Pirates in the Park

I've become best friends with all of the professor's kids. Who needs to bond with other students when you can be the favorite of 4 kids under 10? We play in the park quite frequently. Kensington Gardens has an awesome Peter Pan playground and some even better bushes just outside of it that are instantly transformed into secret pirate headquarters. Even though it might appear as such...I really wasn't the only one dressed as a pirate.

Just on the street where I live...

This is it! 27 Palace Court. It's such a cool street, in a really nice neighborhood with all kinds of cool things to do right around the corner. We're so lucky to be able to live here. As our professors keep reminding us...we live in a very "posh" place. It's actually in the Notting Hill area, in case you really want to rent that movie and see what it looks like. Kensington Gardens is right across the street and Embassy Row is also really close.
Kensington was also a key area in the literary movements of the late 1800s early 1900s in which hundreds of expatriates gathered to London to write. We live in the same neighborhood as Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, D. H. Lawrence, etc., which makes for a really fun English class.

A Few of My Favorite Things

The first week of our study abroad was absolutely crazy. I really think that we walked the entire span of London and got a quick overview of everything in three days. I've never been so tired. We saw so many cool things though, lots of things that I really can't wait to go back and visit for longer. Here are a few of the things I loved the most.


This first picture captures the biggest reason why I love London so much. You can see a building that was built hundreds and hundreds of years ago, directly backed by a brand new skyscraper which is a major "icon" of London today. Where else in the world are the layers and layers of history and the present so intermixed? Definitely no where in the US. There is so much behind this place, so many things that have been left by others for me to discover. I love it. The age and the cultural depth of this place fascinates me. I don't know of another place like it.



The Tower Bridge/Tower of London might be my favorite thing I've seen so far. We walked along the South of the Thames at night so all of the bridges were lit up...and it was rainy and just beautiful.


This is the London Eye and the Aquarium...it's one of the first things you see as you come out of the Tube station in Westminster. I just loved the sight of it over the Thames.



This one goes without saying. The houses of Parliament are so amazing. So elaborate and gaudy and just really really cool. And they're HUGE! I hope I get to go in there and watch some Lords in action soon.


Here's another view of Victoria Tower at the Houses of Parliament. It's beautiful!


I truly love the Tube. We've spent a lot of time together and become best friends. Really.



They have statues EVERYWHERE! I'm sure all of them have a lot of meaning but this one just really seemed to be...well...different. Her name is Venus. Honestly that's not what I thought of when I looked at her. I tried to make friends anyway.



These guys were playing a mean game of what appears to be Wizard's Chess. Where else would that happen in the middle of a square?

WICKED!

All my hopes and dreams came true when we got to go see Wicked. I've waited a long time to see it and I loved every minute. I think that the whole hopes and dreams coming true thing seems to be a daily event here. :)

Try another sweet?

Alright, so basically what it comes down to is that I've eaten WAY too much sugar since I've gotten here. Chocolate has become a basic food group. Oh well I guess, I don't see that changing anytime soon. So I've decided to just embrace it. A few of my favorites so far: waffles! Orange Chocolate Golden Crunch, Double Deckers, Boost, Hob Nobs, Yog Fruit Digestives, any pastry, Cadbury Crunch McFlurries...the list goes on.