London & Life Lessons

I distinctly remember the day we moved into our apartments. After I had everything settled and unpacked, I sat down on my bed and looked at the week-by-week calendar they gave us. That was probably the moment it really hit me that I was going to be over here for an extended period of time, it seemed like an overwhelming amount of weeks and it made me pretty nervous. Now I sit here, more than half way through March and I just can't understand where all those weeks went.

London
We took off from Verona fairly early on the 10th and arrived to our AirBnB around one. We finally made it to a country where we could communicate in the native language and we still had a hard time finding where to go and reading signs. I remember the man taking people's bags for the bus asking me a question and I immediately thought to myself "oh shit I don't know how to communicate what I want with this guy." But hahaha joke's on me because it was finally English!!

Our AirBnB was really close to the River Thames and just about a 10 minute walk to Big Ben so we immediately took off to explore there, not without almost being killed by about 5 cars (you have to look right, not left!!). Big Ben was stunning and a lot more elaborate than I realized. I was also surprised to find it was a lot less crowded in this area than I was expecting, I suppose it is March though. We continued to wander the city-never stopping to say "aww" at every red phone booth and double-decker bus and especially when any British person spoke. Magic, I tell ya.

We were famished so I pleaded to Madison and Elizabeth that we stop for fish and chips so we went off a little side road and found an authentic English pub bustling with English men drinking beer. I don't know where to begin with the meal here. Fish and chips are one of my favorite meals already but it was just so comforting to be served this hefty slab of golden crispy fish on a bed of fries, served with a side of hunks of bread with even bigger hunks of better.

I was truly made to eat this meal.

We must have looked a little confused when we walked in because a 50-something man came up to us and instructed us to find a table and then go up to the bar to order. I think he was a few beers in because he then came and sat with us when we were finished eating. This man was probably my favorite character in London. He asked us about the food and made sure to tell us that we "shouldn't care what anyone thinks, eat whatever you want!" He told us that we shouldn't listen to doctors (sorry, Mac) because butter was definitely good for you. He told us about how he had grown up in London and worked moving books into important places. "If you look behind King Charles III's scrolls, you will find 'Rob was here.'" I was just about snorting beer out of my nose because this man was so funny. But as much as we laughed at his stories, Rob did say something that stuck with me. He told us to never let anyone or anything scare us but he told us this like he had full confidence in us. I know it's silly but it was kind of empowering. Rob was awesome.

We then went on to scope out Buckingham Palace where we had a few failed attempts getting the queen's attention and making the guards laugh. We made our way up the stunning walkway to Admiralty Arch and entered into Trafalgar Square. We continued on to the Piccadilly Circus area which is so stinking cool. I've never been to New York but it feels like a cooler, more laid-back, British version of an area there. It was fairly crowded and there were lights and screens everywhere, displaying whatever show was being performed there that night. There were street performers and tourist shops. I just really loved this place.

We ended up finding fairly cheap tickets and told the man we didn't really care that much what show we were seeing. We were given tickets to Jersey Boys in the Piccadilly Theater and I am changed for life. I'd heard of the show before obviously, but had never really known what it was about. I'm 100% positive I did not stop smiling that whole time, I was close to jumping out of my seat. It was wonderful and now I've been on a Frankie Valli kick. Dope side note, they had a free service that allowed you to order drinks right to your seat-house rosé it is.

Pretty tired after all of our accomplishments, we enjoyed a moonlight stroll back to our place along Big Ben and the river.

The next day we were on a mission to find a place to put our bags for the day which required some effort and muscle. Along the way we stopped at this adorable, all organic place right along the river and underneath the London Eye. I am a tea fiend and I just wouldn't have forgiven myself if I didn't indulge when I was there.

All organic robust tea with this amazing scone, whipped cream and jam.

We finally came to a train station that agreed to hold our bags until midnight and made the smart move to purchase an "Oyster Card" which was only five pounds and allowed us to ride any of the buses all day-highly suggest this investment if you're going to London. Especially if you're like me and riding on the top level of the bus is an activity in and of itself. 

We took the bus (and screamed in delight the whole way) to St. Paul's Cathedral which was massive and beautiful, and strolled along Millennium Bridge. We really needed to find a bathroom and weren't feeling like paying so Madison taught me this cool new trick where you stroll right into a hotel, pretend to be on your phone and say something like "yeah, I'm in the lobby," and then find the bathroom. Travel hacks!!!!

We continued on our way to the London Bridge which was actually very beautiful and then hopped on another bus to the British Museum. The museum itself was very cool with interesting architecture-all white and spiraling. We took another bus (we really really loved the bus) to King's Cross but skipped out on the Harry Potter stuff because it was crazy crowded.

We went back to Piccadilly Circus (you can guess how we got there) and met up with Elizabeth's friend from school who is studying in Dublin and visiting London for the weekend. It's so wild to meet up with people like that across the ocean. It truly makes you realize just how small of a world it is. 

From there we went to the Ice Bar which was hard to find but SO COOL. It was tucked away in this little side-street alley-ish area that was definitely the cool place to be. They threw a cloak and gloves on us and sent us into a room made completely out of ice. We drank cocktails out of an ice cube and licked the ice sculptures (definitely not supposed to do this but yolo).

My mom really hates this next part but if you've traveled a lot, you've definitely had an experience like this so I'm sure you'll get a kick out of it. We made our way to the train station to pick up our bags and then spent an hour trying to find the stop the airport shuttle was picking us up at. We arrived at the airport around 1:30 AM for a flight that was at 6:30 AM. We found a nice spot on the ground by the men's bathroom (only open place available) and set up camp to be homeless for the night. Even now I can't stop laughing about this situation, I've never felt like more of a peasant. I really didn't sleep hardly at all because of the people stopping and staring at us. To top it all off, we were woken up by an airport employee knocking on the wall by us and saying "you must get up now, we're open for business!" Ahhh, memories. We were able to check in around 4, grabbed some Starbucks (!!!) and boarded around 6:15. When it was all said and done, we got back to the apartment around 11. I slept from 11:30 AM-7 PM and was worried I wouldn't sleep that night but I was so tired I still got another 8 hours of sleep!

Verona

I've heard a lot of inquiries about whether or not I'm actually attending school here and the answer is indeed yes! I actually had two midterms last week so don't worry about my academics! I will say it is pretty difficult to concentrate on International Marketing when you live in Italy and are planning trips to different countries every weekend but my grades are just fine;)

I dedicated a lot of writing to London because I really truly loved it so much. I've never left a place and had a feeling of unfinished business there. I felt so at home which is cheesy and overdone but there was just something so special about that city. I will go back there without a doubt in my mind, maybe for an extended period of time.

My friends went to Paris this weekend but I opted out because I will be going there the 29th-1st so this weekend I had quite a bit of alone time. If there is something that study abroad has taught me that I know for sure I will use the rest of my life, it is how to be okay with being alone. Get out of bed, get ready for the day and get out there on your own. It's scary to walk into a random cafe here sometimes where the old men stare at you and you struggle with your Italian but it has to teach you how to appreciate yourself. I can't describe it. I've really grown to enjoy my alone time and doing things just for me, all alone. I've been thinking a lot about something a dance choreographer told me one time, "you're gonna have to start learning to like yourself because you're the only person you're going to have for the rest of your life."

I also just want to take a second to say that if you're thinking about studying abroad, please do it. I get emotional when I think about it (whoa no way, me emotional?) but it really has changed so much for me. I've learned so much about myself. I've changed the way I think about the world and about other people. The old me saw all the weeks in that packet as so frightening, away from home and completely on my own but who I've become craves even more of that. Not that I don't miss home and all the people there (PS I REALLY MISS YOU GUYS) but I've realized just how important and life changing it is to challenge yourself to experience something completely out of your element. I love every minute here. How good is this dang life.