One of the best parts of studying abroad in London, is the fact that I have such easy access to traveling to close by countries. This past weekend I travelled with my friend to Dublin, Ireland. Dublin has always been a place I’ve really wanted to visit and when I found out how cheap the flight was I knew it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

I arrived in Dublin Saturday morning. We had lunch at a place called the Riverbar right on the river that runs through Dublin, hence it’s name. Afterwards we explored the Temple bar area which was very lively. We visited Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and explored another popular shopping area called Stephens Green. Afterwards we attended the famous Guinness Storehouse, for a tour on how the famous beer is made. Later that night we went to a restaurant called Boxty’s which served traditional Irish food.

On Sunday we attended a guided tour which took us to the famous Cliffs of Moher and the city of Galway. It was awesome getting to see other famous parts of Ireland and our tour guide was awesome. On the bus ride home he played traditional Irish music for us. Our last day was Monday and we just continued exploring the city of Dublin and eating lots of good food.

Ireland was awesome, everyone there was so kind and happy. I’m so happy I got the opportunity to go and visit.

Over this past weekend my friend Alex Zecca visited me for a weekend trip in London. I was super excited to show someone all my favorite places and see someone from back home.

She arrived Friday night, and we ate dinner at an Asian noodle place called Wok to Walk, after we met my other friend at a pub. On Saturday I showed her one of my favorite cafe’s near Oxford street called El&N, we enjoyed lunch and coffee there. After we went shopping on Oxford street and explored the Carnaby area. On Sunday, we did all of the touristy things, we saw buckingham palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the London eye.

The weekend was super fun, and it was awesome getting to show someone all my favorite places around London and share all the things I had learned from living in London so far. Such as navigating the tube, walking around London, and all the tips and tricks.

Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday is always held the Tuesday before ash Wednesday which is the beginning of lent. This year I got to celebrate and eat pancakes at a cute pancake restaurant called My Old Dutch Pancake House in the Chelsea area of London

The Chelsea area is a good ways away from where I live but my friend and I decided to walk there to explore more of London. My program that I cam through was paying for our pancakes so I couldn’t say no to free pancakes. The pancakes here are more like crepes. I got one with ice cream and white chocolate toppings on it. They have so many toppings to choose from it was awesome.

I’m so happy I got to experience this tradition, the British way and enjoy some free pancakes! It also allowed for me to explore a new part of London which was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

I am taking a course here at Westminster University called Creativity. For one of our field trips we visited the Victoria and Albert Museum located in the South Kensington part of London. This area has a number of museums to see and awesome places to eat.

One of my favorite parts of the V&A museum was a fashion exhibit they had. It showcased many different European fashions over the year and the transformation of fashion today. Since I was there for a field trip, I had to do an assignment where I went to one piece in the museum and recorded my thoughts as well as someone else’s thoughts who was also viewing the piece.

The piece I chose was the radical fashion piece from the fashion exhibit. I was super nervous about asking for someone else’s opinion just because I felt it might be awkward and most people do not want to be bothered. But after I recorded my own thoughts on the piece, I got up the courage and asked a women her thoughts on the piece. I explained it was for a school project and she was happy to help me out and shared her thoughts.

Even though it was a small task, I am proud of myself for overcoming my fear and engaging with someone else on the piece. I have never been good with confrontation, especially confronting a stranger. But I think this was a small step in me gaining confidence on interacting with people I normally wouldn’t.

One of my favorite parts of living in London, is all the food. There are countless restaurants and food places to enjoy. This past Saturday I explored the Borough Food Market in London.

They had all kinds of food, pastries, and deserts. They had Mexican, Italian, Asian, and every other possible type of food. I had Asian food from a place called Mei Mei within the market, it was delicious. I also had a croissant from a pastry stand coffee from a columbian coffee company at the market.

I enjoyed just being able to walk around and get a taste from a bunch of different cultures. The market is huge and there is definitely something for everyone. I have always been a huge fan of food markets, I believe it is a great way to get a taste of many cultures in one area. I will definitely being going back to the Borough market very soon.

Through the program I came to London with, I get the opportunity to engage in a number of activities and excursions. One of these activities is High Tea.

High tea was held at a bakery in the Covent Garden area of London, called Brigit’s bakery. When we arrived, everything was all set up for us. We had a menu of various tea options to choose from. I chose a tea called Lundi Light which is a greet tea with lemon and ginger undertones. We each got a our own tea pot of the tea we chose. Along with tea, A variety of finger sandwiches and pastries were served. I ate everything and it was delicious.

Being a huge tea drinker, this was one of the things I was really looking forward to when coming to London. High tea surpassed all my expectations and was a wonderful experience. It was a nice occasion, to dress up with friends and enjoy tea and treats. I definitely would recommend High tea to anyone visiting London and I plan on doing it again while I am here for the next couple of months.

This past week I attended a movie at the Prince Charles Theater in London and I also attended an immersive play of the Great Gatsby. I was super excited to explore more of the theater and film side of London.

On Monday I went to see Taylor Swift’s new documentary, “Miss Americana” at Prince Charles Theater. It is a small movie cinema and allows for an intimate movie experience. It was an awesome experience. I got to the theater and it had a big display for the “Miss Americana” documentary so I took a few photos. It was playing in their downstairs movie room and it had a very cozy feel which I liked. The documentary was great and I really enjoyed the experience. I also went to it alone, which was another cool experience. Doing things alone, especially in a new city can be scary but I think it is a good thing for me to do.

On Wednesday, I attended an immersive play of the Great Gatsby. By immersive, it means the characters come up and interact with you and you feel as if you are a part of the play. It felt almost as if I was attended one of the actual Gatsby parties like in the book or movie. It was a super cool experience and unlike anything I had done before.

Both of these experiences were amazing and I was so happy to explore the play and movie side of London.

One of the nice things about classes here is that each class only takes place once per week which allows me to have my Monday’s and Thursday’s free. This past Monday I decided to take advantage of no class and travel to Oxford with my friend. We took a train to Oxford which took a little under an hour. We spent the whole day exploring the area.

Oxford is mainly known for having the prestigious Oxford University. We explored the campus, Botanic gardens, as well as the covered market they have in Oxford. We had lunch at a local pub called the King’s Arms and the food was great. Overall it was a super fun day.

Exploring new areas has been one of my favorite parts of studying abroad so far. So many cool places are a short train ride away. And the tickets are cheap which is an added bonus. I’m hoping to continue taking advantage of being able to travel to many different parts of England for the rest of my time here.

This week I began my classes here at Westminster University in London. On Tuesday I had a course called Creativity and today I had a course called Introduction to Image Media. Both of which are major classes for me in my study of communications. The classes have difference and similarities to my classes back at home.

One difference is that generally the classes here are much bigger than my classes back at Virginia Wesleyan University. Typically my major classes back home were at most 10-15 students but here the class sizes are well over 30 students. This is an adjustment for me since I won’t have as much personal interaction with my professor as I would back home. To overcome this challenge I plan on visiting my professors more often during their office hours and speaking to them before and after class. I am interested to see how the difference in class sizes changes my learning experience.

Another difference is that here the professors seem to be a bit more laid back, and want you to see them as a friend rather than your superior. For example, my professor for my creativity course told us to call him by his first name. This is new to me and definitely something I will need to get used to.

Although I’ve only two classes so far I’m excited to continue learning and discover more differences in the education system here versus the education system back home.