Student Bloggers

First Pub Trip (9/19)

Our first night in London we decided to embrace ourselves in the culture by taking our first trip to the pub. We went to Belgo which is right by LSE and then went for a walk to see the LSE campus afterward. Initially, I didn’t experience much culture shock. We all agree that London reminds us a lot of our home city, Boston.

Tower of London and Borough Market (9/21)

During Arcadia Orientation, we got to explore the Tower of London. This was a perfect thing to do during our first few days because we learned about so much history. Not to mention, we absolutely loved seeing the crown jewels. Afterward, we walked across Tower Bridge and headed to Borough’s Market for lunch. Borough’s Market was overwhelming with so many people and so much to choose from. I finally decided on the London classic, fish and chips. The area Borough’s market is located in, is very modern and reminds us of the seaport district in Boston. There is a lot to do in this area, I can’t wait to go back and explore.

The British Museum (9/22)

A rainy day in London calls for some free museum exploring. Luckily, this was really the only rainy day we have had in the past two weeks. We decided to check out The British Museum which was located just a short walk from the hotel we were staying at. As an economics major, I really enjoyed the exhibit “The Beginning of Money”. We also loved seeing the Tiffany & Co. cash register. Afterward, to avoid the rain, we hopped on a double-decker bus and explored the surrounding area while being protected from the rain.

Moving into Northumberland (9/23)

By this point, we had been in London for 5 days and I finally started to adjust to the time difference. I was very excited to move into Northumberland and explore the area I would be living in. Northumberland is located right down the street from Trafalgar Square. The buildings in this area are beautiful and I am only a 10-minute walk from Big Ben and right across the river from the London Eye! Pretty much everything we need is within walking distance, making Northumberland the perfect place to live. The only downside is Northumberland is self-catered, meaning we would have to cook for ourselves. It was difficult at first to find groceries that we were used to; but after shopping at a few different places we found things we were used to at the local Co-op. London surprisingly has a lot of the restaurants we are used to so that is comforting knowing there is always a familiar option such as Chipotle, Five Guys, TGI Fridays and even McDonald’s.

General Course River Cruise (9/24)

The General Course River Cruise was a great way to kick off our year at LSE. I got to meet so many students from all over. Everyone was so friendly and eager to introduce themselves to people. From the water, we got a great view of the city lit up at night. We had great views of Parliament, the London Eye and we even cruised under Tower Bridge.

The London Eye (9/26)

Our first few weeks we have definitely been doing a lot of the touristy things. We got a great discount on the London Eye through the LSE General Course social calendar. It was great to experience during the first few weeks because we got to see a full layout of the city, to get a better understanding of where everything is located.

Girls Trip to Notting Hill (9/29)

We decided to take the tube to explore the colorful houses of Notting Hill. Just a block away from the tube station, we found Hillgate Place, which was perfect for taking Instagram pictures. Then we decided to shop and get something to eat at Portobello Market. You definitely have to go to Notting Hill hungry. There were so many options of pretty much any type of food you can imagine. It was the perfect day trip!