My London Trip 2014- Week of: 4/7-14/14

My London trip was unbelievable, and I can't wait to share with you my experiences!

     

Friday-

My trip to London started off with an eight hour flight to England, in a packed plane. It was over night, and was extremely uncomfortable. I'd never been on a flight that long, so I didn't really know what to expect. But when I finally got off the plane, and looked out the window of the airport, I knew that the terrible flight was worth it, and even though I was really tired, I was wide awake with excitement! We drove from the airport to the apartments about 20 minutes outside of the city! They were wonderful, and I couldn't believe that our London trip had finally started. A few hours later, myself, and my whole dance team (the reason I went to London was to dance) went on a Double-Decker bus tour of the city. The sights were breathtaking, and the whole thing seemed pretty surreal! Though soon, it was time to call it a night, because the next day, was going to be long!

Saturday-

Saturday started off with me wanting to crawl back under the covers as my mom woke me up around 8:00 A.M. The Jet lag had kicked in. I had to be at a 9:00 dance class that I wasn't looking forward to. I got out of bed anyways, barely making it down to the lobby in time to walk with 5 other girls down the street to a practice space. We were going to practice solos. I was competing both in Solo dancing and in Team dancing in London at the World Championships, so myself and a couple other girls on the team, had to go to extra practices. We ran through our steps until about 10:30, when our teammates from our choreography team began to show up. We were about to start out second practice. With a lunch and dinner brake, our practice ran from 10:30 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. By the time I got back to the apartment we were staying at, I was out like a light.

Sunday-

Sunday's practice started a little bit later, about 10:45, so I got to sleep. But I was beginning to get nervous. The solo competition would be the next day, and I was getting scared. I'd never danced at a competition this big, and I didn't want anything to go wrong. At about 4:30, me and two other girls on my team left practice to go down to the competition venue for a final solo practice. The venue was packed, and the other people practicing looked very intimidating, but I had to focus, so I could make sure my dances were perfect.

Monday-

On Monday morning at 5:30 A.M. I got out of bed with butterflies in my stomach. I was nervous and excited, and didn't know what to do with myself. My mom did my hair, and I did my makeup, and we left at 6:45 for the venue to compete. We took the train there, and the whole time I was going through my dances in my head. When I got there, we ran through the dance we would be competing in first. We wear a tap shoe like shoe, called a hard shoe. Later I competed that dance. I wasn't overjoyed with myself afterwards, the nerves had definitely kicked in, but my dance teachers were happy, and about an hour later, I danced my second round in a soft shoe. I was much happier with this round, and afterwards, all I had to do was wait and see if I was recalled to dance one last times. At this certain competition, only the top 18 girls from each region in the united states and regions in other countries, qualify for the World Championships each year. It's the highest caliber of Irish Dancing there is, and they only call back 50 girls to do their last dance, and their were 187 girls in my competition. I din't recall, but I was still proud of  myself, and that I even got the chance to dance at the World Championships. I wasn't sad, or mad, I was simply, proud.

Tuesday-

On Tuesday I was competing in the team competition. I woke up around 6:30 to walk over to the practice area, where we would have a last minute team practice. After the practice, I would get my hair done. Now, for irish dancing, we wear wigs. Our whole team wore blonde wigs that had to be sown into our heads. Then we got our makeup done. The gold sparkles, thick eyeliner, and red lipstick, really brought a look or beauty and sophistication to the team. Our look was finished off with beautiful black dresses and gold detailing. We then took a bus to the venue, and warmed up, and talked through the dance one last time. There were going to be 16 girls on stage dancing. Team dancing is a little different then solo dancing. If you mess up in solos, you're only affecting yourself. If you mess up in team dancing, then you mess up the whole team. More nervous than ever, we walked on stage to dance. As I danced the adrenaline kicked in, and it was exciting and exhilarating! Though after we were finished dancing, I knew it hadn't been a good run. Spacing was off, catches were missed, there were bumps. The teachers and coaches were disappointed and so were some of the girls, including me. Soon after was awards, they showed the scores on a screen that each judge had given each team, and you would never believe it, but, WE WON!!!! It was the biggest accomplishment of my entire life! Everyone was screaming and crying, as we found out! Later, we had a party to celebrate our success!

Wednesday-

Wednesday was going to be our first day of sightseeing, but we got a late start. We had been out late the night before, so we didn't get out of bed until about 11:00, and didn't get out of our apartment until 2:00. It took us a while to get to the city, but we knew we wanted to see the Tower of London. Though by the time we got there, it was going to close in about an hour. So, we decided to wait until the next day to see it. By that time, it was time for dinner, so we went out, and later, went on Big Ben, to see the amazing city lit up at night time! It was magnificent. We ended the night with a trip to Piccadilly Circus, and stopped at the M&M store to get some desert.

Thursday-

On Thursday, we were determined to see as much as we could, so we got up and out by 9 A.M. We started at the Tower of London, and took a guided tour, and got to see the Crown Jewels. It was crazy unbelievable, and the weather was so nice! It was unbelievable. Next we went to Westminster Abbey. The church was fabulous. It was so amazing! The architecture, the stainless windows, the graves, the church itself was just mesmerizing! Finally, we went to see the Winston Churchill war rooms. The actual rooms where things were being planned for the war. There was also a museum, and it was incredible. The whole trip was like walking through a history book, and being part of something so surreal!

Friday-

Friday was our last day, so we packed up to head home. It was so sad to leave, but I was happy that I could come home. I missed my family, because I had only gone with my mom, and I just wanted to sleep in my own bed. London was an incredible experience, and I'm so appreciative that I got the opportunity to go there!