Just Touched Down in London Town

We have definitely touched down in London- and it is amazing! I can’t even think what to start writing about because I have already experienced so much!

Well first things first- the plane ride went fairly smooth- thank goodness for free wine on international flights-I sat next to the cutest British woman who was in her late 20s.  She seemed a little taken aback by me at first- I later learned from one of my advisors it was probably because I was asking her so many personal questions! She said the British are a lot more reserved than us…whoops! She did become chatty with me after awhile and told me places she thought I should see, she lives right in the area. She also told me she moved to London from West Africa when she was 15 all by herself! She had a sister who lived here, but she just left her parents and moved away from home for high school- I couldn’t imagine!

My flat is so cute!! Its in such a great area… literally across the street from Hyde Park and where Princess Diana lived…no big deal… We are right by High Street- sort of like Main Street Kensington-with tons of shops, restaurants and pubs. Plus, three museums are right down the street and they are massive- we’re excited to go check them out. Classy area! A little different then say Mifflin Street back home… We are also close to a lot of the embassies including the Isreali embassy, we have already seen one protest, and there is big protest today…so far they have all been peaceful, and our advisors think they will stay that way.  Another weird thing, the college where a lot of my friends from high school go to school, St. Johns and St. Bens, are in the flat above us! Small world!

My roomates, Jill and Emily, are hilarious… I think our room will prove to be amusing! We have so far been late to everything, but had a great time together everywhere we go- they  might make a little shout out on here every once in awhile. Jill’s straightener blew out after 5 min, so we already had to go buy a new one of those. And I’m happy to say they packed just as many shoes and shirts as myself.

We had a little reception with our advisors and everyone from our group the first night… I really like everyone we have met so far. We headed to the pub after-I was happy to discover I didn’t have to drink warm beer- they did have some cold!

We went to Imperial College Union’s pub last night, which was a great experience because we got to meet a ton of local college students. Emily proved to be the best American with a British accent-holler-and our new buddy who goes to Oxford had the best American voice. I met a new buddy Louie! Him and his friends took quite a liking to us- they’re rugby players for the school (yes that’s legit- not just a pick up line) they even promised to take us to Harrods- hmmm… we’ll have to see about that one. But I did see Harrods today and I can’t wait to go inside! All of us went downtown with them to the club, called Strawberry Moons.  The music at the club was interesting- I was surprised when I heard “Summer of 69″ and all the Europeans went crazy! 80s jam out anyone? The downtown is crazy! It’s all lighted up like New York….but the buildings are all historical…there is so much to look at-I love all the architecture-what a beautiful city- you can feel the energy walking down the street. I took my first Underground ride to get there! Bad news… We didn’t buy an Oyster card, so we ended up paying 4 pounds to go four stops! We took a double decker bus back- definitely sat up on the top… just like a true tourist…we got a little too excited about it.

On our bus tour today we saw so much!! Including the changing of the guards! I also saw my future father-in-law’s house… Prince Charles…ha…. and their guards. Simon, our adorbale tour guide, was so knowledgable about the city, he gave us so many interesting facts about the history of London, especially about the royalty!  We stopped at the Tour of London, St. Paul’s, and Buckingham Palace- has I mentioned above. Simon also informed us of the pubs Henry and William like to frequent…

For some reason it is not letting me upload photos- but I’ll post some soon.

Crikey! I had better get going…. peace out from Kensington…. you’ll hear from me soon.