London is just one of those places that, as an American girl, sounds so dreamy and perfect. London is where all those perfect looking British boys with their sexy accents come from. London is extremely fashionable is a more eccentric way than Paris. London is full of elegant tea rooms where you can get afternoon tea every single day. They have the underground and the red double decker buses. They have Big Ben, the London Eye, and Buckingham Palace. I was so excited to finally get my chance to go see it all for myself.

I spent a majority of high school watching youtube vloggers and most of the vloggers on youtube are in fact, British. So I spent all this time watching people live fun lives in this foreign country and it had always made me want to go. When I was trying to choose where I would apply to study abroad it came down to Paris and London. I wanted to pick London so badly, but everyone was telling me "it's just the older America" and I knew the language aspect of Paris would be a good challenge for me. But now that I had made into Europe, I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to make a quick trip over an ocean to see this city that I had built up so much in my mind.

That ended up being a problem for me. I had built up the city too much in my mind that nothing could meet these expectations. It's just another city and didn't deserve to be held to such a high regard. Yes, it was so lovely and I enjoyed every bit of my time there, but by the end of the trip instead of regretting choosing Paris like I thought I would, I was pretty excited to get back to my city. Anywho, time for the details of my three days in London.

Day One..

Now London was not on most people's list for their abroad travels, at least in my program. It was becoming difficult to find a travel buddy, but I didn't let that stop me. I booked my overnight buses there and back and was ready to travel alone. Granted this was a much easier decision knowing that I could communicate with locals in English and easily read all street signs was very reassuring. I got on a bus just before midnight on a Thursday and after nine hours of going through an annoying amount of border control and traveling by boat to a new country, I found myself waking up at 8 am Friday morning (there's a time zone change, I know how to do math) in London, England.

After getting a feel for the city and figuring out where I needed to go, I headed to my first stop, the Sassoon beauty school. I had the idea put in my mind that getting a haircut during my visit was a good idea because it was cheap and I could communicate what I wanted with someone who understood me. After becoming a new person, I walked up Oxford Street, popping in and out of shops. I bought something at a Boots, a personal bucket-list item for me. Did a little bit of shopping at Primark, which was one of the most crowded stores I have even been in. Eventually, I made my way to the end and went straight into hyde park which was just massive and beautiful.

All of that was just killing time until my reservation for what I really came to London for. Sketch. The most wonderful and perfect tea room I have ever seen. I spent a pretty penny to sit in this blush pink room surrounded by cute artwork while sipping tea and eating delicious pastries, sandwiches, and scones. There was no shame in being the sole person enjoying a tea for one because it made me so happy. I will daydream about this experience till the end of time. I also had to take a trip to their bathroom because it is well known for being this crazy experience with the colored lights on the ceiling and egg-shaped pods as toilet stalls. Sketch stole my heart so points for London on that one.



After my proper English afternoon tea, I met up with the friend and fellow bulldog that I was crashing with for the weekend. (super big shout out to him for saving me lots of money on a free bed) He was studying in London in a theater program, so being that we both had theater in common, we went to go see a musical for the evening. School of Rock, it was totally awesome. It was extremely well done and the kids in the show had talent beyond their years. We left totally in awe of the production. After a quick nightcap at a British pub, we called it a night and day one of London was done.

Day Two..

The next morning we planned on getting an early start to see all the hot spots of the city. From Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square. Big Ben and the London Eye. Tower Bridge and Shakespeares Globe. Borough  Market and Saint Pauls. Every postcard place you could think of. With all of this plus a stop for fish and chips and walking around a little Christmas market, we were somehow done before 4 pm. It put into perspective how close everything was together and how small the city can seem. With all of that time, my friend couldn't think of anything else to show me and I had already shown him a few things he had never seen before.


We caught a 4 pm service at Saint Paul's and then wandered over to Piccadilly Circus to see if we could find any cheap tickets to see another show that night. We bought tickets for In The Heights and still needed to kill time until the show. We went ahead and got ourselves some dinner from Nandos (thanks to One Direction for that suggestion) and had some yummy chicken. The show was being held next to Kings Cross Station so we went over early to see the famous platform and 9 and 3/4. I was a bit disappointed by how underwhelming it all was. It seemed like the station had recently been remodeled so it wasn't as charming as in Harry Potter, and the little photo op for the platform was just a section of a wall next to a store full of Harry Potter merch. In the Heights was great though. I knew nothing of the story other than it was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda who has yet to fail me. It ended up being a perfect way to end the night.

Day Three..

Sunday was a slow and relaxing day. I wanted to go explore Notting Hill and this little part of the city did not disappoint. The little townhouse apartments in perfect rows and the bright colored doors were something I could only dream of living in. Portobello Road was lined with shops that would strike my fancy any day. Amazing thrifts and vintage and little small business shops, my heart. At the end of this road, there was a little flea and food market, something that's right up my alley. Stopped for a pulled duck sandwich that was to die for and only cost 4 pounds, the cheapest thing I had seen in the city during my entire trip. Sadly the sun went down and after a final stroll through Hyde Park in the pitch black night, it was time to head back to Paris.



Now back to what I said at the beginning, I am by no means saying I didn't enjoy my stay in London. I loved so many parts of it. I think what disappointed me was how small and underwhelming the city seemed to me. There was nothing that truly screamed special. A lot of the stuff that I did enjoy I could probably find very similar things back in the states. London is far too expensive and that's saying something coming from Paris. The city seemed to give into commercialism a lot more than I've noticed in Paris. I was surprised by how hard it became to find things to do. I am so grateful that Paris has a never ending list that I know I'm not going to be able to finish in even these three whole months. London was great and I'm so glad I went and am excited to come back someday. This trip just really reassured me that Paris was the perfect decision for me, even if I didn't realize it in the first place.

xoxo
Julia Carrington