Hello, London!

The British Museum of Natural History

I made it to London!!!!! It is so charming here - that’s the best word I can think of to describe it.

The accents, the buildings, and landscape - everything just makes me want to smile. All of the buildings

and houses are either made of brick or are white, and the part of London that we are in is full of international

embassies and beautiful museums.

A beautiful little church I stumbled upon just a few blocks from my flat.

I made it from the airport to my flat by myself by taking the tube, which was fun. I felt so resourceful. :)
Once I made it to the flat, we met up with our group and took a quick walking tour of the area of London we are in.
We took a quick walk through Hyde park, which was beautiful. There were walking paths and bikers and lots of
people out for an afternoon stroll. However, it was blustery and very windy, so everyone was wiping pollen and
dust from their eyes the whole time. The other thing I love is that everything is so GREEN! As i took the tube into
London, I loved seeing the smaller houses surrounded by fields and trees and so much green life.

This is a memorial that Queen Victoria built to commemorate her husband Albert after his death. It is in Hyde park.

Making some friends at Hyde Park!

Here are my favorite cultural experiences so far:

• Since driving is reversed here (driving on the left-hand side), people also walk on the left-hand side.
  I nearly ran into a few people because I was walking on the “wrong” side of the sidewalk.
• Our flat is really nice, but on the instruction sheet, they said to make sure to “turn off the hob”
  when you are done using it. I guess the hob is the stove top. Who knew?
• A lady in the tube said she was out of “cough sweets,” which is the coolest name for cough drops
  I’ve ever heard and I’m pretty sure I’m going to start calling them that now. :)
• Also, I was totally humming the Harry Potter theme song to myself all day after I saw the name
  "King's Cross Station" on the map.

All in all, I’ve really liked London so far. I’m exhausted and haven’t seen much of it other than the small
section we walked around today, but I can say that I’ve navigated the tube and bought groceries here,
so that’s cool. Also, side note, they totally have Jane Austen on their 10 pound note, and I think that is so
stinkin’ cool. There aren’t any U.S. bills with women on them, and here they’ve got Jane Austen and a quote
about reading on their 10 pound note! I love it! America, let’s put some women on our bills!

Am I allowed to say that I'm in Austenland, now? :) If you can't read it, the quote beneath her says, "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!"