As this adventure continues, I wish more and more that I could detail each and every detail of my activities here. Every moment is exciting and a new experience. However, I don't think even my mother would want to read absolutely every detail of my days and the time and energy required to type it all up is beyond me at this point. However, I shall do my best to find a balance between too much and not enough.
Our first weekend of the semester was definitely jam packed, particularly Saturday. FIE set us up with two tours, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Our morning bus tour was a great way to get the feel for how London is set up, however, 9:30 felt awfully early to be sitting in comfortable chairs in a moving bus. I managed to stay awake, but I know a lot of people didn't!
Probably the coolest thing I learned on that bus trip was that London is so bit that it actually includes two official cities! The technical city of London only covers about one square mile within the greater London area and is only the financial district. The rest of the city is actually the city of Westminster. You know you're entering the city of London because there are dragon statues that guard the entrance.
In the afternoon, we were scheduled for a tour of Parliament. Though I'd initially planned a nap between the tours, our faculty member invited us to lunch with him. He'd initially only mentioned it to two or three people, but all of a sudden there were 13 of us traveling together. We took the tube to Westminster Station and took a walk past Parliament and across the bridge. Our path took us along the Thames and past the London Eye. I wish that we'd had a bit more time to look around because it was full of street performers and people with large bubble blowers and that sort of thing. We wound up finding a cute sandwich cafe for lunch where our professor surprised us by saying that lunch was on him! (Well, probably on Temple, but still)
After lunch, we walked back to Parliament and stood in line for our tour. Though we did have to go through the expected metal detectors, I was surprised at how relaxed security felt in comparison to anything in the US.
Parliament was such a beautiful building and I wish I'd been able to take more pictures inside. However, photography and sitting were not allowed. I've never wanted to sit so much on a tour! They had us stand RIGHT by the benches Parliament sits on but we weren't allowed to sit down (which I get but it still was a pain!). It felt so incredible to be in the same room where everything in British government happens!
While there, I found out something interesting. The phrase "toe the line" actually comes from British Parliament where the parties sit facing each other. There is a red line in the carpet on either side that they cannot cross while debating, no matter how heated things get!
That evening, I braved my social anxiety to go to a club with my roommate and a few of our friends. Though it was certainly an adventure, I don't think that clubs are my thing. It was far too loud and far too crowded and it was impossible to have a conversation with anyone. And I keep telling myself that it was a good experience.
Sunday night was much more to my taste. I spent the evening with a few friends watching the newest episode of Sherlock! Getting to watch it live on BBC, while actually in London was fantastic! Particularly because we were able to point out places we'd been earlier in the week! In addition, watching with a group was a wonderful experience because we were all able to yell at the screen together and share our emotional reactions.
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