London's Calling

When you have to tell your mom you're in London...

This past week was full of many adventures, both in Greece and abroad, from visiting the acropolis yet again to walking on the Queen's grounds I had many new experiences.

Looking up at the massive columns in the Parthenon

I'll start with some highlights from the school week. I got A's on my first two tests, one in my religion class and the other in modern Greek, which is pretty exciting, and even though my grades won't really count back home, it's nice to see that I really am learning a lot here. The next (and coolest) big thing was that I got to go INSIDE of the Parthenon with one of my classes, which was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. It really adds to your perspective of how large the building actually is when you are standing in the cella and look up. It was also satisfying to get to walk around the ropes while everyone else had to just watch from a distance (petty, I know).

London is so pretty!!

That all happened throughout the week, and finally Thursday night came, where I got approximately 3 hours of sleep before I had to make my way to the bus station to ride to the airport at 3am, a I had a plane to catch for London!! As I waited for my gate to be announced, I saw another girl from my program was on the same flight and visiting London for the weekend. After landing, the customs process seemed to take forever, but I finally made it through and took the tube to meet my friend Christine from PLU at King's Cross station. Yes, the King's Cross station, which happens to be approximately 5 minutes away from Christine's apartment.

The British Museum

THE Discobolus

A Caryatid from the Erectheion

I spent my first day getting to know the city by riding around on a double decker bus and walking through the streets. Our first stop was at the British museum (free entrance!!) where I got to see some of my favorite art and architectural pieces, along with more pieces that I learned about in my art history class last semester. Highlights include structural pieces of the Parthenon, the lamassu Assyrian sculptures, many-a-Greek ornaments, and finally the Discobolus. Seeing all this history in front of me was incredible don't get me wrong, it just bothers me that all of the pieces are displaced from their origins and none of them have any context within Britain, other than by conquest. Anyway, we continued on and walked through Trafalgar square and saw M&M world and did some shopping. By the end of the day, I was exhausted from the constant going along with the fact that I was running on the fumes of 3 hours of sleep.

Buckingham Palce

Saturday came around and we planned to first get brunch at a diner that had some good ole American breakfast foods, something I have been craving since I arrived in Europe (the Greeks don't really eat breakfast). So, of course, I got pancakes with bacon and tater tots (they didn't have hasbrowns) and it was fairly good! We then went over to do all the touristy things like see Big Ben and the parliament buildings which were incredibly appealing to the eye. This was followed by a walk over to Buckingham Palace where I got to stand outside the gates and marvel at the Queen's home. After all the tourist adventures, we went to Westfield mall, the largest mall in Europe! I got some American classics like cinnabon and Krispe Kreme and shopped around before meeting my other friend Skylar for dinner at a little burger joint downtown.

In front of Buckingham Palace

The morning of Sunday was bittersweet, as I knew my time in London would soon be coming to an end. I met Skylar again to visit platform 9 3/4 and take the stereotypical phone booth photos before she had to fly back to Spain. I then stopped at a small restaurant for brunch by myself before meeting back with Christine & crew for the rest of the day. We then went to get our nails done followed by lunch at Nando's (a great chicken restaurant, and I love chicken), and finally a stop for gelato before I had to pack up my bags. I am so thankful for Christine and TVan for hosting me in their apartment and showing me around the city this weekend, this trip would have not been possible otherwise. We said our goodbyes and I got on the tube one last time headed to the airport where I departed on an almost 4 hour plane ride back to Athens.

Excuse me, do you know where I might find platform 9 3/4?