17 May 2008-19 May 2008

17 May 2008

Arrived in London!! The flight was fairly easy and I was able to sprawl across three seats and sleep. We were dropped off at our flats which are in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea---it is picturesque!! I have attached a picture I found from Google--but it is much better to see in person! It is one of the richest and nicest areas in all of London so we have been told to make sure to travel to the other boroughs. I live with 5 other girls in the top floor (5th) of the flat. It's quite a hike without an elevator..but good for our legs!! We have two bedrooms, a nice living room, a kitchen and a bathroom.

After that we went to a free fish and chips dinner. The fish was huge and it was the best fried fish I've had.

We took a 1 hour break and then went on a pub crawl around London. It was a great time. However, by the third bar I was starting to fall asleep so I walked home with some girls.

Needless to say, I fell asleep immediately after crawling into bed!

18 May 2008

We woke up bright an early for a coach bus tour around all of London for 4 1/2 hours. The tour was conducted by a bubbly and witty British woman by the name of Trudy. She was a riot and I learned some great English vocabulary! We stopped at the amazing St. Paul's Cathedral and saw the stunning Prince Albert statue. (I'll post pictures of them that I found on Google until I upload my own pictures) We also saw the changing of the guards and the queen's private priest walking down the cobblestone streets. Finally, they dropped everybody off at Piccadilly Circus and had us find our own way home on the tube. Before that though, we spent 4 hours there getting acquainted with the area---we walked a lot but it was amazing--very chic!

With my 5 roommates, we easily found our way home on the tube. That night we went to an Italian restaurant down the street and had a fun roommate dinner. I had pizza with artichokes, capers, tomatoes, mushrooms and peppers--it was inexpensive and very tasty!

19 May 2008

We had lots of orientations today as well as our first two classes--"British Life and Culture" and "International Reporting". In British Life & Culture, we have guest speakers and field trips around London. Im really excited for next week's field trip where we go to Stratford for a day and see Shakespeare's house and an evening performance of "Taming of the Shrew"

That's all for now--I hope to download pictures of my own soon!