When In Rome!: Adventures in London

SO much has happened in just a couple days in London! Let me cover a few topics:

1) The flight. It wasn’t as long as I expected it to be. It helped though that I was sleeping through most of it. I ended up being the only person in my program on that particular flight, which is a bummer, but it worked out ok! The girl I sat next to was studying abroad in Spain this semester, so we were able to chit chat a little about our program. When I got to the airport, I walked to customs pretty quickly but then was stuck in a HUGE line of people. Have no fear, it moved pretty quickly and before I knew it, I was up at the counter. One question, though: What is it about customs employees that always makes you feel like a criminal?! The gentleman just asked me some general questions, and I’m sure I looked horribly suspicious. Then I grabbed my luggage, found my taxi driver, and got to hear all about how fat he thinks people in England are getting! At least he was a cute old man! Haha!

2) The arrival. I got to my hotel (which is attached to the Chelsea football stadium!) and was greeted by a really nice lady. I waited about a half hour for more kids to show up, and then we started exploring together! We wandered around for a couple hours and ended up eating at this little crappy diner. I had fish and chips which were fantastic. Then we all came back to the hotel and showered to get the slimy feeling of traveling off of us.

3) The welcome. At six o’clock we had a welcome info session to meet the rest of our group; then we were free to do whatever! Later on, we all met up and hit up the more exciting part of town. We split up for dinner, so six of us went to some cute little diner, and I had a hot dog. Stupid I know. However, America might have made the hotdog famous, but England perfected it! Best damn hotdog I’ve ever had. That’s when I also had my first legal drink!

A wheat beer made in London

4) The nightlife. Oh, wow. After dinner, we all met at an awesome bar called “Tiger Tiger”. We hung out there for a few hours and bounced around to a few other locations. Drinks are disgustingly expensive in London, so my goal was to try my hardest not to have to buy any! Quickly though, I realized I have ZERO game. Oh well, at least I found a new favorite drink… The pom pom.

5) Day two. The 7:30 wakeup call came a little too soon for most of us. But the free breakfast helped a little. Except for the “scrambled eggs” they served. Imagine the taste of an egg with the color and consistency of oatmeal. Gross. From there came my favorite part of the trip thus far… The bus tour of London! Wow, what a place this is. We saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, London Bridge, and so many others. At about noon, we all split up and went our own ways.

Westminster Abbey- The location of my future wedding to Harry.

6) The rest of the day. The group I went with ate lunch at a café. Delicious. All the food here is so fresh! Then we went to the London Eye, which was definitely worth the £20. Then we went to London’s national art gallery, where I saw two pieces by Leonardo DaVinci. Finally, we went to King’s Cross train station, which is the location of Platform 9 ¾ from Harry Potter!