Hello world!
This is my second day in London and I feel so amazing! It felt so good to get out and about on our own today. The girls on my flight got in to the London Centre at about 11am yesterday and I actually felt pretty good. I highly recommend taking melatonin to help you sleep on planes- I slept for almost 5 hours! So, I wasn’t very energetic, but I really felt pretty good. Very little jet lag. Yesterday I spent a couple hours unpacking and getting settled in and then the three professors took us on a walk around Kensington Gardens/ Hyde park just to get out and keep ourselves awake. We saw the Prince Albert Memorial at the South of Kensington Gardens. It is HUGE! Very regal looking and nothing like what we have in the US. But, then again, we don’t have any royals in the US.
We also saw the outside of Kensington Palace, where Queen Victoria grew up and where Princess Diana lived.
We also saw the outside of Kensington Palace, where Queen Victoria grew up and where Princess Diana lived.
We didn’t get to stay out very long yesterday because it get dark so early and we weren’t at all familiar with the area yet. It starts getting dark about 4pm and is completely pitch black by 5. It didn’t even start getting light until 8am today. Crazy.
The Centre is tall, old, cramped, and beautiful. So, basically, it’s European. I lucked out and got put in the room with 8 girls instead of 14, much thanks to my writing an early-to-bed, early-to rise schedule on the room survey. Our room shares one bathroom with two showers and two sinks. It’s tiny and mornings are very interesting. Also, we’re only allowed to have food (including wrapped gum and candy) in the servery because of a rat problem. But, you know, that’s ok! I’m in London!
Today we had our Centre Orientation from 10 am to about noon. In the afternoon, I ran errands with a couple roommates- Shelbi and Michelle. We picked up internet cards (because the centre internet is terrible), tube passes, laundry detergent, a laundry bag, notebooks, and a few other odds and ends. It felt so good to be out on the streets of London! It was a beautiful day, too, if you dressed right. It was 40 degrees Fahrenheit and with a constant drizzle, but I had rainboots, a coat, gloves, a hat, and an umbrella so I was good to go. We also stopped at a little bakery where I bought Italian “grissini” for 60 pence. It was about 18 inches long and a cross between a breadstick, pretzel, and biscotti, with lots of herbs I didn’t recognize. Pretty good!
After we dropped our things at the Centre, Shelbi and I went over to the Serpentine Gallery, a small art exhibit in Kensington Gardens which he had to visit for our European Fine Arts Class. We then hurried back home to make it before dark. We are allowed to be out after dark, but you have to be in groups of three, rather than two in daylight, and it was easier to find our way back in daylight anyway.
Tomorrow we’ll be visiting the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey, Saturday will be the changing of the Guard and “The Woman in Black” and then Sunday we’ll find out where we are each assigned to go to church! Can’t wait!
