Once I arrived to my dorm on Tuesday morning, I settled in and unpacked all of my things. My room is extremely small and the bed is really uncomfortable, but I can deal with that because I am able to explore Europe! Later on in the day we received a walking tour of Kensington, the bureau that I am staying in. Kensington is the wealthiest bureau in London so all of the houses around my dorm are extremely nice and very very pricey! Kensington Palace is just a few minute walk from where I am staying, which is where Kate and William live with their kids. After our walking tour we got dinner in the dining hall, my first taste of food since I got off the plane earlier that day. We ended the day with an introduction to Imperial Bar and Imperial College, which we have access too through our school! I met a few people there and it was interesting trying English drinks! My first day was the longest day, I was up for more than 24 hours!
On Wednesday we had a bus tour of London! We woke up and ate breakfast and met in front of my building by 11:30 to walk to the busses! On the bus tour we got to see Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, we drove over the river so we could see the London Bridge, and we also drove by the London Eye! That night we had tickets to see Wicked, which was awesome to see in London! It was my first experience on the Underground too! In order to get to the theater we had to take the tube. It was an overall exciting day!
Thursday was just as exciting! We even got to explore a little bit on our own. We had the option of going to a seminar where someone came to talk to us about how to travel cheaply around Europe, so I went to check it out. There was also an Orientation fair that I went to, just to see what was going on in there. Afterwards my friends and I went and walked around Kensington High Street where there are plenty of shops and stores to go into! We went into T.K. Maxx (the UKs version of T.J. Maxx) and there was even a Whole Foods. The travel seminar and the orientation fair were in both of the Academic buildings, so I felt better knowing where those were for when classes start on Monday! That night there was a boat party that we got to go to! It was really cool being on a boat on the Thames in the middle of January. The sights from the boat of the London Eye and of Big Ben were so pretty. After the boat party we went to a bar across the street called the Walkabout, which was super fun. It was Karaoke night at the bar, so it was fun to dance to drunk British people singing awfully! The tube closes at midnight, so trying to get home was interesting. We had to take a night bus home, which is fun! I am slowly getting to know how to get around this city and its exciting to know in a few months I will be able to get around no problem!!
My roommate and I on the boat!
Friday was more relaxing. We had library orientations, but after that we went back to Kensington Gardens to take pictures. There's a gorgeous pond with Kensington Palace behind it. When we were there the sun was starting to set and there were swans and birds swimming in the pond. It was gorgeous and I got some great pictures! We then ventured off onto the streets of London to try and find a grocery store so we could get some snacks for our rooms! Walking around is interesting considering half the time we have no idea how to get around... We'll get it eventually! Later on as part of orientation, there was a pub crawl to three near by pubs and a club! It is nice seeing the local pubs for when we are looking for some place near school!
Our meal plan doesn't work on the weekends, so we have to find our own form of food! We went to try a place around the corner called Sandwich World, which was pretty cheap and decently good. After we ate headed out to Kings Cross Station to see the famous Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter. Of course, I got the classic picture holding onto the carriage they put in that is halfway through the wall! Alan Rickman, the actor who played Severus Snape has just recently passed away, so next to the platform, fans had started shrine for him by placing flowers and candles with pictures of him. That night we went out to Piccadilly Circus to see Lumiere London, which is a light show that was happening that attracted a ridiculous amount of people! They even closed off the streets the light show was on. It was amazing seeing that many people in one place. After we saw the light show we found a pub and sat down to have a couple of drinks. We started to go home around midnight, we had a long day!
Off to Hogwarts!
Lumiere London at Piccadilly Circus!
Today, Sunday, was fun too! I finally got to sleep in which was nice because I had not yet gotten to do that! We went to Trafalgar Square to explore a little bit in the afternoon. Its a gorgeous place with fountains and a ton of street performers... in fact, a floating Yoda decided to pull me over and kiss my hand after putting his hat on me. It was funny, but a little creepy!! There is an art museum in the square called the National Gallery that we got to go in and explore. A cool thing about London is that all of the museums have free admission, so it is totally worth it to go in everyone and look around a little. Afterwards we went out to eat at a place called Garfunkel's, where I got a great cheeseburger!!
Yoda!!
Trafalgar Square!
Tomorrow is the first day of classes, I can't wait to see what this next week has to bring!
That is all for now!
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