The Start of Something Beautiful

I have only officially been in London five days but I already know this is one of the greatest cities in the world. It is so beautiful and so unique, every street is different from the last. But let me start from the beginning...

The flight over was long and draining. We had a three hour layover at Reykjavik Airport in Iceland and for some reason believed that even though we were landing at 6am, the sun would rise and we would get to see a little from the airport windows. Well, the sun doesn't come up until 11am and goes back down at 4pm there. Crazy, we saw nothing. But the airport was really nice and the bathrooms were super cool, very modern. I don't know why I was so obsessed with them. 

When we finally landed in London we were all tired from lack of sleep and major time changes. We got our keys and arrived at our flat to find that we were floor E and had to bring all of our bags up five flights of stairs. It was horrible but when we walked in and saw the place we screamed, classic us. It is beautiful!! So perfect and spacious and it has DECALS! We have a small kitchen where we have already made a few meals and a living room. I live in a triple with Perri and Helen and there is also a double, which two girls from Stonehill College live in. We met them after we (Helen) barged into their room while they were sleeping. We made quite the impression. 

Happy Girls 

The first night we unpacked and checked out a pub down the road. I got my first legal beer, it was pretty exciting. The next two days we had orientation where we learned about classes and our internships and got to meet other kids from our program. Everyone was really nice and helpful and excited to have us. Our classes are in the Royal District of Kensington and Chelsea (with Kate and William) but we live in Bloomsbury which is about a twenty minute tube ride. The tube is so nice and clean and well organized and luckily for us we have an unlimited Oyster Card so we can ride the tube and the buses as much and as often as we would like.

We have done lots of sightseeing already too. We walked around Hyde Park and Kensington Palace, which are near CAPA and went on a panoramic bus tour of the whole city which was great because we got to check out a lot of different neighborhoods and see how diverse the city really is. Today we went on a walking tour of Primrose Hill in Regents Park, the highest point in London, and walked down to Camden Markets, which was blocks of little shops selling anything you could imagine and so much food to choose from. 

Streets by CAPA 

This past weekend we checked out a few bars and clubs in the area. On Friday we were trying to go to Saucy but the line was down the block so we ended up at Sway. In London, arriving to a party at midnight is not acceptable, you have to be there at ten if you want to get in. This has been difficult for us Clark kids to handle. But Sway was a lot of fun, not really crowded at first but we danced for hours and by the time we left it was packed. Last night we checked out Chinatown and went to O'Neills, a bar that had three floors, and was so packed you could barely move. Because the tube shuts down around 12 at night we had to take the bus home but we couldn't figure it out and ended up walking what felt like hours back to our flat. Perri and I were especially unhappy because our feet hurt. I feel like all I have done is walk and go up and down stairs since I have been here but at least it is good exercise. 

Primrose Hill 

Tomorrow I start classes and on Tuesday I go for my internship interview at WhizzKidz, a non-profit that provides wheelchairs for disabled children throughout England. If all goes well, I will be interning in their public relations and communications department. The weeks will be busy with classes and my internship everyday but the weekends will be spent exploring this great city. I am so excited to be here and get into a routine and finally be over my jet lag (it was awful in so many ways).     

Cheerio. X