Right now, my brain is swirling with thoughts of London. I am so freakin' excited! There was a London meeting this afternoon with my professor and the rest of the London Group. I ate gingerbread cookies and sipped my decaf coffee while everyone introduced themselves. And despite my best efforts, when it was my turn to speak I said "um" approximately one thousand times. In front of my SPEECH professor! Damn it.

Aside from that, everything else was great. I was a little taken aback by the non-diversity of the group. Almost everyone there tonight was age 50 or older. Crazy! I did see one cute, young girl, who smiled at me when she saw me. After the meeting, she came over, introduced herself, shook my hand and chatted with me a bit. Her name is Liz, she's a year younger than me and so is her friend, Haley, who is also going but couldn't attend today's meeting. She said, "So I was thinking the three of us could form a little group and hang out with people... you know... younger." I could tell she was trying to be tactful. I think I eased her mind when I said, "I know, when I saw you, I thought, 'Yay, someone my own age!'"

So now I have someone to hang out with, too! I hope it'll be cool. Liz said she knows Haley pretty well, so I'm slightly worried I'll end up feeling like a fifth wheel. Also, she asked me if I like to go clubbing and I think I said something along the lines of, "Well, I haven't ever, really... Uh, but hey, I'm up for anything!"

Dude, clubbing? Seriously? Never been. Now I'm wondering if I ought to buy a "club" outfit, too! If we go, I hope it's fun. I looked up a couple of night club descriptions on Londontown.com, and some of them sounded okay.

I guess it wouldn't be bad to hang out with different groups of people, too, depending on what's going on. It's not like I have to hang out with certain people the whole trip. And I do plan to do a thing or two by myself to grab some alone time. Otherwise, people are likely to drive me bananas.

Ooh, but do you know what else I can do to relax while I'm there? I can go swimming or work out in the gym at the hotel for no extra charge! They've basically got an entire YMCA on one floor. I'm pretty excited!

We're going to have a full English breakfast every morning, already included in the price of the trip. Most evenings, there's an event planned, the event being a theatre production, since this is a theatre trip. But the days are totally free, and two days of the trip are entirely unscheduled for us. We can do whatever we want! Some people are going to take the Chunnel to Paris. I don't know if I want to do that for just one day, though. I'd almost rather save Paris for another time and go exploring England instead. I'm not sure. A lot of this I'll have to play by ear, but I hope to have at least some of it figured out before I go!

I think one of the things I'd love to do on a free day is explore the London Zoo. That's me, always going to the zoo in Winter! But as you know, I'm a fool for animals, so I think it'd be a blast.

My professor advised us not to go shopping in London as things are frighteningly expensive there. All I plan to bring back with me are lots and lots of pictures! And memories, too, of course. And maybe a scarf. Hee!

Another lady advised all the women of the group not to wear their big, flashy, expensive jewelry while abroad. Many of the women nodded in agreement, as though they were thinking, "Ooh, I hadn't thought of that. I wear my big, flashy jewelry everywhere. Thanks for bringing that up!" I felt unreasonably out of place. I am not like these people! I couldn't see Liz's face, but part of me hoped that she was rolling her eyes, too.

I'm pretty well set for London, but I still have some shopping to do before I go. Luckily, I still have a few weeks left, so I should be able to get everything in time.

Things I probably need to buy:

~ an electric adapter for my little laptop. It's tiny, Hewlett Packard doesn't even make this model anymore, and there's no way I can get on the internet with it. However, if I can type out some journal entries on it and upload them all once I get home, I'll be a very happy traveler indeed!

~ silk underwear, because damn will it ever be cold over there!

~ a raincoat, because I don't have one, and I hear it rains like a mofo over there in the winter

~ gloves, maybe. I have gloves, but they're not even almost water resistant, so I'm keeping my eyes open for some other gloves

~ an outfit for the theater

~ a sweater or two

~ pajamas

~ slippers (for the plane)

I think that about covers it! Everything else I have. I'm going to try to pack super light, because that's always my goal when I travel. I hate carrying around lots of crap! My professor said there's a drugstore incredibly close to the hotel that sells soap, shampoo, etc, so we don't even need to bring that with us. Travelling without soap? Sounds like madness to me! But maybe I'll go for it, depending on just how full my suitcase looks closer to departure.

Wow. I really am going to London! This is gonna be great!