Feet on the Ground: London

Hello all! It's been a long time since I've written. Well, it's been a while since I've been anywhere interesting! I am, however, quite behind on my postings! I've spent a whole week in London, and I'm currently in my fourth week in Nashville, TN.

I thought I would fill you all in a little bit on my London trip. It'll be mainly photos, to let you all see some of the fun things I did. And it'll give a little more explanation about what I was seeing that I didn't include in my Facebook album.

Firstly, this trip was made possible through CSU, the university I attend. I had enrolled back a class that's considered a "Marketing Experience Abroad" class. You write a marketing research paper throughout the entire semester, spend a week in another country, and then come home and write a research findings paper. The coolest part is that all the research the class does is for real companies, all based out of Cleveland, Ohio! I can't go into details about my company or what they were researching really, but it was an interesting experience.

Road signs pointing the wrong way, eh?

It still amazes me how you'll have these pretty ornate, old buildings in some small, random town. I forget how young the United States is.

My transportation for the week: the Underground

My first two days in England were spent just going around the city and the town my class was staying in getting settled. Much of the second day I was there was spent in two different research libraries, one being the British Library, which is quite an attraction in itself. The building currently houses the Magna Carta as well as other very old copies of European literature. In order to get a library card to the British Library, you have to be interviewed!

Most of the rest of my week was spent running (sometimes literally) around the city jumping on and off of the Underground trains. I've always loved taking trains, and this time I got to every day! I was actually staying in a hotel in a small town called High Wycombe, which is about a 30-45 minute train ride outside of London. So, every morning I would take the 8 minute walk to the train station and ride into the city. Then I would get off the train and take the Underground entrance to get onto one of the subways to get to wherever I was going.

Surprisingly, it only rained one of the 7 days I was there. However, the day it rained, it rained. And, of course, I had to walk everywhere I had to go that day, so I was a bit soggy by the end of the day. But, it is London, so.

Big Ben is actually right outside one of the Underground stations, and it's the first thing you really see when you walk out, so it's a rather thrilling feeling seeing it for the first time.

I never realized how intricate the clock tower actually is. There's gold inlays all over that thing!

You can see the London Eye over there

Yes, you saw correctly. That is, indeed, Abraham Lincoln

There were two signs like this in the flags area shown blow

Westminster Abbey: gutted I couldn't get inside

Performing arts center/orchestra theater

Royal College of Music: 1 of 9 conservatoires in England

Gotta have at least one photo of these

Freeman and I looking fine

I don't think Mirren appreciated me linking arms with her

Brand is a lot taller than I thought he was...

Roberts gave up her seat for me...

I'm all about that insiders life

Can't forget the Brits I used to love XD

Wardrobe malfunction prevented

If I had half his brain, I'd have half his brain

Got to be there for the first day of Madame Tussaud's Star Wars exhibit!

I don't think he trusts me to drive

One of the courtyards of The Tower of London, which is actually comprised of multiple buildings, and is not just one tower

The room where Sir Walter Raleigh was put under house arrest.

Some of the best moments from the trip were:
-Having one whole day free to sight see
-Meeting my English pen-pal who lives in London
-Taking the Underground everywhere

The worst moments were:
-The day it rained (soggy papers everywhere)
-Not being able to see an off-Broadway show I really wanted to that was playing one of the nights
-Getting a bit nauseous from all the cigarette smoke everywhere

But yeah, so that was most of it! I'm going to link my next post here in case you're interested in the Asian Festival that my parents and I went to on that last day in London.