On Wednesday the 5th, I arrived in London to begin a semester of studying abroad!

So far it’s been a mix of high and low experiences, as to be expected. I’m loving being back in a European city and learning to navigate the streets, trains, and buses. The downside is being in London means everything’s smaller….including my room. I have never been in such a small room! I honestly think it was meant to be a walking closet, but then they stuck in a bunkbed, some furniture, built a bathroom, and called it a day. It’s ridiculous how small the room is, especially when I compare it to the other students’ in my program whose rooms are normal and what you’d expect.

So far, my experience as a tourist has led me on a bus tour of London where we saw everything from Big Ben, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, changing of the guards ceremony, central London, and even where the Queen gets her groceries from! Then we also had a walking tour of the Kensington area including Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, both beautiful places. We walked through the quaint little streets with homes that apparently cost a million pounds! But here’s the kicker – these homes, some of which are behind Kensington Gardens, were once horse stables!

I don’t think I’ve had any embarrassing moments yet with the cultural differences, but I have almost been run over by a car or bike once or twice because I was looking in the opposite direction. That was mostly during the first few days – I’m getting much better at telling which way the cars are coming from now!

So this was my introductory “omg-i’m-in-london” post. Who knows what story I’ll have to share in the next one…