London is amazing! I am so grateful to be here in this beautiful city and to learn about all the history behind it. I'm a nerd, I know. So I guess I will just go through the past few days and update y'all.
Tuesday we mainly just got settled into the apartments and fought off jet lag. I was able to stay up until around 11 o’clock and the next couple days I got a bit tired but I think that I successfully prevented jet lag! We had to get towels and groceries and I just unpacked that day.
Wednesday classes started and after class we had to go to the library to get our library cards. Afterward Jenna, Lauren, Kaylee, Maddi, and I got on the double decker and just rode around London. We saw mainly the suburbs but it was gorgeous and such a cool experience. We sat up on top so we were able to see out without any obstruction! I also took the tube for the first time and it was amazing! I love the public transportation here! Ah!
Friday
was such a long day but so amazing. We went to the Tower of London. I think it
is my new favorite place. I LOVED it. We had a tour with a Beefeater and they
are the queen’s bodyguards and they protect the crown jewels at the Tower.
Andy, the Beefeater, was saying that you have to be retired military to be
considered for the job and that their families live with them at the Tower. It
was so neat to be able to learn about the history and make connections to what
I have been learning about in my classes. I think that it will stick with me a
lot better and that I will be able to retain so much more. It was so
interesting to learn about Henry VIII and the wives that he had killed along
with the two boy princes that were killed there. Afterward we went on one of
our walks around London. This walk was around Londinium, the city that the
Romans first built. We were able to see the Roman walls from 400 AD along with
where the prisoners at the Tower were executed. I think that it is so amazing
that the English keep their history alive. Instead of tearing down the old,
they have preserved it and built around it. I feel like if we had Roman walls
in America they would be long gone because we are constantly trying to tear
down the old and make everything newer and better. On our walk we were also
able to go inside two churches. They were so gorgeous. It was great to see how
they had modernized over the years through the architecture. You could see that
they started out pretty simple and as other influences came in they became more
ornate and decorated.
After
our walk on Friday I went with Spencer and Ryan to see The Mousetrap! It is
based off an Agatha Christie novel and is a murder mystery. It was similar to
Clue in the plotline and it was SOOOOOOO good! It is the longest running show
and has been playing for over 60 years! Crazy! It was so good though that it
was obvious why it is still around! (That picture is currently being dumb so perhaps I will upload it later)
Saturday was a pretty chill day. I got homework done and went for a stroll
through Hyde Park. There is just so much history there and it is so gorgeous. I
could spend all my time there! On my walk I saw Kensington Palace (where
William and Kate reside) and the Italian Gardens that King Albert had
commissioned as a present for Victoria. I just had the best time thinking about
all the history! Queen played one of their legendary concerts there and I LOVE
Queen! Afterward I went with Hillary and Jarom to go sit on the bus some more
and we went and got kebabs at a Lebanese place. It was so embarrassing! Jarom
made us look like complete idiots and the whole thing was embarrassing. The guy
behind me started singing the Star Spangled Banner and afterward Jarom told us
we needed to tone down our Americanness… whatever that means. But it was a good
day overall and I am so excited to experience and do everything that this great
city has to offer!
Anyway, I am so grateful to be here and to take everything in. I absolutely cannot wait for the rest of this trip!
Cheers!
Morgan
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