Pounds, Pubs, and Pandas: A Brief Trip to London

Big Ben!                

Friday afternoon I left Greece behind for a weekend in London. Two and a half days wasn't nearly enough time to even begin to see all of the sights, but I made the best attempt I could. With advice from Laura, my British librarian in Greece, and a chance encounter with a random BC friend who is studying in London and I ran into outside a used booksale along the Thams River (very small world), I think I managed to make the most of my brief stay.   

Random run in with a friend from BC--in
London of all places

It was a little shocking to be in a city where i could actually understand what people walking down the street were saying, minus some very thick British accents. I realized I was getting so used to not being understood or being
                                                                     able to understand other people in Thessaloniki. Also I could read the street signs--rather than straining to try and sound them out like I have been doing in Greece. Not having to fous on the language barrier was probably a good thing because it allowed me to focus all my attention on not getting hit by cars. The United States might be strange for using Fahrenheit and our own measuring system, but at least we don't drive down the wrong side of the road. Luckily all the cross walks conviently told me which was to look before crossing.

Kyle and I outside the London Eye

I was met up with my friend Kyle for the weekend who is studying in Leiden, just outside Amersterdam. Seeing a friend from BC was a nice change for the weekend and we had a lot fun, besides walking about 25 miles on Saturday. We started out by visting the Tate Britain Museum, The Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey (from the outside), and of course, Big Ben. One of the great things I learned about London is that food and shopping may be expensive, but their free museums help make up for that fact.

We headed to the London Eye and then got some delicious Thai food at a Pub. Our hostel was in Victoria, pretty centrally located, but it had 21 people sleeping in a room: seven triple decker bunkbeds. Luckily most of the people tended to be college students on spring break or, like us, studying abroad and just visiting for the weekend. We met people from all over--Canada, Australia, New Jersey, Germany, Italy, and Kansas. It was an interesting type of sleeping arrangement, but I'm not sure I'll do it again.

Thames River with Palace of Westminster i

Lions in Trafalgar Square

The next morning we woke up bright and early for our free hostel breakfast. Nothing fancy, but they had peanut butter, which you can't get in Greece, so I was in heaven with my pb&j. We headed out and wandered around enjoying the beatiful sunny day. Seems like everyone else was too. There were runners everywhere (another thing you don't see in Greece), all training for the London Marathon in a month. We walked along the Thames, went to Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, Covent Garden, and Borough Market for lunch. I even tried duck there--tastes like chicken. Andrea, from Greece, was also in London on Saturday and we met up with her for the day. That night we did a pub crawl and got a chance to meet a lot of other students from abroad as well as a couple friendly pandas. 

Trafalgar Square

The tube was pretty hard to navigate, simply because it seemed like half the lines were shut down since they are getting ready for the Olympics in 2012. Or that just might be their excuse... 

Random Panda in Covent Garden
during our Pub Crawl

Sunday night we went to a traditional London pub before  heading to the Gatwick airport for a night of sleeping on the chairs due to our early morning flight. It seemed to be a surprisingly popular place to sleep. We landed in Greece about noon and took the public bus straight to class. It was a rude awakening. Sometimes I forget that I'm studying abroad. 

Ethiopian food from Brick Lane