Home is Behind, The World, Ahead: 6.4.15

I am taking a much deserved break from my schoolwork to bring you this: my third blog post! I honestly can't believe that it has been almost a week since I last posted: the time here is absolutely flying by! So let's start back where we left off last time.

Saturday was a particularly relaxing one for me. My roommate and her sister and our other friend were gone for the day, off on a daytrip to Stonehenge, which I've already seen. I was pretty much alone for the day, which I took advantage of by going to the nearby shopping avenue and peeking around in some of the shops there. I didn't buy anything particularly exciting, just some nail polish and lotion, but I have my eye on some things to get before I leave!

After my shopping excursion, my friend Katie texted me saying that her sister and her were going to Harrod's, and would I like to join them. Of course, having not yet been to Harrod's I was super excited to finally see what all the fuss was about. I ran quickly over there to meet them and then promptly got lost while trying to find my way to the shoe floor. I was in accessories and perfumes and kids fashion and even a seafood market before I finally found my way. It is such an enormous and awe-inspiring store, I couldn't even believe it. We walked around for a while, finally deciding to get some sushi at a restaurant inside Harrod's. The sushi rolls were LITERALLY the size of my fist, and they were amazing. Then we decided to try our luck at the champagne bar, also inside the store, and we sat there having a glass and just generally feeling very posh for awhile.

On Sunday, I met up with Katie and Taylor again, as Hannah was off at a Rugby match at Twickenham Stadium and I had no desire to accompany her to that. We went to the bookstore to do some much needed catching up on homework, which was helpful. I also got the most amazing book I've ever seen: an illustrated copy of a Walt Whitman poem. It is glorious and I love it so much. We got dinner at an Italian place in Piccadilly circus and got to witness this huge party that was going on all in the streets for Magnum Ice Cream Bars, which was cool! On Monday and Tuesday, I had class with no class trips for the majority of the days, and I just stayed in my own neighborhood, going to cafes and working on a presentation for class, so I don't really have any pictures from those two days!

On Wednesday, we had a long trip planned. We were going to ride 3 trains an hour away to the neighborhood of Greenwich, which is very beautiful and famous for its amazing views of the city. We arrived on a perfectly blue-skied day, which is rare but much appreciated when they do come. The first thing we saw was the University Of Greenwich at the Old Royal Naval College, right on the river. It is a gorgeous part of town where they film a lot of movies. In fact, the recent remake of Les Miserables was filmed partially at this college, as well as parts of the Marvel movie Thor: the Dark World. In addition to having a beautiful campus, it also has two chapels which are gorgeously decorated as well.

We then visited the Royal Maritime Museum and climbed up the steepest hill ever to the Royal Observatory, which has an amazing view of the entirety of London.

Today, aside from finishing the paper that I'm supposed to be working on right now, I went to St. Paul's cathedral, climbing hundreds of stairs to reach the very top, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is huge and beautiful and is also doing a special exhibit on the work of Alexander McQueen, which you aren't allowed to take pictures of but shh I snuck some because everything was so amazing!