Day 3 - The First Day of Class

Today was our first day of actual classes.  I am taking two classes here, both of which are taught by ASU professors that will be traveling with us for the entire program.  The first class studies the cultural development of England, Scotland, and Ireland and their relationships with each other through the use of various texts and sites throughout the cities that we will be visiting.  The second class is studying the development and impact of literature and art in England, Scotland, and Ireland from the Romantic, Victorian, and Modern periods.  While these classes do not apply to my major, they are the only classes associated with this particular program, as they are obviously easily integrated with the cities we are visiting and I think they will both turn out to be quite interesting.  Both of our classes are held in the mornings, which leaves the afternoons open for us to go on various field trips or to see some of the many sites throughout the city.

Kensington Gardens

Today's afternoon field trip was a tour of the four main parks in London by one of our professors.  We started in Kensington Park which is not very far from where we are living, then proceeded through Hyde Park, Green Park, and finally St. James Park until we once again ended up in Trafalgar Square, in the center of London.  From Trafalgar Square, I took the Tube back to near where we are staying and went to Whole Foods to get ingredients to make our first home cooked meal.  The Whole Foods here in Kensington is a truly incredible place and was unlike any grocery store I had ever been in before.  The store itself covers three floors and carries everything you can imagine and more, there is even a cheese vault on the bottom floor.  After seeing everything that they have, we are really looking forward to the rest of our home cooked meals.  Today's dinner was a vegetable stir-fry accompanied by several different types of fresh fruit and continued our streak of great meals here in London.

Tomorrow we have class again in the morning followed by a tour of the British Museum.

Day 2

Today was our first full day in London, and as first days go, it was pretty phenomenal.  We started out with an orientation meeting for the London portion of our program, but after the meeting, the excitement of the day truly began.  After the meeting, we went directly to lunch at a small restaurant near Kensington Park.  I had a delicious bacon cheeseburger, which I realize wasn't very British of me, and a much needed cup of coffee.  With lunch complete, it was time to begin our sightseeing adventure through London.  

The Front of Westminster Abbey

We met up with the group and got on a bus that would drive us through the city to show us some of the most important and famous sites.  The first stop on our tour was Westminster Abbey where we got off the bus and took a tour of the inside of the Abbey.  I had been through Westminster Abbey on a previous trip, but it was really interesting to learn more about the construction of the abbey and some of the people who are buried there.  The way that various monarchs had each constructed a portion of the abbey over several centuries and yet still seemed to blend all of the individual parts to create a fairly uniform look was amazing.  In addition to the astounding architecture, the politics of the process to select who would be honored inside the abbey was quite interesting.  I was surprised to learn that Charles Darwin is actually buried inside the abbey, which I think is quite ironic given his contributions to the scientific community.  After completing the tour of the abbey, we got back on the bus and continued on our tour of the city.  For the rest of the tour, we didn't get off the bus, instead we just drove by various sites and learned about them from our tour guide.  Some of the sites we drove by included the National Gallery, which I am planning on returning to visit; Buckingham Palace; the River Thames; and Trafalgar Square.  The tour concluded in Piccadilly Circus where we got off of the bus and were set free to find our way back to the apartments.  

View of the London Eye From St. James Park

As we walked through central London, our group gradually got smaller as people broke off and decided to go their separate ways and explore different parts of the city.  Together with a few friends,  I walked across the River Thames and walked through the area surrounding the London Eye.  We decided not to ride the eye, since we had all already been on it on previous trips and didn't want to waste the time standing in line when we could be seeing more of the city.  As we approached Parliament, we crossed back over the river and started to make our way back to our apartments.  On our way back, we walked through St. James park which was absolutely magnificent.  From there we walked by Buckingham Palace, through we will have to go back at some point to see the changing of the guard.  Once we had seen the palace, we decided that it was time to get dinner and get back to our apartments.  

The fastest way to get back to the apartments was the Tube, the subway system in London, so we made our way to the nearest station, and after a few minutes staring at a map, got on a train hoping that we were headed in the right direction.  Sure enough we were on the right train and were soon back in the neighborhood of our apartments.  For dinner, we decided on Thai food and found a place that looked pretty good, so we sat down and enjoyed the best Thai food that I have ever eaten.  After dinner, we called it a night and returned to our apartments to get ready for our first actual classes which are tomorrow morning. 

Post 1 - I Made It

First of all, welcome to my 2013 study abroad travel blog.  I am planning on blogging about my experiences as well as the things that I find most interesting and most different from the culture that I'm used to back in the United States.  I appreciate you taking the time to follow my travels and hope you enjoy what I have to say.  

The first day of the trip was quite exciting, though somewhat uneventful.  The day really started when I boarded the plane in Phoenix and upon reaching my seat, met several other ASU students who are also participating in the program.  The flight itself was fairly uneventful, partially due to the in-flight entertainment system being broken, and I did not get very much sleep, but after about nine and a half hours of flying, we finally touched down in London.  Full of excitement we got of the plane ready to start exploring the wonderful city that will be our home for the next few weeks.  

In Kensington Park

After making our way through customs, we joined the other students on the trip who had arrived earlier in the day, and got on a bus that would take us to our apartments in the Kensington district of London.  After dropping our things off in the rooms, we ventured out to explore the area and find something to eat for dinner. We walked through the streets of London until we came to Kensington Park, where we sat and enjoyed the nice sunny day.  The park was a really amazing place.  There were some people who were just strolling through the park enjoying the weather like we were, but there were also others having picnic dinners and even some singing and dancing.  It didn't take long however, before we realized just how hungry we really were and set of in search of a place for dinner.  We came across a nice looking pub, where we sat down for our first official meal in London.  I had a Steak and Ale Pot Pie which, contrary to what I had heard about the food in England,  was actually quite delicious.  After dinner, we stopped at the local grocery store to pick up some supplies for tomorrow's breakfast and then headed back to the dorms.  

All-in-all the first day of the trip was a good one.  It's great to finally be here and I'm really excited for what I am confident will be an amazing trip.