I know it’s been two months since I left London, but I wanted to post this list to help suture study abroad students and tourists. There are so many lists out there that tell you where to travel and they’re so long. I’ll break mine down to just ten places.
1) Tower of London
2) Buckingham Palace
3) The London Eye
4) Trafalgar Square
5) Stratford Olympic Park
6) Westminster Abbey
7) Piccadilly Circus
8) Covent Garden
9) Hampton Court Palace
10) Victoria and Albert Museum
I’m back at home. And by home, I mean Lincoln University. I love California, but it hasn’t felt like home for the longest time. But that’s not important. I haven’t been at Lincoln since April, so being back here after spending a semester in London is different. I went from being at a school that was divided into four campuses to this small school. Kingston was also in the city, compared to Lincoln which is in a rural area. So, adjusting back here has been difficult.
Granted, I have missed my friends and my loving boyfriend, so seeing them has made my adjustment a little easier. Sometimes, I wish I could be back at Kingston. But that won’t happen for a while. So, I guess it’s time to adjust back to reality.
1) My amazing flatmates
2) Getting to see a London landmark each weekend
3) Seeing the River Thames on my way to campus each morning
4) The culture. London is a melting pot of every culture imaginable.
5) Feeling independent. Shopping and cooking for myself made me feel so grown up.
6) Eating in different cafes and restaurants. After all, I love me some food.
7) London. It’s an amazing city with an amazing history. Who knows when I’ll be able to experience this again?
So, the day has arrived like we all knew it would and I am once again stuck at an airport. The word airport has become synonymous with other words like anger, boredom, frustration, expensive, crappy food, no leg room, and other words that could be translated into a novel. So., here are 5 things I dislike about airports. Feel free to add your own.
1) It’s hard to sleep.
Especially if you have a nine hour layover in New Jersey, you want to get some sleep. But that’s impossible in an airport because the seats are small and uncomfortable and you have to keep an eye on your luggage unless you want someone (namely security) to take it. So, you’re forced to sit up for hours in an uncomfortable seat, waiting to board your flight.
2) The food is too expensive
Why should I pay $8 for a sandwich or $3 for a bottle of water? That’s ridiculous. I’v resorted to bringing my own food with me, even though it occasionally causes my bag to get searched. I’d rather get searched because I stuffed a $1 bag of cookies into my purse compared to spending $4 for that same bag of cookies at the airport convenience store.
3) Bag searches
If one thing in your bag needs to be searched, they will go through your entire bag, taking things out, just to find that one thing. And then they leave you to repack the bag you spent an hour packing two days before. Frustration doesn’t even describe it.
4) Unattended bags
I understand the reasoning behind this, but I’m not going to carry my bags everywhere. If I need to use the loo, which is only a minute away from my gate, then I don’t feel the need to take my bags with me. But it’s rather embarrassing when you get reprimanded by a security guard about leaving your bags unattended.
5) Limited free Wi-Fi
Right now as I type, I have three hours of free Wi-Fi left. After that, I have to pay for it. Yes, pay for it. Like I’m forced to pay for the food, drinks, and additional checked luggage. I hope this isn’t the case in New Jersey. If I run out of Wi-Fi after three hours, I will go insane.
With only four days before I leave (insert sad face), I decided to make one last trip into central London. My flat mate Theo suggested that I see Piccadilly Circus, since both Covent Garden and Leicester Square were fairly close. So, after getting out of class at ten, I grabbed a few things and took a train. Even though I’ve been using the tube for the last three months, sometimes I still get confused about what train to get. Luckily, I made it to the right place or I wouldn’t be writing this blog post.
Piccadilly Circus is the British version of Times Square. That’s my best description of it. There are the huge billboards with advertisements and it’s full of theatres. I was tempted to buy a ticket for Wicked but they didn’t have any shows playing in the short time I have left here. I snapped a few pictures, which required me to stop and bump into a few people. They didn’t look too happy as they passed by me.
A few blocks later, or streets, or minutes, I found myself in Chinatown. I remembered going there the first time my friend Cleo took me to central London. So, it was nice to return there. London’s Chinatown is just like the Chinatown in any city: full of Chinese restaurants and shops that sell food, drinks, and pastries. Delicious, puffy pastries filled with cream. Thinking about them is making my mouth water now. But I didn’t buy any Chinese food or pastries from the many pastry shops. I decided to buy a milk tea from a place called Chatime. After struggling to give my order to the cashier (she had a really thick accent), I drank my tazo milk tea with pearls. Which I’ve decided that I’m not too crazy about.
I found my way back to Piccadilly Station and took the short train ride to Covent Garden. I love Covent Garden. It’s filled with shops that are arranged into a square and it’s two floors. But the best part is the marketplace. It’s this quirky market full of vendors selling everything from jewelry to vintage books and antiques. Although I didn’t buy anything, I just walked around and looked at everything. And the marketplace was so big. From the outside, it doesn’t look like much but once you step inside, it’s a lot bigger than it appears. I think I walked around there like three times, each time finding something new that intrigued me. The one thing I looked at the most were these antique looking books. I love books so I was imagining them in my book collection. But when I asked for the price for one of them, I walked away. I didn’t love books that much.
I walked around, taking pictures of the Christmas tree in the centre. Then I saw these cute little buses that were hand painted, scattered around Covent Garden. Each one was painted with a different theme, like one that was painted with red poppies. It was so quirky and unexpected. Another reason to love London.
By this time I was cold, so I headed back toward the train station and took it to Leicester Square. Leicester Square was where they had the Hobbit film premiere. But it looks different when it’s not all set up for a film premiere. There were rides set up for a Christmas carnival, so I just walked around, looking at the shops surrounding the square and dong the tourist thing: looking at everything in amazement and taking a million pictures.
I started to get colder and hungry, so I decided it was time for me to head on home. I was a little sad, seeing as it was probably my last trip into central London. Well, I still have three more days and I do plan to make the most of them. After all, who knows when I’ll be able to come back here?
Like with most of my trips to central London, my trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum was unplanned. I woke up Saturday morning and just decided to go. I wanted to see at least one free museum (and there are millions of them in London) before I left.
I got off at Knightsbridge station and walked the twenty minutes (maybe less) to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Once inside, I felt lost and was unsure of where to start. So, I marched (or tiptoed) up to the tickets desk and explained to the guy that it was my first time here and I didn’t know where to go. He kindly explained to me that a map would be useful since there were six floors. Six floors, I repeat. He then handed me a map (which came with a £1 “donation”), explained to me how to get around, and then sent me off with a “Enjoy your visit.”
So, I looked at the map and using it as my guide, went from room to room, looking at all the collections. The rooms and floors are arranged by collections and are sorted by countries or materials used. For example, they had a room labeled Japan that featured artefacts from Japanese culture, like clothing, paintings, statues, and other items. Then there was a whole section of the sixth floor I believe that was dedicated to glass objects.
There was a room on the first floor dedicated to the Renaissance. By far, that was probably my favourite. It was filled mostly with religious statues and paintings of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. There were also paintings and statues of various saints and apostles, each with a plaque next to them that described them, their life, and their deaths. It was interesting, reading each plaque. Also, the various paintings of the Virgin Mary were interesting as each artist depicted her in a slightly different way. In some paintings, she wore a veil over her head and in others, her head was uncovered to reveal long flowing light coloured hair.
There were also whole rooms dedicated to particular trends of certain centuries. For example, one room was about furniture of the 1700s I think. Or maybe it was earlier than that. Either way, it was full of furniture from this time period, like beds, dressers, sofas, tables, and other assorted furniture. There were even mini video tutorials that showed how each piece of furniture was given its intricate design.
I managed to make it to the top floor, but not through each room. There was an exhibit going on, called Wedding Dresses, that displayed famous wedding dresses from top designers like Vera Wang. You had to get tickets for that event but I was able to see it from the walkway of one of the floors. I feel I wasn’t missing much, since I’m not much of a wedding dress enthusiast.
I left around four, seeing as I was hungry and the food at the museum was too expensive for me. Although I hadn’t spent any money to get into the museum, I wasn’t too keen on the idea of spending £8 on a sandwich.
Two weeks after my birthday, my friend Cleo took me and another friend to see Stratford Olympic Park. Yes, the very Olympic Park where the 2012 London Olympic games were held. And I saw it. In the dark.
While you might say it’s pointless to see something that spectacular in the dark, it wasn’t. In fact, it was rather beautiful and even more spectacular to me in the dark. The lights from the Olympic Park were in stark contrast to the dark night sky. For the longest moment, I just stood and stared at it, my eyes taking it in. “This is so damn cool! I saw it on TV but its more amazing in person. This is my dream come true.”
We weren’t allowed to go inside, but we walked closer to the actual park to get a better view. The entire way, I filmed and squealed excitedly about finally getting to see what I had only once seen on TV. However, we were allowed to go inside to see the Olympic pool from a distance (meaning, behind a glass wall about three hundred feet away from the pool). Nevertheless, it was still spectacular for me. I got to see the pool where the American teams competed and won gold. How many people can say that?
Afterwards, we went back outside and sat on the ground. For a tourist attraction, it was surprisingly quiet and with the Christmas lights from the mall glowing in the distance, it was an idyllic setting. It was so quiet, I could hear myself breathing. This was perfect and nothing could move me from my spot.
“Okay, guys, it’s time to go see The Hunger Games,” Cleo said at that moment.
I jumped up without question. The only thing better than seeing the Stratford Olympic Park was seeing Josh Hutcherson in The Hunger Games.
The last time I wrote a blog post complaining about the amount of projects I had to do, I had three projects. Once again, I have three projects and two of them are due in the next week. Does it ever end??!!
I’ve got a live blog due by December 12th, a feature due by December 27th and a critique due in January. Now I know why they call it study abroad. I’ve managed to make some progress on each of the assignments, so that I will to be up the night before, frantically typing up a 1,000 word feature, while drinking endless cups of coffee and crying. Yes, I’ve procrastinated in a sense, but not to the point where it has worked against me entirely. So, there is hope yet.
The one thing that has helped significantly was my education at Lincoln, particularly where journalism was concerned. I’m able to better explain theories and concepts better and I don’t die internally at the thought of writing an article (well, at least not that much). So, as much as I complain about Lincoln, it has had its benefits.
I leave you with a song that often helps me through my writing. It’s been one of my favourites since I first heard it about two years ago.
Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la la. It’s the holiday season! And I’m spending most of it in London. Next to meeting the Queen and riding a double decker bus, this has always been a dream of mine. I’ve heard that Christmas in London is big, and I have not been disappointed. Even in a tiny town like Kingston, the Christmas spirit is alive and well.
The holiday lights in Kingston were switched on November 13th. I arrived thirty minutes after they’d been switched off, so I wasn’t able to ooh and ahh with the rest of the crowd. And it was quite a crowd. Nonetheless, I was able to enjoy the festivities and revel in the Christmas Spirit. I bought roasted marshmallows on a stick from a vendor and took pictures of the Christmas lights. The entire town centre was lit up with lights and there were two Christmas trees, decorated with lights and stars; one in the town centre and the other in the market place.
The Christmas market had also been set up, so my friends and I (sorry, I forgot to mention that I was with my friends Cleo and Soile) perused the different stalls. The vendors sold everything from food (I love food) to winter clothing like knitted hats, scarves, and gloves. Some vendors sold jewellery (which I was so tempted to buy) while another vendor sold these interesting name plates. However, at £5 a letter (and there are eight in my first name), it wasn’t too tempting of a buy.
Kingston isn’t the only city that’s decked out for the holidays. Oxford Street has Christmas lights on every corner and the shop windows, of stores like Selfridge’s, are elaborately decorate for the season. So no matter what part of London you’re in, there’s always a reminder that it’s the holidays. And I love the holidays.
With 14 days left, I hope to see more of London and how it welcomes the holiday season. Tomorrow, I plan to see the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square (which is given by the Norwegians to the British as a way of saying “Thank you for protecting us during World War 2”. I’ll post any and all pictures on my Facebook page and make a slideshow to put in the pictures section of my blog.
So, wherever you are in the world right now, I wish you a happy holiday from London.
I do think time is physically is speeding up, but also the time has passed so quickly because I have been having fun. I have laughed more and learned more in the past few months that I have in my 21 years of existence. I’ve seen more of London than I ever could have imagined. I’ve made friends from countries around the world like Kenya, Nigeria, Columbia, Afghanistan, and of course the lovely UK.
And I’ve come to a realisation: this is not the end of my traveling. There is still so much of the world I have yet to see and this is just the beginning. So, get ready world, here I come.
So, I’ll miss all of this. The residence hall where I live, the bridge I walk over to go to school, my lecturers, my weekend trips, the supermarket where I shop for my favourite chocolate, the red buses, the cool accents, the unpredictable weather, stressing about what to cook for dinner, my crazy and amazing flatmates, and the fact that I’ve been able to enjoy all this in the past three months.
Well, I still have 15 days to enjoy all this. 15 more days to make fun memories, laugh louder, live life, and have the best time of my life.
London 2014 