The trip started off with a six-hour delay at JFK airport Monday afternoon, though that was nothing compared to the cancellation of the Boston flight. Some of those people had to take a flight from Dublin to connect to a flight to London Heathrow.
Once we all got there later on Tuesday morning, we took a bus from Heathrow to the Umi Hotel on Leincester Square in Bayswater. After putting our luggage away we then walked from the hotel to the Ithaca College London Centre in Kensington. On the way we passed through Kensington Gardens in Hyde Park, home to Kensington Palace.
Kensington Palace has been home to minor royalties for the past couple of centuries, including Diana, Princess of Wales. A statue of Queen Victoria is out front, because Kensington Palace is where Princess Victoria learned that she was to be Queen of England.
We toured the London Centre at 35 Harrington Gardens.
That night my flatmates (Randi, Kara, and Sarah) and I ate dinner and walked around Kensington some. I was told that London was home to several American chains but I did NOT expect to see a TJ Maxx (or rather, the UK version TK Maxx). We've also seen Pizza Hut, Cinnabon, Starbucks, McDonald's, American Apparel, Gap, Burger King, KFC, and Baskin-Robbins. I think our favorite would have to be a place we saw in Camden called Mississippi Chicken n' Ribs.
That night my flatmates (Randi, Kara, and Sarah) and I ate dinner and walked around Kensington some. I was told that London was home to several American chains but I did NOT expect to see a TJ Maxx (or rather, the UK version TK Maxx). We've also seen Pizza Hut, Cinnabon, Starbucks, McDonald's, American Apparel, Gap, Burger King, KFC, and Baskin-Robbins. I think our favorite would have to be a place we saw in Camden called Mississippi Chicken n' Ribs.
On Wednesday we began our flat hunt. Let me just say that my flatmates and I seemed to attracted the worst of what was available. For further elaboration, you can ask me. Horrific stories are just waiting to be told! Thankfully, we finally got a flat near our hotel on Queensway in Bayswater.
Sometime during the flathunt Randi, Sarah, Kara, Chris M, and I went to a pub near the hotel and ate our first fish and chips! Way better than shepherd's pie (the real stuff).
Sometime during the flathunt Randi, Sarah, Kara, Chris M, and I went to a pub near the hotel and ate our first fish and chips! Way better than shepherd's pie (the real stuff).
Thursday night the IC students walked to the student union at the Imperial College for a brief orientation. We stopped many times along the way to listen to Bill Sheasgreen, director of the IC London Centre, talk about the various sights. For instance, the building connected to the London Centre was built for Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame and part of a Gilbert family member's ship is on the roof.
On Friday the internships students met and I learned where I may be interning for the semester. I will be at Blurb PR, an independent music PR agency a little northwest of our flat. The only name I knew on their list of clients was Weezer, so I've been looking up the other artists, trying to find clips of their music to listen to. Check out Blurb's Web site: www.blurbpr.co.uk.
After the internship meeting I journeyed to London's West End and Trafalgar Square. My purpose was to visit the National Portrait Gallery.
The NPG was so amazing. It's filled with portraits by or of famous Britons from the Tudor era up through present times. My favorite gallery was of course the Tudor gallery, filled with portraits like the one I have of Anne Boleyn on the upper-right side of this blog, as well as portraits of Queen Elizabeth I and King Henry VIII.
I knew that the NPG was connected to the National Gallery, a more generalized art museum, so I went around the corner a little bit and came upon Trafalgar Square...
...as well as the National Gallery, though I didn't go inside.
Later that evening a few of us went to check out the Buckingham Palace area. By the time we got off the tube, though, it was dark but the palace looked very...majestic in the dark. We plan to revisit Buckingham Palace sometime in the near future to see it during the day and also watch the Changing of the Guard.
Saturday was spent catching up on sleep and beginning to move into our flat. On Sunday my flatmates and I did a whirlwind tour of Westminster but I'll include that in my next entry since this one has already gotten way too long! :-D
3 comments:
I want to hear the horrors of horrors of apartment hunting!
Despite that nightmare, you sound like you're having a wonderful time! Miss you!
BTW, Gamy told me some random hippie girls with loud music moved into our old apartment. And that after I left, the safety check person left our door unlocked so Gamy switched his coffee table with ours because his was messed up and he didn't want to pay for it :)
Hey Brittany,
I feel like I've been on a tour myself. Great post! Miss you.
Love, Mom
shepards pie was the worst thing ughh.
and briana i don't think you wanna hear about our apartment hunt haha it really was horrendous.
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