Well, today involved a lot of traveling, some of it quite nerve-racking. After getting lost time and time again trying to get to the train station from our hotel in the most frustrating navigation my grandmother has ever done we finally made it onto the train - but not before I met a new friend.
She was meowing loudly from under the rental cars in the parking garage, and a man seemed to be calling her. When I saw her dart between cars, I knelt down and wiggled my fingers; the poor hungry thing crawled up to me, meowing like crazy, and shoved her little head into my hands and rolled over onto her back. She was young - still a catten - but so adorable and helpless. Also, she was dirty, which I discovered when I picked her up. The man, when I asked if it was his cat, shrugged and said that she'd been there for days, probably lost when a family returned their car. He told me to take her, and goodness, I wanted to. But obviously getting a stray cat back to the States would be difficult, not to mention that my family hates cats. So yeah. That made me sad. Good luck to you, dear cat! I hope you leave the parking garage and go eat rats on the farms! It's not too far. :(
Anyway, we took the train to London, then caught a cab, which dropped me off at Marylebone Station to start my journey on my own.
Oh oh oh! But I forgot to tell you! In the train station in Brussels, miraculously, there was a shop selling Tin Tin stuff! So much stuff and I wanted it all! I bought a pin, which I would show you a picture of except my grandparents took it with them to Maenporth, along with all the other stuff I don't need to carry around the country with me. So that was awesome . :D
Anyway, back to London. I got my ticket, which was easy, and then sat around awkwardly as I waited for it to show up on the board. The fact that I mixed up the Departures side and the Arrivals side probably didn't help my anxiety when it didn't show up. I had to ask the info desk people more than once what I was doing wrong. Anyway, I felt ridiculous and awkward, as I have ever since traveling by myself. But it's getting better.
Anyway, I got on the train and hoped that it was the right one and I was in the right seat. But don't worry. I was. :) I got to Stratford-upon-Avon (hoping that it was the right stop) and promptly got hopelessly lost. A nice lady pointed me in a direction, but either I did not see what she meant or it was the wrong one, because I continued to be lost. Then, after wandering around with my bags for a good long time, a merciful bus driver asked me what I was looking for, and when I told him, kindly informed me that the bus I needed did not run this late, and my options were to walk 4 miles or take a taxi. So yeah. I took a taxi. -_- it wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be, and the driver was nice. I feel like a lot if people can tell immediately that I am a tourist, lost and alone, which is probably not a good thing but what can I do about it? I've never done any of this before by myself, and there's a gigantic chance that I'm doing it all wrong and am actually an idiot.
Anyway. I made it to the hostel, but it was dinner time and there was no one at the front desk so I waited and waited and wondered what to do, feeling, again, awkward and stupid. But someone eventually came and a very nice lady checked me in and gave me a membership and sent me up to my room.
I sat in the room a long time, looking at the other beds and wondering who owned them, and hoping it wasn't someone crazy or easily offended. I would, after all, probably do a lot of things wrong this first time and might not be the best roommate ever. So I waited and made my bed and got myself organized and eventually a woman came in with her young daughter, Lisa and Sophia, respectively. I was so relieved! Somehow, when I'm stressed out, it's easier to talk politely to an adult than to talk friendly to a fellow teenager. I don't know. You already know I'm awkward, and that's probably why. It's a lot harder to make friends than to be polite and nice and companionable. But she's very nice. The other two ladies I'm staying with are also older, although the hostel is full of kids my age who speak a weird mix of Romanian-or-something and cockney English.
So yeah. Now I'm gonna go to sleep in this creaky top bunk and hope I don't ruin everyone's night by being too loud.
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