Once in London we encountered our first hostel, which was both an overall enjoyable and eye-opening experience. "The Generator" was a cool building in which every floor was a different British theme- James Bond, Alice in Wonderland, Willy Wonka, etc.- and the rooms each had 2 bunk beds that we were luckily able to share exclusively with other Loyola students. Due to the Rugby World Cup, however, it was full of a wide array of different teams and fans from all over the world who had come to watch the games in England so we still met our share of interesting new people (including the particularly loud Argentinian rugby team across the hall, one of whom thought it would be a laugh to drunkenly climb into my bed at 3:30 am after finding the room key on the ground... I didn't laugh).
Despite the fact that we were all still incredibly jet lagged and working on about 6 hours of sleep a night for a consecutive week, we still managed to see just about everything that London has to offer. The first day we went on a walking tour of all of the main touristy attractions- the London Eye, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square- and then had dinner at an amazing mediterranean restaurant. We walked about 13 miles that first day, little did we know that was just the beginning.
The next two days began with a tour of Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London (a castle, contrary to popular belief). After these though, we were set free into the city until dinner. Thankfully we were given day passes for the metro each day, but we still walked around 12 miles on average. Much of this free time was spent in coffee shops or museums attempting to find somewhere to sit and relax, but we also had a few bucket list items that needed to be checked off. The list included cliche things like pictures of Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross and Abbey Road, but then grew to incorporate more spontaneous things like a trip to Borough Market, where I had the best pumpkin tortellini I've ever tasted (also the only one I've ever tasted) and we were asked to play confused tourists for a London Pride beer commercial- still on the lookout for this, stay tuned. The best memory from London, however, was probably sitting in Trafalgar Square trying to catch our breath and having two women from Africa ask us if we would wear shirts to promote their rapper friend "Golden Poppa". If you search the internet carefully you may be able to find a picture of my two close friends in these shirts, smiling in a way that only people too nice to say "no" can. In this respect, we got more pictures than we bargained for.
By the end of this whirlwind of a trip we felt as though we knew every stop on the London underground. On our first day in Newcastle when we went to get SIM cards for our phones we were laughed at by a Geordie man who said "everyone in London is so posh, you'll be glad to be back in Newcastle"- which was very true- but I also enjoyed every second in England's biggest city. Though I'm not sure that I would survive living there for a whole year, it certainly didn't fail to impress or entertain. Having been there twice before when I was younger I expected to remember some bits and pieces, but it was truly a new experience as an independent 20 year old (especially when you have to pay £5 for a pint as a legal participant of happy hour). In the end, I put my British passport to shame and was just as touristy as any other American. Worth it? Absolutely.
Cheers, London.
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