Right now I'm on a train back to London, so I'm catching up on my blog!

9-9-12
Kristin & I woke up bright and early so we could catch the tube to Paddington Station, where we would catch a train to Twyford, which is where Kat was picking us up so we could all go down to Cornwall (longest sentence in the world). We managed to get all the way there, all by ourselves!! (Indy did explain the route and stations to us easily 6 times, but we won't mention that). We even got asked 2 or 3 times by other people to help them with what tube station they should get off at and such, which means.... we look like locals... or they were just extremely lost and desperate.

We made it to Twyford and Kat was there waiting for us. We walked out to her car and I automatically went to the passenger side, which is actually the driver's side here. Riding shotgun in a car over here is really strange because you're sitting in OUR driver's seat, but without a steering wheel and gauges (obviously). So I just imagined the whole time that I was in a futuristic automatic car and it knew where I wanted to go.

We went back to Kat's house so she could quickly pack before Rohan, her boyfriend, picked us all up. Her house was so cute and English! You walked in and her dining room table was covered in jars of homemade jams and preserves because her mom had been making them for a benefit. We met her sister and also two of their cats, one of her cats in 19 years old!

Luckily we all rode in Rohan's car to Cornwall because otherwise we would've taken Kat's car, which is like a slightlyyy larger version of a Smart Car (I uploaded a picture of her Moms car in my albums, they have the same exact car). Kat kept stressing how small her car was and how we needed to pack lightly but I thought she was exaggerating a little, but she wasn't. There would have been no way we could've all fit in Kat's car, Rohan's car was significantly larger than Kat's and it was still a tight squeeze.

I have never ridden in a car in England, apart from the 10 minute ride in Kat's car from the station, and let me tell you I was totally not prepared for our journey. Haha Rohan is a great driver but here in England they love to use "circles," or "roundabouts," which take away the need for a traffic light. Combine a roundabout, with a tiny, tiny car that can whip around everywhere, and then go 40mph around these circles and you'll get car sick - I can guarantee it. I don't ever get car sick, but I legit thought I was going to upchuck. We were whipping this way and cutting a corner here and whipping that way, I looked at Kristin at one point and instantly knew she felt the same way. When we weren't going around a roundabout at 40mph, we were going easily 80-85mph down the highways in a pocket-sized (and very cute) car. Luckily we were both able to pass out and avoid throwing up in such a small area because I'm sure that would've started a domino throwing up effect, ew.

Since Stonehenge was on the way (sort of), we decided to make a pit-stop and see it. I've always imagined Stonehenge to be some majestic and mysterious place that is huge and impressive, one of the many wonders and mysteries of the world. So if you've ever wanted to see Stonehenge, I'll tell you what to do....go to Google and search Google images for pictures of Stonehenge, it'll save you a LOT of money (and disappointment).

Stonehenge is out in the countryside but it's right off of a main road, that's pretty busy. Coming up on Stonehenge, you'll see that the stones are fenced off and then another fenced off area is around that which will probably contain easily 200 camera-clutching tourists (mostly families, oh God). You park in a sheep field where you may or may not step in poop, and then you can pay £8 (about $12-13) to use the park's nifty tunnel that will lead you under the busy road and into the fenced in area. Buttttt if you're traveling from the USA, in which case your money basically sucks butt and isn't worth anything, I would suggest playing Frogger across the busy road (make sure you look the right way), and then stand right outside of the fence and lift your camera over the chain-link fence and get some sick photos...for free. I mean you may need to crop some heads out of the photos but it'll save you a bit of money and you get the same affect. Seriously, we were standing about 5 feet away from people who were on the other side of the fence and had paid £8 to see the same exact rocks we were seeing. So Stonehenge was sadly very underwhelming and disappointing, despite how mysterious the whole thing is.

We made it to Kat's country house and she totally downplayed how beautiful the area and her house is. For starters, it a small little cottage that sits on a little hill overlooking Treyarnon Bay. It's absolutely gorgeous. Kat's parents were so extremely nice and welcoming. Her mom made a roast for dinner since it was Sunday and I hadn't realized how much I missed home cooking. Then we all sat around the tv and watched the closing ceremony of the Paraolympics. Kristin and I shared the cutest little room and we could see the ocean from our one window and then a horse pasture out the other. It was a bit chilly in Cornwall but we still slept with the window open just so we could hear the ocean.