What a whirlwind first couple of days in London! It started with a bit of a fiasco. Over half of our group got stuck stateside due to weather delays, but I was one of the lucky few who made it onto the original flight. Since not everyone had made it across the pond (and neither of our professors were there – eek!), we didn’t have the coach to take us from the airport to the hotel. Instead, we got to have our first tube experience! The group of us and all of our luggage took up almost an entire car to ourselves, but we did our best to be as respectful as possible. There were only one or two annoyed stares shot our way. The first picture below shows the group waiting for our train. I’ve been to London once before, and the tube was much as I remembered it. I’m no stranger to underground rail systems – I’ve used one to navigate both New York and Paris in years past – but this is the only one that reminds you to “mind the gap.” I’m always so tickled by the robotic voices with British accents! Once we got off the tube we had to haul our luggage up a short flight of stairs, but that short flight felt like climbing to the top of the Tower of London. Thankfully there was a lift to take us the rest of the way up, so we didn’t have to walk up all 175(!) steps to the world above. The rest of the evening was lovely and chill. We had dinner as a group at The London Pub which is just outside of our hotel.
The next day started off relaxed as we were waiting for the rest of the group to arrive after the travel day (or, rather, travel 40 hours) from hell. They were all troopers! Claire, Jade, Reece, and I went to lunch at Mowgli and had some delicious Indian food. Then it was back to the tube, this time with the full group! Traveling in a big group on the tube stresses me out a bit. From making sure that everyone gets on the same train, to putting 20 bodies into a car already full of people, to making sure that everyone gets off the train at the right time, it can be a distressing experience. I’m hoping to be able to get more comfortable with this as the trip moves forward. This slightly stressful experience was quickly overshadowed by our meal at Seven Dials Market. Claire and I each got a burger that actually tasted like real beef and a watermelon paloma. My sister, Talia, was able to join us too! She lives stateside, but her work just happened to take her over to Europe and up to London while we’re here. It has been such a treat to share some time with her on this trip! After the market, we went to see The Mousetrap. Was it a life changing show? No. Did I have a good time? Absolutely!
Today (Thursday) has been very good so far. We started with a walking tour. You don’t get to see what’s above ground in the tube, so I’m very grateful to have walking tours as part of this program. After the tour Talia, Claire, Jade, Reece, and I grabbed a meal and walked around the city. We stopped in at Waterstones, which is like the Barnes and Noble of the UK, and spent over an hour browsing the books. Fortnum & Mason was our next stop – which is basically a super fancy department store. Talia and I split a millionaire shortbread that was TO DIE FOR. I’m going to have to exhibit a lot of self control to not eat only millionaire shortbreads for the rest of this trip. We then made our way back to the hotel on the tube (see the second picture below), which has already become almost second nature to navigate. Next stop is Mean Girls with Talia. So excited for the rest of this trip!
Theatre in London U of A 