Athena Sobhan

I have officially been in London for two whole weeks and its been a pretty good one as well. 

I completely forgot to mention my trip to the Houses of Parliament last Saturday.  Our program put together the tour early Saturday morning (which I wasn’t too happy with since I hadn’t gotten much sleep that week and plus I am not a morning person, ESPECIALLY on a weekend), but it turned out to be really cool.  We got to see things like the steps the queen walks up and the throne she sits on when she visits Parliament once a year and other things that I honestly can’t completely remember because I was massively sleep deprived.  The did not allow photos inside but we were able to go into rooms most people aren’t always allowed to see so that was nice.  

I did become quite emotional this week, missing home, my friends, and family. I really do love it here in London so far, however I started to feel quite alone in all the big crowds and trying to get used to the fast pace of the city.  Luckily, I really got through it with the help from Facetiming my parents and that gave me the strength to continue with my week and the rest of my experience.  Like my mom always says, you get stronger after every time you cry. 

Class went on as usual during the week and for my Theatre class on Tuesday, we all went to see Matilda the musical, which was absolutely fantastic.  I wasn’t even aware that Matilda was made into a musical, but it was such an amazing experience, especially since it was my first time attending a professional musical.  If you ever get the chance, definitely go see the show because everything about it was really good, especially the cast, which mainly consists of children who are more professional than a lot of adults (including me).  

On Wednesday, we all headed to the Museum of London for the British Life and Culture class.  The museum mainly carried British historical items like plates, shoes and other items.  They had a display with all types of beautiful dresses, but the most impressive exhibit had to be the Lord Mayor’s of London’s State Coach.  The coach is actually still in use today, making it the oldest ceremonial vehicle in use in the world… WOW! 

On Friday, the program set up a day trip to visit Bath, a town about two hours outside of London.  We got access into the Roman Baths, which was really cool to see where people would bathe in ancient Roman times.  The water in the baths is naturally heated from a natural spring so I was able to get some really cool pictures of the steam coming up from the water.  After the tour, we were allowed to explore around, and thats when I discovered Fudge Kitchen… the life-changing fudge.  They offer samples of the fudge FRESH FROM THE OVEN.  Let me tell you right now, one taste and I told them I wanted to live there.  Of course, they laughed and told me it would be fine with them (though I know that wasn’t true… I mean, who would want a crazy American girl eating fudge all the time living in their shop?). I couldn’t resist the fudge and ended up buying a box to take back and its the best decision I’ve made so far during my time here.  

That was basically my week!  I did a lot of stuff on Sunday, but I will leave that for my next blog post.  Cheers for now!