Day 5 (Last day) - British Museum, Abbey Road, Shoreditch
Hey there! Today was officially the last full day of our trip to England, and I am so so so so sad. I am most definitely not ready to face the reality of school again. Why. Why school.
I woke up in the morning filled with anticipation; there was still so much to do in this city but not enough time to do it all. I was so impatient because I wanted all of us to get on the road as soon as possible!! We headed to the British Museum, which was very grand and was overwhelmingly filled with thousands of artifacts from all over the world and time periods. The most famous of those being the Rosetta Stone. My favorite exhibits would have to be the Greek and Roman sculptures. Exhibits like these make me so impressed with the human capability-- even thousands of years ago, human beings could create the most beautiful and intricate works of art without all the technology we're so used to now. It was amazing to look at how detailed and well-crafted each work of art was. However, we could only spend about an hour in the museum, and after a quick look around the AMAZING gift shop, we went across the street to the Museum Tavern, a pub where Carl Marx allegedly had a pint. |
Next, me and a couple friends made our way to Abbey Road, where The Beatles' famous album cover was taken. I also got to meet up with my cousin Leo, who attend the University of Surrey and whoI've only ever hung out with in Hong Kong. It was so nice to be able to catch up with him since seeing him in December! My good buddy Emily is the hugest fan of The Beatles. She was so excited, she was nearly hyperventilating and close to crying when we finally got to the street. I was so happy for her. I managed to avoid the cars passing through the busy street to take a picture of her crossing! (on the right) It was difficult because there were so many people trying to take the same picture, but since Abbey Road is still a fully functional street, we had to keep watch to avoid getting hit.
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Emily somehow found the address of Paul McCartney's house, not far from Abbey Road... and of course we had to go there for Emily. The quaint brick home was protected by a tall gate and security camera, probably to keep people like Emily out. Emily was so overcome with her obsession, she kept a leaf that Allie plucked from a tree growing in Paul's front yard. I helped her take a lot of pictures and told her I was willing to give her a boost if she wanted to break in HAHA. I was seriously so happy to see her dream of connecting to The Beatles come true.
After leaving Abbey Road (Emily says now she can finally die happy), we followed Allie to Shoreditch, where we explored a bunch of vintage and really quite hipster stores. The streets were filled with young hip people and almost every wall was covered in graffiti and street art, Banksy style. I didn't really buy much because stuff is so expensive!!! But it was cool to see anyways.
For dinner, we went back to the hotel to meet up with everyone else to walk together to an Indian restaurant called Zaza. I got the chicken tiki masala and it was great! I guess some other people didn't think so... so of course I helped them finish. Until I was absolutely bursting. Most of us decided on going out to a bar together for one last hurrah in the city, which I was really excited for! |
We went to a nearby bar, Apples & Pears, which was pretty nice but SO EXPENSIVE (no surprises there of course...). I personally thought the DJ was bumping and had fun dancing, but I guess some of our group didn't think so. We left after a bit and we split up, some going to an American diner for ice cream, and the rest of us girls going to a pub next door. I had an awesome time with the girls, and it made me so glad I stayed out with them to get to know them all :)
Sigh. I can't believe it's already the night before we're leaving to go back home. It feels seriously like yesterday when I was boarding the plane with these classmates I barely knew. I AM REALLY SAD. I'M NOT READY TO LEAVE.......
Thanks for reading.
Michelle
Sigh. I can't believe it's already the night before we're leaving to go back home. It feels seriously like yesterday when I was boarding the plane with these classmates I barely knew. I AM REALLY SAD. I'M NOT READY TO LEAVE.......
Thanks for reading.
Michelle
Day 4 - Oxford
HELLO FRIENDS! Today was day 4 of London and unfortunately, it rained all freaking day. We had to wake up so early to leave the hotel by 8:15. After a long ride on the Tube, we headed to the Paddington train station to take the hour-long train ride to Oxford. And guess what?
We missed the freaking train. And oh wait guess what? We missed the second one that left literally 2 minutes after that. So we had to wait another half an hour for the next one. LOL of course. But eventually, we made it on, and I am so surprised at how punctual the trains are here, compared to the Amtrak, which in my experience, has been delayed five hours on me before. These trains left right on the minute, which was really impressive, but was so inconvenient for us at the moment. We arrived after an hour-long ride through the rural side of England, passing through fields and farms and small houses, spotting the occasional horse or sheep. While waiting for our tour guide, our entire group was distracted by this enormous flock of pigeons that flew down around us to peck at crumbs. Pigeons seriously have no shame and just do not care who they disturb. While we were watching them, all of a sudden, the pigeons are like "SQUAD OUT" and freaking flap away at the same time, scaring the hell out of all of us. For some reason, I remember this moment as one of the highlights of the day. So we took a tour of Balliol College, one of 38 colleges of Oxford. While we toured, it started raining, and our tour guide thought it would be a good idea to just speak to us in the rain. The tour started out interesting, but as it got colder and wetter outside, I just wasn't with it toward the end. It was hard to believe that students actually attend this school, especially because it didn't seem like there were any students around, and everything was just so old and set up like a museum. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it was hard for me to imagine people actually studying and living here, because... it was just so old? The feel was extremely different from U of I, and although this is an extremely prestigious school, it seemed intimating and ancient. The tour guide also explained to us several university traditions as well as the university structure, and it was SO different from American universities and just kind of weird and unnecessary. I was also kind of disappointed because we didn't get to see the sites where the Harry Potter movies were filmed )': What I was more interested in were the shops and restaurants in the city of Oxford. It was hard for me to be as captivated by the school, as grand and historic as it is, because of the awful weather. The streets were full of people shopping even in the rain. My friends and I got to visit bookstores, Oxford and Harry Potter souvenir shops, and a covered marketplace. It was fun, but the rain made it pretty suckish. It was a loooooong ride back to the hotel. Enough about Oxford. Fast forward to dinner, which was kind of the only other really eventful thing that happened today. Emily, Steffie, Camille, and I asked the lady at the front desk what restaurants she recommended, and she told us about a Turkish restaurant, called EFES, a five-minute walk away. It was DELICIOUS if I must say. I got chicken and lamb shish kebabs!!! Note: A lot of places in London close really early, which is lame. But yeah... tomorrow is finally the last full day of my spring break trip. ): I'm so sad about that. NOOOOOOOOO. Stay tuned. Tomorrow will be bomb. Michelle |
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Day 3 - Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace
Hello, today was my third day in London, which consisted mostly of sightseeing. I can't believe tomorrow is my second to last day already! UGHHHH I CRYYYYYYY
In the morning, we took a tour of The Tower of London. I'd been there before with my family but everything seemed new to me... and everything seemed way creepier. We could see prisoners' etches in the walls and see the site where so many people were beheaded. There were a ton of narrow staircases, low hallways, and dark rooms that I just wanted to get out of as soon as possible. The coolest part was seeing the Crown Jewels, consisting of priceless crowns, jewelry, scepters, spoons, maces, and more made out of gold and encrusted with a million precious stones. It really made me think about how fluffy and ornamental and decorative British culture is, especially since when the royal family honestly doesn't really do much except act as figureheads, but they're such a huge part of British culture and really contribute to the British economy. Did you know the current Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II, is 90 years old and is the longest reigning monarch in British history? Crazy. We could watch the guards with tall bearskin hats and huge rifles march around guarding entrances, we saw old armor used back in the day, and we got to listen to yeomen talk about all the weird things that have happened here. Old Europe is weird man, like with the horrible monarchs executing their wives and torturing people they didn't like. After all that business, we took the Tube to Westminster to take a tour of Westminster Abbey, where the Queen was coronated and where Prince William and Kate Middleton got married. It is extremely grand inside with incredibly intricate architecture, but I didn't get much sleep last night, and all we really did was walk around looking at tombs of dead people, so I wasn't feeling it too much. |
After that, me and a 5 other girls decided to go to Buckingham Palace. One of the girls, Steffie, is really into the British royal family so she was super excited to take a look. We ended up going to the wrong building and visited the Horse Cavalry or whatever first, where we witnessed the "Punishment Parade," a daily 4:00 check up of the guards' uniforms and stature. Basically, one dude with a tall plumed helmet yelled a lot at some other dudes with tall plumed helmets. His voice would crack, however, and LOL I would just freaking lose it.
We finally found the way to Buckingham Palace by talking to a really old street artist, cutting through St. James Park and being interrupted by police escorting a mysterious car from the palace... WHICH OF THE ROYAL FAMILY COULD IT HAVE BEEN??? Anyways, Buckingham Palace was cool but we couldn't go inside because tours don't happen this time of year so all we could do was take selfies with the gorgeous building and practice our obnoxious British accents. I really got to get close with the 5 other girls, which was really awesome.
We finally found the way to Buckingham Palace by talking to a really old street artist, cutting through St. James Park and being interrupted by police escorting a mysterious car from the palace... WHICH OF THE ROYAL FAMILY COULD IT HAVE BEEN??? Anyways, Buckingham Palace was cool but we couldn't go inside because tours don't happen this time of year so all we could do was take selfies with the gorgeous building and practice our obnoxious British accents. I really got to get close with the 5 other girls, which was really awesome.
Then we hurried to Burough Market to get dinner with a College of Media alum, a climate journalist. The beer-battered fish and chips are so goddamn expensive but whatever, you know. Authentic British cuisine. After a satisfying dinner, we went back to the hotel and me and 4 other girls went to the pub down the street from our hotel called The Black Horse. I ordered a cocktail called "Strawberry Woo Woo" and it cost me 9 FREAKING POUNDS. Everything is just so expensive in this freaking city! It costs 5 pounds to freaking PLAY POOL... so we did not. But if you know me, you know I literally cannot handle alcohol, so I could barely drink even half of my fruity little pink drink. I am so lame. But it was an experience! :D
I've been seriously having the time of my life here, and I hope you guys have enjoyed reading some of this haha. I can't believe we only have two full days left ;_; Check back soon! Michelle |
Day 2 - BBC, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, King's Cross
HI ALL it's me, welcome back to my ratchet London blog, and the first thing I want to say is... LONDON IS AMAZING. IT IS LITERALLY THE SECOND DAY HERE AND I AM HAVING THE FREAKING TIME OF MY LIFE. There is so so so much I wish I could write about and whenever I'm back at the hotel with this awful wifi, I'm typing like a mile a minute trying to type everything that I experienced today. But I'm trying my best! Thanks for keeping up with me!
First thing I want to mention is LMAO THE ACCENTS. Like, mostly everyone is speaking English right, but seriously sometimes I cannot hear what some people are saying. Like while we were on the Underground today, there was an announcement, and I had to ask if it was spoken in English because there are so many different accents and they are each so particular and people will pronounce English words SO differently. It is just the oddest but the coolest thing. We left sharp at 9am this morning to head to BBC Headquarters. We took the Tube a couple stops to Great Portland Street. The Underground is really similar to Hong Kong's subway station, so it felt really familiar. After walking for a bit, we arrived at BBC for our scheduled 10:00 tour. In short, BBC was AWESOME. It just so happened that today, an awful terror attack unfortunately happened in Belgium, so it was interesting to see the breaking news being featured at the headquarters. BBC is an open 8-story building that doesn't include any enclosed offices. There is a huge news floor with hundreds of broadcast journalists sitting at desks uploading and writing news stories both domestic and global. It was seriously so so so cool to see. Working at The Daily Illini is already so stressful; I can't even imagine what it's like working at this national news station. There was so much to learn about BBC-- the enthusiastic tour guides were throwing information at us left and right. We got to go on the set of "The One Show," a live talk show that often brings celebrities on. We got to sit on the same couches that Hillary Clinton, Julie Andrews, Matt LeBlanc, and Jim Parsons have sat on, CRAZY!! It was cool seeing the older, more historical parts of the BBC too, because it started broadcasting wayyyy back in the day during the 1920's during the World War. The best parts of the tour were the the INTERACTIVE parts. Me and two of my classmates got to sit in a mock set up with the table where anchors sit at and a green screen where the weatherman stands. I got to be a weatherwoman for two minutes. They played a mock weather broadcast and LOL I got to ad lib and explain this fake weather broadcast and I think I was funny because I didn't know what I was doing and everyone was laughing. Definitely one of the highlights of my day! :D |
After the amazing BBC tour, we took the Tube to Charing Cross to visit Trafalgar Square, right in front of the National Portrait Gallery, and it is an understatement when I say it was absolutely BREATHTAKING. There were a ton of street performers: There was a guy beatboxing (he was INSANELY talented), people dressed up as floating Yodas, musicians singing their hearts out, and so much more. There were guys who went around putting bracelets on girls and then asked for money. I ran away from them because I just didn't want to be guilt tripped into giving him money. There was a guy in all white sitting on a toilet seat who let anyone paint anything on him; I got to talk to him for a bit. There was someone making beautiful handmade wire rings and giving them away for FREE just to make people happy. It was awesome. Oh yeah, we went to the National Portrait Gallery too but I wasn't that big on most the old European paintings we saw in there. There were some interesting things I looked at in there, like a "naked" exhibit (all the artwork included nude people) and a speaker who gave a history lesson on The Beatles. We grabbed lunch at Pret A Manger and sat outside in the sunshine eating our food, serenaded by the coos of pigeons (haha not rly) and a nearby guitarist.
Next, we visited a creative agency, mcgarrybowen, where we got to learn about their cool campaigns for Honda... and that's that only one I remember LOL. But it was cool because I love the carefree vibe of ad agencies. Everyone who worked there was cool and hip and young. That will be me one day (-:
Next, we visited a creative agency, mcgarrybowen, where we got to learn about their cool campaigns for Honda... and that's that only one I remember LOL. But it was cool because I love the carefree vibe of ad agencies. Everyone who worked there was cool and hip and young. That will be me one day (-:
FYI, the architecture in London is just so intricate and gorgeous. I haven't seen anything like that anywhere in the U.S. I could spend hours walking around just looking at the various buildings. I wish I could upload them all up here but I'll just put them up on Facebook for you guys to see just how detailed and unique each building is.
After the ad agency, we had free time. AND OF COURSE I WENT SHOPPING!!! We took the Tube to Covent Garden, a huge touristy shopping area. Oh my god it was so awesome. I LOVE artisan handmade stuff, as well as that super touristy stuff, as well as just THINGS IN GENERAL. I bought tea, chocolate, a London sweater, biscuits, postcards, a keychain.... They had some of the cutest and quirky stationary stores, like Kikki K and Paper Chase, and I was seriously struggling not to give them everything I had because I WANTED EVERYTHING SO BAD I WANTED TO CRY )': Stuff in London is NOT cheap so I had to control myself. We ate lunch at this higher end restaurant called The Ivy, which was honestly pretty expensive and had small portions, but the restaurant was cute I guess, haha. Then of course on our way back to the hotel, me and a few other girls stopped King's Cross Station. There was an entire freaking line to get picture with the Platform 9 3/4 and GOD I WAS SO EXCITED. Any of you guys who know me know that I (well, used to be) am the hugest Harry Potter nerd ever so I was literally crying at this opportunity. T_T YESSSSSSS and we proceeded to take a ton of photos with our scarves (which they provided) flying. Dream come true and an upgrade from the shopping cart we stole my senior year for our homecoming decorations LOL. The five of us in my little group took a group photo and we considered buying it for a second, but it was so expensive like everything else in the store (5 pounds for a cheap keychain, 30 pounds for a sweater, 3 pounds for some stickers... naw). We chatted a bit with the photo cashier lady, who was super funny, and she ended up giving us the code for the digital copy of our photo for FREE!! Just because she liked us haha. So that was another highlight! I'll post it on Facebook later!! (: After that, we were pretty tired so we headed back to the hotel and oh man I was so so so happy and satisfied with what we did today. I wish I could type out every single detail of everything that happened today because IT WAS THAT AWESOME. SERIOUSLY. I am loving London and it is only the second day. Can't believe it'll already be Wednesday tomorrow. Also, a few people in my group are considering checking out the gentlemen's club across the street from our hotel.. so many sure you stay tuned for that HAHAHA. Thanks for listening! Michelle |
Day 1 - Arrival
I love traveling.... but I honestly hate it. I love the actual BEING at the final destination, but the ACTUAL ACT of TRAVELING, like getting to the airport or terminal or whatever and being on the bus or plane, I absolutely hate. HATE. You can ask me personally what travel horror stories I have later (I have too many).
The food on the plane wasn't half bad; it was like pasta and salad for dinner and then yogurt and granola for breakfast. (Side note: Why is salad a thing. It is leaves. You are literally eating PLAIN RAW LEAVES. Props to you people who regularly eat salad.) It is so hard for me to fall asleep on planes because there is nowhere to rest my head?? It was a rough flight because I couldn't tell when I was awake and when I was sleeping. I would doze off but wake up abruptly because my head would drop forward. The flight was around 7 hours long, over 4000 miles. On the right is a pic of me hating flying. (-: |
SO WE ARRIVE AT HEATHROW around 11:30 AM in the early afternoon, but since it seems like I'm the only one in my entire travel group without an international phone plan, all I can use is wifi. So no live updates, folks, sorry. Don't be too disappointed.
I am absolutely EXHAUSTED and feeling like straight up trash because like I said, the entire flight was a freaking blur. Our entire group is made up of 11 girls, 3 guys, with the associate dean of U of I's College of Media, and his wife. All 16 of get this HUGE tour bus to ourselves (I take an entire aisle to myself) and it's another hour to get to the real city of London from Heathrow. I'm struggling to stay awake to look at all the cool exciting things outside, but it's too damn hard and I conk out for most of the entire bus ride. I did, however, catch when the dean pointed out the building where DAN RADCLIFFE went to school before he got famous. AMAZING!! He also pointed out the area of London where Robert Pattinson grew up. I wake up in a freaking daze when we finally arrive to The Premier Inn, where we're staying. And this is where it really hits me, when we put our stuff upstairs in our rooms, that I AM CURRENTLY BACK IN LONDON YO. |
After I shower and start to feel less like a freaking bag of trash, we're briefed on our full itinerary for the trip. Then all of us along with the dean, Julian, and his wife, Beth, head out for a walk across the Thames River! We got to cross the Tower Bridge, catch a glimpse of the Tower of London, and see the whole freaking beautiful skyline of London. I seriously have never taken this many pictures in this short of a time frame. I LITERALLY TOOK PICS OF EVERY MILDLY INTERESTING THING I SAW. Our entire group was THAT group of tourists with our iPhones jumping out of our pockets any time we walked past anything. But then again, could you blame us?? A few members of our group had never even been out of the country before.
It was pretty cold outside, around mid-40's with a ton of wind. It almost felt like I hadn't left Chicago. But oh my gosh, the city of London is SO INCREDIBLY diverse. I could hear so many different kinds of accents and languages and see so many different shades of skin as we cut through the crowds of Londoners and other tourists on the busy busy streets. Kind of a common theme that I noticed is juxtaposition (wow big word Michelle v cool). The whole city is filled with it. I almost immediately noticed the gaping contrast between the glass and metal skyscrapers and the old brick buildings with columns. There was a ton of construction happening on the streets; even a cultural and financial hub like this one is still growing. Tall cranes interrupt the skyline and hundreds of metal rods criss-cross over developing buildings. I can only imagine how different the city would look in another ten years or so. It was so interesting to me how in the middle of the streets, like smack dab in the freaking middle, would be some sort of historical monument amid restaurants and pubs and stores. What's also weird about the London streets is that they're not laid out like a grid with parallel and perpendicular streets, like they are back home. The streets go all over the place at weird angles so I don't know how anyone keeps track of that lol.
All the stores and restaurants are so distinctive on the inside and there is so much diversity in the food, OH MAN. It makes me sad just thinking about all the places I won't be able to go to. ): I loved looking at the window art and the various typography within each unit. I could go on and on and on about this. We walked around for a good 2 hours until we were STARVING and went to eat dinner at a pub near our hotel, where I tried good ol' fashioned British PIE!
Ok I wrote a lot but I thank you very much if you've gotten this far. There's so much more that I want to talk about but there just isn't time for that you feel me?? And I need to sleep. Tomorrow is another day in this beautiful city! This first day was really fun to talk about and I'm excited to share more of my trip with you guys. Again, sorry for the gross layout and spacing of this all. But I have a few more pictures below!
(am I supposed to sign off lol)
Michelle
It was pretty cold outside, around mid-40's with a ton of wind. It almost felt like I hadn't left Chicago. But oh my gosh, the city of London is SO INCREDIBLY diverse. I could hear so many different kinds of accents and languages and see so many different shades of skin as we cut through the crowds of Londoners and other tourists on the busy busy streets. Kind of a common theme that I noticed is juxtaposition (wow big word Michelle v cool). The whole city is filled with it. I almost immediately noticed the gaping contrast between the glass and metal skyscrapers and the old brick buildings with columns. There was a ton of construction happening on the streets; even a cultural and financial hub like this one is still growing. Tall cranes interrupt the skyline and hundreds of metal rods criss-cross over developing buildings. I can only imagine how different the city would look in another ten years or so. It was so interesting to me how in the middle of the streets, like smack dab in the freaking middle, would be some sort of historical monument amid restaurants and pubs and stores. What's also weird about the London streets is that they're not laid out like a grid with parallel and perpendicular streets, like they are back home. The streets go all over the place at weird angles so I don't know how anyone keeps track of that lol.
All the stores and restaurants are so distinctive on the inside and there is so much diversity in the food, OH MAN. It makes me sad just thinking about all the places I won't be able to go to. ): I loved looking at the window art and the various typography within each unit. I could go on and on and on about this. We walked around for a good 2 hours until we were STARVING and went to eat dinner at a pub near our hotel, where I tried good ol' fashioned British PIE!
Ok I wrote a lot but I thank you very much if you've gotten this far. There's so much more that I want to talk about but there just isn't time for that you feel me?? And I need to sleep. Tomorrow is another day in this beautiful city! This first day was really fun to talk about and I'm excited to share more of my trip with you guys. Again, sorry for the gross layout and spacing of this all. But I have a few more pictures below!
(am I supposed to sign off lol)
Michelle