10 Years Since England
10 years ago I went across the pond for the first, and so far only, time. I don’t really remember who convinced me to go, but I asked my dad if I could use my financial aid return on the trip and he said yes! So, I quickly began recruiting all my friends to go with me, leaving behind our boyfriends and families for 3 weeks as we galavanted across Bath, London, and the Queen Mary II in the prime of our lives. The trip was technically a study abroad program but none of us actually needed the credits for any classes. We just wanted to see plays, visit the museums, and, you know, go clubbing til 4 in the morning while our professor chaperones tried to not worry.
10 years ago, I had finished my first year in my theatre program and was still making friends with the group I would go on to spend 3 very dramatic and hilarious weeks with. I was nervous because my IBS at the time was not very managed and I worried so much that my stomach would always be hurting or I’d miss the performance at The Globe because I was in the bathroom. I ended up being just fine, but in hindsight, I know I kept myself from certain hangs because I didn’t want to risk it. I like to think that I’ve become much more comfortable in who I am (stomach issues and all) that I would be a little more involved and take more risks. But if I’m going to talk about hindsight and missing out, I should mention that I was also in a new relationship and very in the ~in love~ stage that made 3 weeks abroad so long! I found myself spending a whole day we had to wander around London, gulp, in my hotel room Facetiming my boyfriend with *not free internet. Shameful! It’s truly shameful and the main thing I would go back and slap 21 year old Jillian for.
Aside from the things I’d change, there were so many fun memories I hold onto now. Our first night out, the whole group went and found a bar/club that stayed open til 4 am (sweet baby angels’ first ever 4 am bar??) and we made friends with the security guards at the door who were smitten with us and our American accents. We ate it up! The downstairs was more of a club and I kid you not, they played multiple songs from Grease. Of course we loved it. We shared shots of something very green and I was at a picky stage of alcohol so I kept looking for a blue or pink drink (I know I know), and I took my first (and last) jägerbomb! We were young and truly so full of energy. That first week in Bath was my favorite because we got to really get our bearings on the area and, as theatre kids, we really loved the attention of being the only tourists in the clubs. London was already so full of a million other tourists that we didn’t feel that special, nor did we really have the time to go out since we were seeing so many shows and museums there. Bath was the shit. Beautiful architecture, small town energy, amazing shopping, and we got to stay in the Elton House which was such a unique experience in itself.
As college kids, we still had our fair share of drama we packed with us. Friends who maybe didn’t stay as close after we landed back in America, hook-ups in rooms that may or may not have had someone else sleeping in them, crying in public spa pools, we covered a lot of ground in the drama department! But I gained several life long friendships from going on that trip. Even 10 years later, I love that we shared that experience. It was a once in a lifetime adventure, and then we got to spend a week at sea on the QM2, sailing the exact path that the Titanic once sailed (eek)! We got to scour the costume department at our school for gowns and our costume and makeup professor Jeffery would do our hair in fabulous styles every night. We would have beautiful dinners with white-gloved waiters who offered so much bread it became an inside joke. We got room service in the middle of the night, attempted a work out class (hah), and did our best to avoid falling over due to the waves on the last day before we docked in New York. I’ll never forget the Grand Marnier soufflé I had one night for dessert. It haunted me until for my 30th birthday I finally made it myself. And it was GOOD. I haven’t done much traveling in my life (hey there missing passport), and I’m sure everyone has an opinion on the “best” places or only going places once so you can instead discover new places, but I would go back to Bath. I’d go back to London too and maybe spend more time in the actual town instead of museums. And hell, I’d go back on the Queen Mary!
Looking back, I can’t believe it’s been 10 years, though I know I’ve changed and grown in countless ways since then. 10 years ago, I didn’t know how much it would mean to me now, having that special memory of a time that not everyone gets to experience. It’s a good time to start planning another adventure…and reapplying for a passport.
