London Calling

Hello from London!

I’m finally here! Sorry it’s taken me a few days to post again, between the jet lag and all the activities I haven’t had time to blog! BLOGGERS GOTTA BLOG  YA’LL. So I’ll give you all a general idea of what I’ve been up two the past few days-

Katie, The Woodman and I left for JFK around noon on Monday and after going through check-in, grabbing some lunch and a tearful goodbye, I headed through security and was off to London! The flight exceeded my expectations. I got an aisle seat SCORE, and no one was sitting next to me, so I got to watch about 12 episodes of the office and play trivia on my personal screen without shame. I tried sleeping but I was too excited and the Legally Blonde Soundtrack was playing on my iPod so I couldn’t doze off! Virgin Atlantic is BALLER SHOES guys, seriously fly with them if you ever can- so nice, so accommodating, and endless Office episodes at your fingertips.

After landing in Heathrow, most of our group gathered in the arrival area and we waited THREE HOURS for a girl who never showed up...or we just left her behind...you snooze you lose. Anyway, we got on a coach bus and headed to Kensington, the Royal borough where Princess Diana grew up. This place is amazing- our dorm is on Queens Gate Terrace, next door to the French Ambassador (JUST LIKE PASSPORT TO PARIS) in a multi-million dollar neighborhood! We’re broke, American, college students...and we casually live in this high class, British area. 

My building on Queens Gate Terrace

London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament!

LOOK MOM! A PSYCHEDELIC MINI COOPER!

Around the corner from the dorm is Imperial College, where there is a pub open to Richmond Students as well! The pub is full of very friendly locals and other study abroad students- but holy crap is it expensive to get drinks. Most pubs around here close at midnight so that’s definitely different from American bars that stay open until way later. We’ve all been pretty sleep-deprived and it’s definitely taken a toll on our ability to function but soon enough we will be on regular London hours!

The weather here has been...interesting. The first day was bitter cold and felt just like Connecticut in January, but yesterday was sunny, then rainy and now today it’s rainy/sunny/warm/kinda cold/I feel like I’m going through menopause. Yesterday we took a bus tour of central London and got to see the sights! I took some pictures of Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey  and Buckingham Palace- we drove by Trafalgar square (p.s. Dad- that IS how you spell it), Tower Bridge and the Tower of London but we were running behind schedule and weren’t able to get off the bus for a Kodak moment. My flatmates and I have already decided we must go back to all of these sights soon and take pictures like quintessential American tourists. 

I have a go-phone now and can text and call internationally, BUT it’s pretty pricy so unless you have something REALLY important to tell me...just tweet at me or send me a Facebook message because what has two thumbs and a limited cash flow?… THIS CHICK. 

Toodles until my next post!

-Marn