decided to walk around after and ended up eating appetizers at a cute little pub and then made it to Westminster Abbey. It's the most beautiful church I have ever seen, on a Sunday! How perfect? We walked around the church for a while and then decided "what the heck, lets go to Buckingham Palace." Becky, Katelyn, and I walked through a part of the city we had never ventured to and made it to BUCKINGHAM PALACE! AHHH....so great. We took pictures walked around and decided to sit in front of the Queen Victoria statue, reveling in how perfect of a day it had been. We ended up striking up a convo with some workers to find out how to get home and made best friends with them. Ze granted us three questions which turned into quite the long chat...lolz people are so funny.

We rushed back to the dorms so we could go out to the local pub across the street Lord John Russell Pub to watch some FOOTBALL, like any good Brit would! Shane got us a round of drinks, because he is the best and we all stood around and watched the match with the Londoners. Of course I ended up getting way into it...the sports fan in me couldn't help it. It has resulted in a raspy voice, most likely because England lost :( Even though the end was such a disappointment, the experience was one to remember!