I apologize for how delayed this is being posted!
My first day being here that I didn't have to wake up early and run to class, so I took full advantage of that and slept in until 11am. Waking up without the sound of my annoying alarm in my ear was quite the treat. I got a slow start to the day, as I had no plans for the day whatsoever. When I finally got out of bed, showered and surfed the internet for an ungodly amount of time, I decided to go to Regent's College and work on some homework there. After that, we stopped for food on the way home from Chipotle and when we were full to our brim with mexican food, we headed home to go figure out what we were going to do with the rest of our night. We decided to head to Trafalgar square (again) and explore around there. It was getting dark when we went down toward the Thames and walked around there for a few minutes. I thought that area was stunning during the day, until I saw everything illuminated at night... Big Ben, The Eye, Westminster Abbey, The Aquarium all lit up- absolutely breathtaking. We found a small pub tucked underneath the Waterloo bridge and all sat around a small table for drinks and laughs. It was finally in that moment that I realized, I "live" here now. I can come down to the clock tower and read by the river if I want or go for walks there with my headphones in just to catch a breath from my school work. This part of London makes me really, truly, happy. We walked along the bank of the river and enjoyed the various street performers and even came across a man who was playing piano for 24 straight hours! After that, we caught the last tube back toward our flats and called it a night!
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| Our view from the Pub! |
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| He was playing piano for 24 straight hours! |
Saturday 7/7/12:
We started this day early by wandering around our small neighborhood looking for a place for breakfast. We stumbled upon a small little place outside on a side street and let our sense of smell guide us in. It ended up being an "American Style" bagel cafe, and it was DELICIOUS! It was comparable to an Einstein's or a Bruegger's bagel place where they had tons of bagels with different toppings and a variety of coffee drinks. We munched on our breakfast and planned out the rest of the day, including going to the gay pride parade! We finished, headed back to the flats and prepared to head back to Trafalgar Square (for my third day in a row...) and went to "Worldpride" which includes LGBT representatives from all different countries. It only happens once a year and I got to be a part of it, so crazy! There were tons of really interesting people there, I had so much fun simply people-watching. Then, I was surprised with an impromptu Boy George concert. It was so fun dancing around as the sun began to come out from behind the dismally grey clouds. After Pride, we ended up at an italian restaurant for dinner where we all got different kinds of flatbread. Mine had goat cheese and roasted vegetables on it, yum! After dinner we all went back to the flats and called it an early night- we attempted to watch "Midnight in Paris" but instead we all just talked and enjoyed eachothers company.
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| Breakfast! |
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| Worldpride! |
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| Just a small portion of the crowd at Pride! |
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| Boy George!! |
Sunday 7/8/12
We started the morning decently early (around noon...) and headed over to Camden market. Nothing too much to comment on there, it was similar to China Town- a lot of vendors heckling you to buy their items. I'll definitely go back there before I leave to go souvenir shopping! We then went back to the flats and I got ready to see my friends from home. First, I met up at this Middle Eastern restaurant in Green Park with my friend Steven and we ate hummus and I got some chicken kabob thing, it was delicious. After dinner, we walked around Green Park and Picadilly St. and looked at the shopping arcades (everything was closed because it was Sunday night...) but it was still neat to see! We then looped around the park and ended up right in front of Buckingham Palace, it was gorgeous! Also, the flag was up meaning the queen was in the house, that's pretty exciting if I say so myself. After dinner, I hopped back on the tube and met up with another friend from home, Ashley at the Marble Arch. She had just been at an all day outdoor concert and was covered in mud but it didn't stop me from practically jumping in her arms. She told me we were going to go meet up with her family, and then the longest most grueling walk of my life began... nearly 3 miles later we arrived in China Town in Piccadilly Circus for my second dinner of the night! I hardly ate anything, but Ashley's family was nice enough to let me have all of the leftovers, so my dinner is taken care for the next three nights. By the time I finally got home it was nearly 2:00am, so I fell into my bed and let the lower half of my body finally have a rest!
Buckingham Palace!
Once again, I apologize this is so delayed and probably not my most exciting post to date, but I thought I would fill all of you in.
I promise to be better about updating!
-Lauren
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