Foreign Affairs: Destination London

"Travel has a way of stretching the mind. The stretch comes not from travel's immediate rewards, the inevitable myriad new sights, smells and sounds, but with experiencing firsthand how others do differently what we believed to be the right and only way."

We arrived in London around 11 am on Monday morning. I don’t know quite understand why people hate flying so much—who argues with free food, movies, and wine? After claiming all of our baggage, we took a shuttle to our hostel and settled in as much as possible. The four of us girls are in a room the size of a closet…without a closet. There are six beds, 3 bunked on each side, and two serving as permanent “closets” to our suitcases. Although it was a huge shock at first, we are learning to adjust and create efficient ways of getting ready with no personal space and only two UK plug-ins. Yesterday we met with our professor and visited the Barbican in central London. The Barbican is a very nice residential area in the center of the business district—in fact, it is the most expensive flat to currently rent in the UK. Jeff has a family friend that currently resides in the area who gave us a tour. The area does a great job of keeping the residents away from the crazy traffic with connecting bridges as well as wonderful shopping areas and high security. The man had recently moved there because he is losing his eyesight and needed to learn how to live his life in a completely different way. A few blocks down the street is the Saint Paul Cathedral. One really neat thing about London is the layering of history seen in the architecture; it is quite common to see a new, modern glass structure next to a 15^th century cathedral. Saint Paul Cathedral is currently under construction, but beautiful to say the least. Today we were on our own and visited the London Bridge and the London Tower. We took a tour and even had the opportunity to see the Queen’s Jewel room…very impressive! Even the guys were in awe of the display cases. Later in the evening, Kayla, Nikka, Lisa, and I went out for dinner and a early evening stroll. When looking at a more detailed map of our area, we were thrilled to discover that Prince William and Kate Middleton live within four blocks of our hostel. Of course, we felt it necessary to walk by their gated (and very secured) lot. It was absolutely beautiful! We will be meeting once again with our professor tomorrow to get a Paddington Library pass for our research projects. Hope to update you all again soon!