Londontown -Part One

I arrived in London at 9PM GMT on Saturday, and took the Tube over to Jess and Andrea’s dorm in Waterloo. Being with my friends, in an English speaking country, in one of my favorite cities in the world was definitely the remedy to my Middle Eastern misery.
On Saturday night we went out to a club and had a great time (I love that the legal age is eighteen, it makes life so much easier). The tubes close at 12:30, so we ended up walking back through some of London’s most famous areas, and it was a wonderful welcome to the city. We crossed the Waterloo Bridge and saw Parliament and Big Ben all lit up, as well as the London Eye, and in the other direction St. Paul’s and the Tate Modern.
I have been to London before, on my own and with my family, so I didn’t feel the need to do major site seeing. Sunday morning we woke up late, and Jess and I took the tube to Portobello Market and walked around all afternoon. It is such an adorable area with so much character, we ended up spending hours there. Even the rain couldn’t wreck my mood, as I was having so much fun going into different shops and eating amazing cupcakes at Hummingbird.
When we returned, I went running along the Thames. It was absolutely surreal, as I have been running through the ruins of what used to be the glorious city of Alexandria. I got to run by all of the monuments mentioned before, and felt totally at ease, with nobody staring at me or trying to grab me. Since I enjoyed it so much, I made sure to run again over the next few days!
The rest of the evening was low key, we went out to dinner, and I spent time with them and their suitemates who were great. They live in a suite of six people, and they all have their own rooms and bathrooms, but share a kitchen and common space. It was great to meet new people, and see what a very different abroad experience is like!
Monday morning I woke up to beautiful weather. I was meeting my other sorority sisters, Nina and Julie, as well as their roommate, Mia, for lunch on the other side of the city, and I decided to walk. Throughout my walk (more of a leisurely mosey) I decided that London is so magical for several reasons: 1) there are very few tall buildings, which gives the city a quaint feeling, making it less intimidating than New York 2) the architecture is absolutely beautiful, and so much older than anything in the States, I felt like a Jane Austen character was going to roll up in a coach as I was walking around the city 3) the city is very spread out, and each neighborhood has its own traits, yes this is a characteristic of every major city, but I feel like it is so much more prevalent in this city 4) everyone has such cool accents, and 5) it is a truly international city, there are people from every place in the world, and this is represented by the languages you hear spoken and the excellent ethnic food available on every corner, and because of this characteristic, is easy to feel connected to the city. I didn’t feel like a foreigner or a tourist, I blended in easily, and not because I speak English, but because I could speak any language and be any ethnicity and not get a second glance in London.
Lunch was great! Again, it was so nice to see more friendly faces and hear about all of their abroad experiences. After lunch I met Jess at the National Gallery, which was absolutely beautiful. They have such a comprehensive and diverse collection of art, ranging from Medieval Art all the way through to twentieth century art, and some very contemporary pieces as well. I personally enjoyed the Post-Impressionist section of the museum, and made up for missing the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. We walked back to their dorm, and we made dinner in their kitchen. After dinner I did laundry, which was really exciting. I haven’t used a dryer in months, and right before I left the washer on my floor in the dorm broke. It couldn’t process the detergent for some reason, and just moved the clothes around in water, leaving them discolored and still not clean. After several tries with various machines, I took all my clothes into a shower stall and washed them with a bar of soap…definitely not fun. So needless to say, a real washer/dryer was a fabulous change.
We all took naps and then went out to a club nearby in a big group, as one of the other suitemates had a visitor as well. We walked back from the club (across the suspension bridge), and again saw the skyline which never ceases to amaze and excite me!