Weekend in London

Hello everyone! It's that time of the week again where I share with you my beautiful experiences abroad at Harlaxton.  Last week was a whirlwind of exploring the manor, meeting new people, and starting classes (yes, unfortunately, you have to do actual work here).  My classes went great last week, and even though it's the first week, I feel confident about this semester.  Yes, it will be a lot of reading and work in general, but I feel like I can get on top of things (Don't hold me to this because in the middle of the semester I might regret saying this).  I'm taking the British Studies course that everyone has to take here at Harlaxton.  It does make sense to study the history of the country you're living in.  It lets you understand their culture much better.  I'm taking the Honors version of that course, so I'll have to do a longer paper than the other students, but the tests are weighted less in the final grades. If any future or prospective Harlaxton students have questions about that, you can contact me through email here.  I'm also taking a psychology course and a religious studies course.

Monday night, everyone going on the London trip was called into the Long Gallery for our trip briefing. That talk about things to do in London really got me excited, and it made me realize that this moment that I've been waiting for for so long was finally here. The next two days progressed with my classes and actual.  I've decided that the only way I can stay on top of this work and keep travel and school separated, is to have the week days strictly for school work, where I mainly focus on studying and keeping my GPA the way I want it.  Similiarly, the weekends will be strictly for traveling and exploring without the stress of homework and grades.

On Wednesday morning, Lauren and I went to town after our classes (which ends around noon for everyone on Wednesdays) and pick up some things.  We decided to go to ASDA (the British Walmart), which was a mistake because it was so far away from the bus station, and it was more expensive than Morrison's and Poundland that we went to last week.  On our way back to the bus station, however, we had a bit of a scary adventure.  We stopped at a crosswalk and waited until it was safe to cross (there wasn't one of those buttons that you push to cross).  A black car stopped to let us cross, so we started to walk to the other side.  When we were half way to the other side, a guy around our age on a bicycle ran right into the back corner of the car and flipped over the handlebars and the car and landed on the street in front of us.  We asked if he was alright, and he said he was, hopped back onto his bike, and rode off.  It was scary at the moment, but when I look back on the look on our faces, I find it kind of funnny (only because he was okay though).

Wednesday night, we had the Meet-A-Family reception to finally meet our paired, local family face to face.  Harlaxton pairs students who apply for the experience with a local family to better understand the culture and see how British families live.  Our family was super nice, and we are going to their house on Sunday.

 Thursday, I had a couple of classes,and then it was time to depart for the London trip.  We got on our bus around 6:15 and left the manor around 6:30. 

The drive was about two hours because we got there quicker than expected.  It was so great to see north London when we were driving to our hotel.  We got to the hotel, got our room keys, and checked out our room.  I was rooming with my Harlaxton roommate, Rachel.  The room was small, but it was nice for just the two of us.  The beds were also like sleeping on the pavement outside, but we didn't mind because we were mainly excited about having our own, private bathroom (I miss that so much).

Thursday night, we wanted to explore the area around our hotel.  We walked around a little park called Russell Square, and Rachel got a great candid shot of me walking.

Friday was a day of stress, adventure, and finally, some good food.  We got up that morning around eight, got dressed, and went to breakfast. That hotel's breakfast was the most unappetizing thing for me.  The big pile of toast they had out was soggy and had been sitting for a while.  They had mushy fruit, and tea that tasted really weird.  After trying to stomach that breakfast, we left to walk to the subway (tube) station just down the street from the hotel. We were all really nervous to ride the tube for the first time, but luckily, one of our British Studies professors, Dr. Baker, was there when we got there.  We asked if we could follow him, so we would know what to do the first time. 

By the time, we got off the tube to change to another line to get to Westminster, we were pros. When we walked out of the tube station, we were standing right in front of Big Ben (it's actually called Elizabeth Tower now.  The bell inside is Big Ben). 

The five of us, me, Rachel, Lauren, Sara, and Brittney walked around the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey to take pictures. We then walked down a beautiful street with the London flat buildings and found a park that was behind Westminster Abbey. 

From the park, there was an amazing view of the Thames river and the London Eye.  We walked across Lamberth Bridge and got even more London-y pictures. 

Walking along southbank to see Big Ben across the river was my favorite place (until I went to Hampstead the next day, more on that later). 

Then, we saw Trafalgar Square.

We decided to take the tube to Oxford Street, a big shopping street.  We found a Nando's restaurant and had the best lunch.

Later that day, Lauren, Rachel, and I decided to take our first black taxi to a Mexican restaurant called Wahaca.  The food was really good. 

When we left, we forgot which way the taxi driver had brought us to the restaurant, so we got lost.  But we got lost in a really nice part of London.  Marylebone and Paddington are the rich houses of central London, and it was really cool to see.  However, the exhaustion and the stress from the day had taken its toll on me, so I got really dizzy when we were lost.  We gave up trying to find our hotel and caught a taxi back.  We were pretty far away from our hotel. 

On Saturday morning, I was feeling a lot better.  I had to get up early to meet my Psychology class in the lobby to travel to the Freud museum.  The tube ride was longer than usual, but it was pretty because it actually went outside at some points.  The Freud museum was on a quiet suburban street in a neighborhood called Hampstead.  This is where my obsession with Hampstead began.

The street was so pretty and quiet, and I absolutely loved it.  I wanted to show Rachel and Brittany Hampstead since they are not in my Psychology class.  We met back at the hotel around noon and decided to travel to Hampstead, which is in Northwest London.  We took the tube to Camden Town to switch, but the tube lines beyond that point were closed for refurbishing.  We had to take the Rail Replacement Service that the London transportation was providing.  So, we got to ride on a famous double decker bus to Hampstead. When we got to Hampstead High Street, we got sidetracked at the Starbucks. 

We then found a old pub online that we wanted to eat at.  It was about mile away, but the walk was beautiful.  It was along Hampstead Heath, which is a park surrounded by a wooded area.  When we got to the pub, called The Spaniards, we were so surprised.  It wasn't a typical pub, it was in a fancy neighborhood and was quite sophisticated.  We sat outside and made plans to come back when we're in London in November, so they will have all of the fairy lights turned on around the table.  The neighborhood was so pretty, and my dream is honestly to live there someday. I loved it! You're still in London, but it's quieter than central London.  It was great.

That night we went to Primark, a clothing store, and it was huge.  It had three stories.  We then went into a French restaurant across the street.  The waiter was weird, but the food was so good.  I had the French onion soup, and it was delicious.  Rachel and I also split a chocolate and banana crepe, which was awesome.

The next morning, we overslept and had an about forty minutes to get ready to meet in the lobby to get on the bus back to Grantham.  We stopped at Hampton Court Palace, where King Henry VIII lived.

In the small community beside the palace, we found this amazing Italian place to eat lunch.  They also played great music, and I think that was the best cappuccino I've ever had.

We then stopped off at Runnymede, where Magna Carta was signed. It was beautiful as well.

After a terribly long ride back to the manor, made that way by the horrible traffic, we were finally back to settle in for classes on Monday.

London was so amazing and surreal, and I can't wait to go back in November and December.  I just want to take a quick second to thank all of my family, especially mom and dad for making this all possible for me.  My dreams that I've had for a long time finally came true this weekend!

Thank you so much mom, dad, and Catherine! I can't wait to show you around in December!

Bye for now.

Love,
Alexandria