Wow! This week has been so packed with activities that I don’t even know where to begin! It was filled with sightseeing and getting to know the city! We started on Monday with a walking tour of the area around the Richmond University campus.  The area we are in is the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in all of London.  There are pictures of this area in the Photo Gallery page for those who want to see it. Just a few minutes’ walk from my dorm building is Kensington High Street; one of the best shopping districts in London! There are also two tube stations and a bunch of little restaurants and pubs. We walked up to High Street Kensington and immediately across the street is Kensington Palace! This is where Queen Victoria was born, Princess Diana lived and Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge are currently living.

On the gates to the palace are memorials to Princess Diana, placed there to remember the anniversary of her death last month.

My roommate Sevaynna and I took our own walk around the palace gardens. It was absolutely beautiful! 

The pond in the center of the park is filled with swans! They swim right up to the edge and pose for pictures!

Tuesday night Sevaynna’s mom took us out to a pub for dinner. I tried my first “authentic” British food: Fish and Chips!

This is traditionally served with mushy pees and tartar sauce.  To me it tasted like a normal American fish fry but it was cool to eat in a real pub. The one we went to is right down the street from my dorm building:

I also rode the underground or "tube" for the first time this week too! It was a lot faster and cleaner than I expected. Londoners also don't like to talk on the tube so it's pretty quiet.

 I also rode a London Red Bus. Londoners are very proud of these.

We also toured the BBC (British Broadcasting Channel) studio and went on a Harry Potter walking tour! (more pictures of that later). So far the weather has been pretty fair and we had to wait 4 days to see even a little bit of rain.

On Sunday everyone who is in the study abroad program got to ride on the London Eye! They put 25 people into each capsule (which is not easy as the wheel keeps moving the whole time). It takes 30 minutes to make one full rotation and while you are up there you have one of the best views of London!

It was a great experience.  We crammed so much into this past week that I'm sure I'm forgetting some things but these are what stood out to me. So far I love the city. There are a lot of small differences that I didn't expect, like the windows have no screens because there are no bugs, the sinks have two faucets, one hot and one cold, and they serve baked beans with breakfast. But all these things have made me appreciate the country I live in and the things I take for granted back home. Today is my first day of classes so it's time to go back to studying!