The GoGlobal Blog

Author: Joomi Lee

My name is Joomi Lee and I am from Columbus, Ohio. I am currently a junior at Loyola University Chicago majoring in Advertising & Public Relations with a minor in Business Administration. For my semester abroad, I will be traveling to the city of London, England and I couldn't me more excited! Living in Chicago made me want to experience more cities bursting with culture and diversity. I am most excited to immerse myself through the food, the culture and the people and hopefully you will be able to call me a “Londoner” by the end of my semester abroad. I hope to show you what my life is like in London as I dive into another adventure!
Chinese New Year: Year of the Monkey

Chinese New Year: Year of the Monkey

2016 is the year of the monkey and London held quite a celebration for this Chinese New Year. People of all ages and backgrounds were in attendance and it was exciting to experience the largest Chinese New Year celebration outside of Asia. With events being held in Trafalgar Square and nearby China Town there was an abundance of things to see and do, as people rang in the new year.

It was a very busy scene where the celebrations were being held, with everyone coming out to take part. I was able to try a few different foods and get a glimpse of the traditional dragon dance on the streets of China Town. Seeing the amount of people who were there to celebrate, I could tell that London was a great place to be for the year of the monkey.

London, I’m Here.

London, I’m Here.

 

I’ve been in London for a week now and have been getting settled into this new and amazing city. My flight arrived early in the morning at Heathrow Airport and I took the underground to Kings Cross Station. Taking the train rather than a taxi saved me a lot of money. Coming from Chicago I felt like I would be able to handle the public transportation and luckily I ended up in the right place.

I am glad that I took the  train into the city because I was able to sit for the 45 minutes it takes to get there and take in the views along the route. As I sat on the train I noticed how almost everyone was reading a book or the morning paper, which was quite refreshing to see.

Once I checked into my residence hall, I roamed around Islington looking for… towels. I figured it would be easy to purchase some but after walking around aimlessly for miles, I decided to hop on the underground and go to Oxford Street where I ended up at a very popular shopping area. Although browsing the stores would have been fun, I was drained by all the traveling so I bought only the necessities and got back to my place.

The next few days were spent at orientation and checking out a few of the sites in London. The International Programmes Office sponsored a bus and boat tour for us to get a brief view of the city. The tour gave us  a glimpse into the popular spots, so later on we are able to go back to the places we like. We stopped by Big Ben, Kensington Palace, Tower Bridge and the London Eye to name a few of the popular sites.

Most of my time so far has been spent exploring the surrounding neighborhoods and getting comfortable in my new place. Hopefully once the first week of school is over I will be able to start planning out how I want my semester to go!