Let's see. I got here on Saturday morning, grabbed my luggage and immediately got on the tube for 45 minutes, from the outskirts of the city to the very center of it, where we got off and then got on a bus, which took us to the stop that is about a block from the house that we will be living in for the duration of the program. The house is located in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which is a very posh part of the city (aka there is a Bentley parked casually in the driveway of the house next door to us). This is an example of some of our neighbors:
After we checked in and dropped off all of our luggage in our rooms, we went out to buy some necessities and have lunch. There is a famous street, Kensington High Street, which is about a five minute walk from our house. There are so many shops on this road, like Zara, Topshop, Urban Outfitters, H&M, Whole Foods, Boots, etc. The first night I passed out at around five pm due to jet lag and general exhaustion.
On Sunday, we had orientation at 10 am. Before that, I met some girls who live on my hall, who told us about this tiny French Patisserie around the corner from us, so we had cappuccinos there. It was so adorable, as shown by this picture of the inside.
Orientation was interesting, and the people who work for our program are really friendly and knowledgeable about the city. After that, I got sushi for a quick lunch, then we had a sightseeing tour that took us all throughout central London. We did a lot of touristy things, such as see Buckingham Palace:
The Tower Bridge:
And St. Paul's Cathedral, where I had the biggest macaron I'd ever seen in my life.
After that, we came back to the room for a rest. We then went back out to have dinner at a place near Picadilly circus. After we ate and hung out over there for a while, we had our first experience with the infamous night bus. Since it is a holiday weekend here in the UK as well, the tube stopped running earlier than usual and we had to brave the crowds squeezing onto these buses. Which was quite the experience!
Today was more relaxed, as I ended up sleeping in a lot later than I expected. When we finally did drag ourselves out of bed, my roommate Hannah and I ended up taking the tube back over to Picadilly, where stands the biggest Waterstones bookshop in all of London. It is five stories of glory, and in its café is where we spent most of the afternoon. (behold, my coffee and croissant, as well as the street near the store)
After that we took the bus over to Trafalgar square where we got dinner in the crypt of St. Martin-in-the-fields church. It was kind of wild, eating in a real crypt, with graves marked in the stones at our feet and everything, but the food was good and it was a new experience at the least!
So now I am back in my room, about to go to sleep, nervous for the first day of class. I start at 9 tomorrow morning, and I am anxious that I have an interesting professor and that the class isn't all work and no fun. I already feel like I'm settling into the pace of life here, which is much more fast-paced than I am used to. Riding the bus or the train everywhere and walking quickly and with a purpose is kind of stressful, and of course I am always worried about sticking out and doing the wrong thing, but as I start to find my way around and get comfortable with my surroundings, I'm less stressed and more aware of how amazing this city is. There are so many cool things tucked into every nook and cranny, and there is always something to do. It is everything you would expect from a huge city, but sort of nicer, more polite, more beautiful. I'm hoping the rest of the trip is as amazing as the last couple days have been!
If you can, please pray for my class to go well!
Caroline
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