72 Hours in London

Hello everyone! I arrived safely in the UK and have spent the past few days moving in, going to orientation, exploring the city, and adjusting to life in Europe (still cannot believe I will be here for 4 months!!!). I thought I would share a few snapshots of my trip so far...

Getting to London was not bad at all! I booked the window seat so I was able to sleep for some of the flight. Since I had never flown for a long distance or overseas before, I had never gotten to eat a meal on a plane which was kind of exciting (even though the food was not that great). The plane was full of families and a surprising amount of study abroad students! The people sitting next to me were local college students also studying in London for the semester (or "term" as they call it over here!).

Almost there!!

View from above

After getting off the plane and making it through customs, we met with the directors of our program here in London and took a shuttle to our housing. Our flats are SO small. You can stand in the middle of the room and pretty much touch both walls - they make dorm life seem glamorous! However, despite the lack of square footage the rooms do have a surprisingly good amount of storage which my roommate, Nicole, and I are making the most of. 

Here's my bed...

...and here's Nicole's!

Some London essentials...my passport and travel guides

After unpacking and settling into our new home, we took a walking tour of the area we are staying in (so many cute shops and restaurants!), did a little shopping for the room, and then went out and got crepes for dinner! After a good night's sleep, we all got up and went to a coffee shop across the street for breakfast before heading to a full day of orientation. 

These pastries were too good!

When we got a break halfway through orientation, a group of us decided to walk around and see what we could find in the area. We quite literally stumbled upon Kensington Gardens, a beautiful public park that used to be the private gardens for Kensington Palace (Will and Kate's palace!). We didn't have much time to explore but it is definitely on my list of places to go back to. 

Got a little too excited when we saw our first red telephone booth...I think we must have taken at least fifty photos

A map of the gardens

Turned the corner to see this huge memorial to Prince Albert

Later that day I went grocery shopping and cooked my first meal! It was admittedly harder than I thought it would be (you were right, Mom!). The whole group gathered in the common area and we discussed where we wanted to travel during this trip since we have most of the weekends completely free. Six of us ended up booking a trip to Paris for our first long weekend coming up later this month which is very exciting! I love that travel from one European country to another is relatively inexpensive and I can't wait to see where I get to go!

Yesterday we got to take a real walking tour of Central London with a certified tour guide who was basically the epitome of an old British man. He took us all around the city and we saw some really cool historical London landmarks - and got to take a ride on an old red double decker bus! After the tour our program coordinators treated us to a delicious lunch at a French restaurant and we spent the rest of the evening exploring on our own.

Westminster Abbey (I recognized that balcony from the royal wedding right away)
 

Took an elevator to the rooftop of an office building to get a better view of St. Paul's Cathedral...you can also see the London Eye and Big Ben in the background (on the left!)

Definitely the best meal of the trip so far!

Still dreaming about this dessert...

We ended the day with a little shopping on Oxford Street before heading back to the flats. This whole trip has seemed so surreal so far. I have to keep reminding myself that this isn't just a vacation and that I'm actually going to be living here for the next four months - so crazy and exciting! Feeling very lucky to have such an amazing opportunity. More to come...

Hello from the other side (of the pond)