We spent the day at Madame Tussad's and I can honestly say I am throughly creeped out by all of the wax figures.  We saw lots of celebrities though, all in wax form; but still.

After that, we came home and took a quick power nap and went to see Wicked.  And there is nothing else to say about it other than AMAZING. I loved every second of it.

Today we all woke up early and headed out to Oxford Circus to shop since we had a formal banquet that night that no one knew about. 

After shopping in basically the times square of London we headed over to the Olympic Reunion Center to work with the kids... it wasn't exactly what we expected in that most kids were almost my age and we weren't even outside so we had to rework some of the events.  Overall it was really fun and a great experience.  Former Olympians came and spoke to us and even some of the queen's guards were there!

Afterwards we had a banquet with all of the Olympians and drinks with them at the bar in the center after that.  

Around 10:30 the free tab was closed and our group decided to go out together.  So we went to a club called the House of Nations and partied with the Olympic Torch and partied for Chris's birthday.  It was insane.

Today we woke up at about 11:30 our time... and after going to bed around 4am, this was by far the most sleep we've gotten during our entire trip... 

Around 2 o'clock Allie and I ventured out to Olympic Park.  I cannot even begin to explain the incredible atmosphere that we experienced there.  Everyone was just so excited and cheering and in the spirit just at all times.  We shopped in the Olympic Megastore, and there is also the world's biggest McDonald's in the Olympic park.  We didn't go in, but from the outside it was huge. 

We hung out in the park all day, ate food, watched the games on the jumbotron, and got absolutely soaked from the rain.  But it was a blast all the same.

Our tickets were to Great Britain vs Russia then Argentina vs Lithuania.  Both games had surprisingly great atmospheres.  The Great Britain game was obviously packed and then most of them didn't stay for the second game since it didn't start until 10 at night but there were insane amounts of Argentina and Lithuania fans and literally all of them had flags, posters, horns, you name it, they had it.  They were also dancing in the stands and chanting, it was so fun.

Then during the Argentina game, Allie and I met some Argentina handball players (who were extremely good looking by the way) and they had asked us to sit with them and that was cool.

After the game we made our way home to go to bed, Monday is another early day.

Today was my first Olympic event!  Had to wake up at 6:30 AM which is literally 1:30 AM for everyone back home... I'm still not used to the time change.  

Anyway, Allie and Leslie and I headed out to Horse Guards Parade to watch the men and the women play.
First up was Women's Russia vs China.  China was dominating Russia to start but in the end, Russia pulled it out to become the first winners of the 2012 Olympics! Then was Germany and Czech Republic.  The Germans won it in two and they were beastly! And I don't mean that in a negative way, they were just crazy good.  

Side Note-- List of things I've learned in London:
-Everyone knows everything about EVERY sport.
-Always mind the gap on the tube.
-And stay behind the yellow line

After the games we shopped around piccadilly circus and found a pub there to eat and hangout.
From there, we headed back to the hostel and took a group trip to get some fish and chips and all hungout together and bonded.

This morning we woke up early and headed out to archery... Unfortunately we didn't realize that the event was "not ticketed" instead of free... so we walked... a lot.... all morning.

Eventually we made our way to cosport to pick up the tickets we had purchased which involved waiting around for 2 hours.. which sucked.  But at least it wasn't 7 like one of the other guys with us had said he had to do. 

On the way to Cosport we saw a street market and alot of the stuff had big signs that said one pound.  So one of the extremely mature guys on our trip (cough Rocky cough) decided to call it Pound Town.  So while it line the joke became to see how many jokes you could come with about Pound Town.  It was actually pretty amusing.  

We also learned of people selling the tickets through CoSport but were selling them all at face value and not technically through the company... It's basically legal scalping.  So we picked up some Men's football (soccer) tickets for Wednesday August first.  

After Cosport we went split up, Allie, Derek, Frank, Zach, Rocky, and I headed to pound town and then to Baker street.  Yes, THE Baker street from Sherlock Holmes and ate at a pub there and had a great time laughing and eating.  

After the pub we went to a few shops where Allie and I decided to get tickets to see Wicked for Tuesday.

Tonight is the Olympic Ceremonies and we are about to head out to Stratford to the Olympic Park and then the group has free tickets to an Olympic themed night club tonight.  So who knows how tonight will end.

Will write more later!
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Just got back from a ton on crazy stuff going on.  

Went to the Olympic Park in Stratford just to see what we could without tickets to the opening ceremonies.  Allie and I met about 15 athletes.  Unfortunately we did not meet any US players.

*Pictures with said Olympians will be up later when I actually have time*

We then headed over to Victoria Park to watch the opening ceremonies, 20,000 people were said to be there but the concert we went to yesterday had 80,000 people there... This event  easily had twice the people as yesterday.  It was INSANE. Allie, Colleen and I were overwhelmed with people and left early and picked up pizza and drinks and headed back to the hostel for the Olympic games.

Side Note: We have become pros with figuring out the tube... The streets of London? not so much...
 
Tomorrow is the first of the Olympic tickets that I have!
Men's Beach Volleyball here we come!

LOTS to say and not much to time to really write it.  So I'll try and write as much detail while still getting everything in, so sorry if it's spurratic.

The flight to London was relatively uneventful, all I can say is the nerves and excitement were almost too much to handle! But I made it safe and sound and spent my first day running on maybe 2 hours of sleep.

after making it to the hostel we headed off to a local pub for lunch, and I can't lie, I took advantage of the fact that I am legal to drink here.  At the pub, a guy came up to a table of four of us claiming to recognize us and wanting photos and autographs.  When he "realized" I was a soccer player on team USA he almost gushed... He kept shaking my hand and telling me he hopes I make it to the finals... I didn't have the heart to tell him I only play NCAA division 2 soccer!

After the pub we headed out to the final torch lighting and The Wanted concert.  By then exhaustion had begun to sink it... And my buzz was wearing off.  A total of about four of us ended up falling asleep at the concert but waking up in time for the final torch lighting.  It was amazing to say the least.  Getting to see it in person was just too cool.  Then, the same four that fell asleep on the ground (Derek, Allie, Frankie, and I) were able to take a picture holding the Olympic Torch!

after the wanted performed, who was really good by the way, we went to Buckingham Palace took some pictures and came back.

I would write more but I am absolutely EXHASTED. 
more later!

It is exactly one week until we set out for London! I am getting so excited I can't stand it. 

The packing frenzy has begun!  I am trying to get all of my clothes together, my passport, and anything else I might possibly need.  I also just recently realized that London will not have the 90-100 degree weather that Michigan has had the pleasure of experiencing all summer. The temperature there is about mid-60's on average... This means I need to start digging out my jeans! I was not prepared for cooler weather! At least I checked before actually leaving!

This summer has just flown by! I feel like it was only 2 weeks ago that I found out I was going on this trip! I am just so excited and feel so blessed to be getting to do things at 20 that many people go through their entire lives not being able to do.

I don't even know how to put my excitement into work