So this past weekend I took a flight to London Gatwick and spent 3 nights with my long time bestie Raina, who is studying at the London School of Economics. And while most of my favorite parts involved people and not places, I can happily write about what I consider to be one of my best weekends studying abroad (also, by far the most expensive).
Raina had class so I adventured solo for a bit: I even went to King's Cross station to take a picture at Platform 9 3/4! (for you Harry Potter fans :)) Yeah it was dorky ... but it's okay if you are super jealous.
If I can recommend only one attraction for someone in London to see it would be the Tower of London. A bit expensive (14.50 pounds for a student, so $23?) but I was there for 3 hours and it was like Disneyland of British history. Which is completely insane- so many details and stories about tortures and famous deaths, conspiracy theories, insane royal problems, and the guide and hired actors do a fabulous job of making it all "come to life". Also the crown jewels are on display: the diamonds in those things are HUGE. Plus it was the location of the infamous Annne Boleyn beheading. Apparently none of the men in my tour group knew anything about Anne Boleyn, except an adorable 9 year old boy from Cheshire. (ps I absolutely love British accents.)
Other things I saw, but only from the outside (everything is soooooo expensive): Westminster Abbey, the Eye of London, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Parliament, etc. etc. And explored Chinatown quite a bit, as well as Soho and Piccadilly Circus. So much fun! (even flying solo)
But like I said before, I was visiting Raina, and despite her classes and studying we had an amazing time. Friday night was definitely the more insane of the two nights: we went to a "End of the Year" Party for her program where I got to meet a lot of her friends, then taxi'ed it over to "Strawberry Moon". I won't go into too much detail but I will say that I at one point attempted to salsa dance to a Justin Bieber song. Also, 8 pounds covers the entry, with no free drink (that's unheard of in Spain...). The music was pretty good- absolutely no house music. But also... there is a stripper pole. And really, you only live once.
BFFF
Should note: I spent more money in 3 days in London than I spent in 5 days in Morocco (and that includes lodging in Morocco, which I didn't need to pay in England). So my credit card was gasping for air by the end.
The schedule in London is super different than that in Madrid. Brits drink right after they get off work, have dinner around 7pm or 8pm then go to a pub till 11pm, then clubs until 2 am or 3am. (This is my understanding, at least) So when the bouncer kicked us out of the club at 3:30am, I was shocked! That's usually the time we get in line to enter the clubs...
Also, British food, for the most part, kind of stinks. Exceptions include Fish and Chips and Scones. But they have amazinggggggg Chinese/ Thai / Indian restaurants, and since those are my favorite kind of foods anyway...
ALSO I FINALLY GOT BUBBLE TEA! twice.
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