Seeing the Hilights of London While Being Extremely Jet-Lagged (8/31/14)

CHEERS! It has been a bloody whirlwind of a few days, so here’s a recap of my first few crazy days in London!!!

So DAY 1:

Day 1 was full of not fun orientation events BUT we took a splendid stroll through the Kensington Gardens. I am staying in Olympia which is right next to the posh royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea. My campus is in Kensington Square, one of the oldest and most affluent areas of London. Kensington is home to Kensington Gardens and Kensington Palace where Queen Victoria grew up. It’s so cool to be living in an area so rich with history.

Here’s what I learned/observed right away:

• Everyone is speaking English, but I am still having a hard time picking up the slang/understanding people.
• Americans are loud. British people seem very reserved. We drew a lot of attention while walking through Kensington Gardens in the afternoon because theatre people are louder than your group of average Americans.
• Walking. There is a lot of that. My feet hurt.
• PUBS DONT HAVE HOSTESS STATIONS! A group of 4 people from my program went to a pub to grab some dinner, and we walked in the door and literally stood there for 20 minutes like what???? THEN we figured out that you just sit down and go up to the bar and order your food. I was so confused. But we had some great burgers and chips.

And DAY 2:

So we got an e-mail saying that we are doing an orientation event that is full of sight-seeing in London.  I was expecting to just do a lot of casual walking through London and seeing the fun sights while being jet lagged still. I WAS VERY WRONG. The “orientation event” was a scavenger hunt to visit London’s most famous pubs! It was incredibly fun, but I wish I had been more prepared for this, as I was not ready to be downing pints at 1 pm in the afternoon while my body was still thinking it was 7 am. But it was an absolute blast, and helped me to get a little more comfortable with my surroundings. Today David and I are going to do some more walking around Kensington and we’re going to have dinner at the legendary Harrods department store food court. Anywho enjoy these pictures from the first few days, and look for more updates soon! Over and out, y’all.