My trip started with an 8 hour 30 minute flight to Heathrow. I wasn't too excited about sitting on a plane for that long, but after takeoff they gave me free wine with my dinner (yes, please!) and that helped put me in a better mood. Two movies and a 4 hour nap later, I was in London. After going through customs, grabbing my bag, taking a train and then finally taking a taxi, I arrived at my dorm, Atlantic House. (For all of my Ambassador friends-it really is a dorm. No CSU-style residential comforts here, folks.) Atlantic House is located in Kensington, an upscale neighborhood in the western area of London. I wasn't aware of how lucky I was to live here until we went on a walking tour of the area right after I arrived. Kensington High Street and Gloucester Road are both right by my dorm, which makes for some great shopping and eating right around the corner. There is an H&M, Zara, TopShop, Boots, Whole Foods, Pizza Hut, and so many other great places to shop and eat on Kensington High Street. I'm really excited to explore this area more.
I have had the pleasure of meeting some really great people on my trip so far. I haven't met anyone from Colorado or Nevada, mostly people from Georgia, Texas, or Washington. I was told that you want to pick study abroad friends wisely because you spend a lot of time with them, and I can tell that they are a really fun group. We really got to know each other on the bus tour that happened today (6/10), because we were sitting and traveling for about 3 hours. The bus tour was incredible. It followed the main streets from Gloucester Road, next to Hyde Park, over to Buckingham Palace, to Westminster Abbey, to St. Paul's, and then finally to the Tower of London. It was a pretty big tease, because although we got lots of great pictures OF the buildings, we couldn't go inside any of them. I have plans to go to the Tower of London this coming Sunday, and I am touring Buckingham Palace with my family in July, so I will definitely get those checked off my to-do list. The next big things I want to do are tour Westminster Abbey again and go to the top of the dome at St. Paul's.
After the bus tour, I had my first British pub experience! I was pleasantly surprised. Everyone that I went with decided to order the same drink, called a Pimm's. It was so good! All of us decided that if we had enough money, we would drink this every day. Our bartender invited us to come back tomorrow night for the game, so we think we actually might head back and claim this little pub as our "local", as they call it here. The rest of the evening was relaxed. Classes start tomorrow, and we all agreed it was a good idea to get some sleep beforehand-then we proceeded to stay up until 11pm talking and laughing about everything from Pimm's to Harry Potter to Prince Harry.
I haven't heard any really funny comments about being American yet, aside from one experience with a cashier today. I was checking out of the Tower of London shop (I bought a mug that has King Henry VIII and all of his wives on it. Hehe.), and my cashier asked me where I'm from. I told him I was visiting from America, and he flashed me a big grin and said "HOWDY." Apparently everyone in London thinks all Americans are cowboys/ride horses/from Texas.
This is going to be a rootin' tootin' good time.
Things checked off my to-do list:
Get to Atlantic House without any problems
Explore Kensington
Do a bus tour of London
Cheers!
Lizzy
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