Keep Calm and Carry On...

Well it has been an interesting couple of days….

Thursday started off great! My roommates and I started the day off with a meeting with our landlord followed by our first “family meal”. As the eight of us sat down to lunch I realized how excited I was to move in with these people who had been total strangers only a day before. The eight of us get along really well and because of how it worked out (4 groups of 2 combining) everyone seems to have a place and feel comfortable!

After our meeting Kelsey and I met up with Sam, Julie, Jen and Emily and went to the zoo for the day! Though we got there only two hours before it closed we managed to see it all!! A high point was the tigers. Julie kept saying that all the animals were just as polite as the English, always greeting their visitors and giving us a show!

After the zoo we wandered into nearby Regents park. It was straight out of a movie, the weather was perfect and there was a light breeze blowing through the trees.

After our adventure we got back on the tube…During rush hour… I knew there was a reason I avoided the subway at 5ish all summer. Needless to say, it was quite tight.

The night ended with a causal gathering at our local pub, Shakespeare’s Head. Before we left I was trying to downsize the items in my purse but got frustrated when I couldn’t find my smaller wallet and decided to just go and deal with it tomorrow. Big mistake, after literally only a ¼ of my first pint my purse was stolen.

Though this was quite a horrendous experience, I have learned so much from it and met a lot of amazing people through the ordeal. Also if I had to get my purse stolen any night Thursday was the night for it to happen as a group of our student guides, and even one of our professors, were at the table next to us. Our one professor, Brian, was unbelievable, I don’t think I could have gotten through the night without him, he called the police for me, talked to the pub owner, found how to get a hold of American Express, and more importantly gave me a hug when that was all I really needed.

I wont go through all the steps that were post-purse stealing but lets just say there were a lot. I am so grateful to my parents for being so helpful and supportive. Everyone kept saying that I was handling the situation well and I slowly realized that it was because my parents were supporting me so much every step of the way.

Friday started off with a call from the Holburn Police Station getting more details about “the incident”, it was then followed by our registration seminar and fun filled trip to the US embassy for me. As I got off the tube it finally sunk in that the night before was not a dream and had actually happened.

As I walked down North Audley Road towards the embassy (which I conveniently discovered is in my neighbor of Marble Arch) I passed a coffee shop with a huge sign in the window that simply said “Keep Calm and Carry On”.

It instantly became my new motto. I realized that in a few years the pounds that I lost would not be soo important to me and that through this experience I had learned that you definitely cannot trust everyone but that some people care so much and will literally do anything to help. It amazes me that people I have only known for a few days can already feel like family.

Now on to the fun stuff…

Friday afternoon Emily and I went on a run in my (soon to be) new neighborhood of Hyde Park. We didn’t really know where we were going but just figured we would start at Marble Arch and go from there. We ended up going on the most amazing run, we passed the beautiful fountain gardens, the Peter Pan statue (which I was ecstatic about), and crossed over the river. We couldn’t get over how beautiful it was and how picturesque the picnickers were. We vowed to return frequently and to fully explore the park.

After the park we went home to prepare for our club night, we (along with a few dozen of our other SU Abroad classmates) went to the club Sway free of cover thanks to our savvy student guides. It was soo fun! It was my first true experience with British nightlife and it was awesome!

This morning we had another touristy day. It was perfect weather and we decided to go see the Queen’s Gardens in Regents Park. I had seen pictures of the gardens from when my parents were here a few years ago but still didn’t really know what to expect. They were gorgeous! The roses were so beautiful and vibrant and the landscaping was fantastic (I’m running out of adjectives). We walked through all of the gardens but then had some time to kill before the festival that we had planned to go to. We then decided to make like the locals and just lounge in the grass, that turned into a quick power nap for all of us.

It was so quiet and calm you would never know that you were in the middle of a major metropolitan area, it was honestly just as quiet as our back deck at Hidden Valley in the summer. Truly a perfect sunny day and my face is a little tanner as a result!

From the gardens we hopped back on the tube to go to a festival in Trafalgar Square. The festival was to raise money and awareness for all disabilities. We walked around then got sandwiches from a local coffee shop and sat on the steps of the National Gallery.

This is when one of us looked up and realized Big Ben was right in front of us. For all of you that know how much I enjoy puzzles know how hard this is for me to say, but it was honestly straight out of a puzzle it looked so fake!

We then went to meet our landlord who informed us that even though when we were originally looking at our flat we were told we could move in on Sunday we now cant move in until Tuesday. Which means we will have to continue our “gyspy lifestyle”, as Kelsey so perfectly coined it, for a few more days.

Sorry this post is quite long but a lot has happened! One thing I am very happy about is that through the whole purse fiasco I never once just wished I was home (though I did wish that my parents could be teleported across the pond to work through it with me). This has been an amazing experience already and we are only a few days in, I love London and can’t wait for tomorrow to explore even more!

Cheers and good wishes,

Kelli