My First Full Day in London!
Today, to say the least, has been a whirlwind of a day! After falling asleep last night at the very early time of 9:00 pm, I woke with little problem, for probably the first time in my life, at 7:15 am in order to get ready for my first day orientation. My roommate and I then embarked on the trek to the Fordham London Centre, which ended up being about a 25 minute walk in the slightly rainy weather. Not too bad and the streets are quaint and full of shops, but a bit tedious when on the chillier, wetter side of things.
We ended up getting to orientation pretty early, but it was good so we could really map out how long it would take to walk to the Centre, and so we had first dibs on breakfast! The day mostly consisted of lectures on academics, social life, and safety. Pretty standard orientation, no real highlights except we got a tour of the Fordham campus! Below are some of the pictures- It’s really quite cute!
After Orientation ended, my roommate and I did some more shopping to get settled in. I got a SIM card (finally), and so far it’s working great! It was recommended to get a SIM card from 3 Mobile because it works in a bunch of different countries and is data heavy. My plan costs 20 pounds a month for unlimited data, 3,000 texts, and 300 minutes, so I am very pleased! I figured to go more data heavy because some of my friends have international plans, I can access google maps now whenever I need, and it’s much easier to keep in contact with loved ones back home.
The next part of the day was spent actually enjoying London a bit! By the time all was said and done, most of us just wanted to eat, so we headed out with some of our friends and ended up taking the tube to Big Ben in order to get out of the neighborhood a bit and sight-see. I have been to London before, but seeing Big Ben lit up at night is truly something special.
From there, we headed to the Red Lion Pub on Parliament street. It was nice, nothing special, but the dining room was upstairs and separate from the main pub area so we could enjoy our meal a bit more and relax. I got a Steak and Ale pie with a cider, both of which were pretty good!
To round out the evening, we walked up Parliament Street and saw Trafalgar Square. I definitely want to go back in the daylight, and I’m sure we’ll be back there quite a bit!
Alright, it is time for me to head to bed. We have more orientation tomorrow in the morning, then a bus and boat tour in the afternoon!
Until next post, see you later!
Regina
