Now that my semester abroad is over, here’s a re-cap of the things I will miss most about life in London.
1. Camden Market. Still my favorite spot in the city. Not even Hyde park and the German Christmas markets can top it. I wish I took a video walking around in Camden, the pictures I have cannot begin to capture what it’s like.
Horse tunnel section of Camden Market
International food stalls
The last month of my semester abroad was absolutely crazy. In addition to traveling out of the country three times and writing five papers, I also tackled a long bucket list of things I needed to do and see in London before I left.
1. The Natural History Museum. Visited the weekend my cousin Versailles came to visit. The most impressive thing about this museum isn’t the exhibits themselves, but the architecture in the main hallway. But the dinosaur exhibit was also good for a few laughs.
Main hallway in the Natural History Museum
From November through the middle of December, London was transformed into a magical Christmas paradise. I have never loved Christmas more than I did this semester. Earlier I wrote about the Piccadilly Christmas lighting…well, Christmas in London only got better from there. My favorite Christmas attractions in London included:
1. Somerset House Ice Rink. There were ice rinks everywhere in London: outside the Natural History museum, next to the Tower of London, in front of the London Eye, but Somerset House was my favorite one. I might be a little biased because it was literally right next door to King’s Strand campus.
Somerset ice rink and tree
I still need to write up posts about my Host UK weekend (with visits to Lacock, Cirencester and Bath) and my weekend in Rome. But unfortunately, not failing out of school this semester might be slightly more important than blogging. In the meantime, enjoy this photo of the wonderful Thanksgiving feast my flatmate Stephen cooked up. I was convinced I wasn’t going to have a Thanksgiving celebration this year, but it turns out my British flatmates were more excited to celebrate than I was. We went all out with pilgrim/Indian headbands and hand turkeys. Stephen even managed to cook a pumpkin pie, which was delicious!
With the mounting pile of papers and assignments I’m facing toward the end of the semester, it’s easy to forget why I love being abroad. But then I have a conversation or an experience that wouldn’t be possible back home and it reminds me why I came here. For example, this week I went out for coffee with two girls from my criminology class. One is studying law in Germany, the other in New Zealand. It was really interesting to hear about their university structure and legal systems. Here’s what I learned:
Last week my friends and I went up to Picadilly Circus for the official Christmas lighting ceremony. The ceremony turned on all the Christmas lights up and down Regent street for the holiday season. I came to London knowing I would have to give up celebrating Thanksgiving…what I didn’t anticipate was the extra twenty days of Christmas I would receive in return. Basically, as soon as the 5th of November passes, the entire city of London starts preparing for Christmas.
The 5th of November is Guy Fawkes Day. The holiday originated in Britian so it’s a huge deal over here. We celebrated it London-style by attending one of the many fireworks displays in the city. When I say many I’m not kidding…there were about 20 different displays to choose from in the London area, just on Saturday night.
This is my walk home from class. On days when it isn’t cloudy, I still can’t get over how incredible this is.
Is quite different from Halloween in America. Not necessarily in a negative way since I still had a great Halloween weekend here in London, but there were definitely moments where I was homesick. Serious nostalgia for AU’s campus and embassy row trick-or-treating!
My Life as a World Traveler 