Student Bloggers

First week of Class: Settling into Uni (10/1)

My first two weeks of lecture and class went really well. So far, the workload is definitely manageable and as long as you stay on top of the readings there is still plenty of time to explore. This term I am only taking 3 classes, so I have 3.5 hours of lecture a week and 3 hours of class. My classes only have 5-15 people, so the discussions are really helpful. My favorite class so far in my applied environmental economics class.

There are a lot of cool coffee shops around my hall that I have been loving to explore to do my readings at. My favorite so far being the Café Nero in Trafalgar Square. Trafalgar Square is a big tourist spot, so this coffee shop is also a great people watching place. You hear people speaking an abundance of languages and people talking about how amazed they are by London’s beauty.

 Windsor Castle (10/5)

Last Friday we took a day trip to Windsor to see Windsor castle. This happened to be just one week before Andrew and Eugenie’s royal wedding there. Windsor is only an hour and thirty-minute bus ride outside the city. The castle was absolutely beautiful and a must see. There is so much history at the castle that I loved learning about. With the purchase of a ticket, you can get a stamp that lets you have free re-entry to the castle for a year! I definitely want to go back at some point. The town of Windsor was also fun to explore. There were a lot of good shops and fun restaurants.  

 BubbleWrapWaffle (10/5)

Located in China Town, BubbleWrapWaffle is my new favorite treat in London. If you are craving ice cream BubbleWrapWaffle is definitely the place to go. These ice cream cones are made of real waffles and you can customize them with whatever toppings you like. I added peanut butter and bananas and it was absolutely delicious. PLUS, they are very Instagram friendly!

 National Gallery (10/6) and National Portrait Gallery (10/13)

The majority of museums in London are free and a lot of fun to explore. The National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery are both located in Trafalgar square right at the end of my street! There is everything to see from portraits of the royal family to portraits of Ed Sheeran. The gift shops were also really fun to explore whereas they had some very unique London souvenirs.

 Mass at St. Paul’s Cathedral (10/8)

No matter what religion you are, St. Paul’s is a beautiful place to visit. Fun fact: if you go to mass (or a 30 minute Eucharist like I did) you don’t have to pay to see the inside. It was booming with tourist so I didn’t enjoy the mass as much as I had hoped (maybe this was just because I went to a 12:00 mass on a Monday) but it was still definitely worth the trip!