How do my uncles drink this stuff??

Another long day, but it was super fun :]
This morning, Nicole and I decided to take the bus instead of the tube to the Centre. We left pretty early so we could get breakfast before Orientation part III started, and it's a good thing because it took us about an hour to get there - there was crazy traffic. We still had time to get breakfast though, so that was nice.
Orientation part III consisted of talking about the different cultures between the UK and the US and also about travelling. So many people were talking about travelling to Europe, and while I think it would be amazing to be able to, I want to come back sometime when I will have more than just a weekend to devote to visiting. I plan on exploring the UK while I'm here - I want to go to Dover and Greenwich and then there's the trips IES has planned. I also applied to go on a HOST trip. HOST sponsors trips for international students to go visit British families for a weekend for free - I'd just have to pay to travel there and back. I'm super excited for this - I really hope I can go.
After the orientation was our surprise trip with our orientation groups. One group went to Little Venice, another went on a tour of the Tower of London. Nicole's group toured Westminster Abbey, but I feel like my group lucked out - we went on a river boat tour up the Thames! It was so cool and I took a ton of pictures - some with people in them now! - and there are some good ones, even though it was gross and raining. After the boat, we walked to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace.
I took a lot of pictures of everything, but hands down my favourite part was seeing Big Ben. It was so big and so there, I really can't describe what I felt but it was amazing. I never realised how much gold there is on Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.
After the tour, we had a little break before we met up to go to a pub with the IES student assistants. Unfortunately, it was still raining so we couldn't walk along the Thames to the pub - we took the tube instead.
I had alcohol for the first time in my life tonight - Sláinte. I will admit - I don't know what I was expecting to feel but it definitely wasn't this sober. I tried beer - didn't like it so much. I don't know how my uncles drink it. Unfortunately I had already bought the beer, so I continued sipping. I tried Nicole's Pimms and Lemonade and liked that one. I also tried a 'chocolate' beer and a red wine and didn't like those so much either. One of the girls at the table had a friend that's a beer connoisseur and apparently that chocolate beer is supposed to be really good. We all agreed that she probably knew what she was talking about, but definitely didn't agree that it was that good.
I got myself a Pimms and Lemonade and tasted a cranberry and vodka - I liked that one too. KB, Alejandra and I (all from IES) had fun mixing my beer with the leftover fruit and vegetables from Nicole's Pimms. I still didn't like it, but Alejandra did so she finished it off. So I had a whole Pimms and tasted/drank a bunch of other things and I stayed sober - I'm pretty happy about that :D However, I don't know how some people have been going out every night - and some people went out clubbing after the pub. One drink was fine for me, thanks.
Of course, when KB, Alejandra and I were on our way back we got on the train that got delayed two stops before we were going to get off. The train stopped completely and we had to use the bathroom, so we got off the train and went to find one. When we got back, the train was still sitting there so we took an alternate route and made it back :D
I've gotten a couple comments from people saying how they're enjoying this blog and I say thanks, and I'm glad you're enjoying it! I guess I'll keep entering posts.
This is my third late night in a row (the latest yet - it's 2.20 now) and I can still taste that bloody beer, so I'm going to go brush my teeth and sleep. Hopefully it's not raining tomorrow.
Till then,
-Carly
PS - reading through this post, I realise that I talked about drinking a lot. I hope it didn't come across wrong or bad, but that was what was going on the entire evening and I had fun trying new things.