LONDON Calling!!

It's about 8:30pm here in Uppsala and it's finally starting to feel like Spring! We just had Daylight Savings in Sweden and the days are already feeling sooo long! The sun was shining until just about an hour ago and according to the locals, it'll only take a couple more weeks until we have sunshine until 10pm (I can only imagine what effect that will have on my sleep schedule!).
Anyways, I have so much to update you on after spending an entire week in London! The trip was organized by the media department I've been taking classes through, so I'm sure the parental units will be happy to know that it was educational in more than one way! The class trip itself didn't start until last Tuesday, but I left Sweden early last Saturday to road trip through the outskirts of London with six other girls. Since there was seven of us total for the road trip, we had it all planned out to rent a van and enjoy the scenery of Windsor, Salisbury, and Bath. Unfortunately, we didn't find out until we got into London's airport that you have to be a minimum of 23 years old to rent and drive a van. After dealing with this minor glitch in the plans, we ended up renting two smaller cars and formed a mini caravan! Looking back on it, I'd say two smaller cars ended up really adding to the experience of the road trip as a whole, as we got lost, had to pull over, and anticipate the leading car's sudden lane switches multiple times throughout the trip (keep in mind that the driver's seat is on the opposite side of the car and they drive on the opposite side of the street in London, with a ridiculous amount of round-abouts!). But we survived! The first stop on the map was Windsor Castle, in the small town of Windsor (go figure haha), and it was beautiful! The castle is gigantic and Windsor itself is this cutsie, very 'European town.'

Windsor Castle, the queen's "summer house"

We spent the first night in Salisbury (about a 2 hour drive from Windsor) and were pleasantly surprised to discover our hostel was on a farm! Literally there were horses, goats, chickens, rabbits, ducks, etc. in the back yard, along with toy tractors!

The front of our hostel!

Playing on the farm!

After playing on the farm (yes this included tractor races and petting the horses!) the next morning, we headed back on the road to the next stop on the map, Stonehenge! I'd say Stonehenge is to England as the Eiffel Tower is to Paris...not quite as breathtaking as the Eiffel Tower, but monumental just the same. For those of you that don't know, Stonehenge evolved between 3,000 BC and 1,600 BC and is aligned with the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset. It's exact purpose is unknown, but is significant because it was man-made and nothing strong enough to lift the stones existed during this prehistoric culture (ya, I listened to the free audio tour!). We had a blast taking fun pictures with the stones...

I'm so strong!!

After Stonehenge we spent the rest of the day exploring the town of Salisbury and made our way to the last stop on the map, Bath! It was about a 3 hour drive (including getting lost time haha) to Bath, but totally worth it! The city itself was much larger than the other two, but still just as adorable...England has a way of upholding a very cute charm within all of its buildings! The only thing technically significant about Bath is that it houses the first Roman Baths (hence the name), which are essentially now indoor hot springs. 

After the three day road trip, we made it into the city by Monday afternoon, where we met up with the rest of the class. Everyone stayed in the same hostel in Victoria (a suburb type area in London), which was oh so conveniently situated on top of a pub. Needless to say, each day's schedule was centered around happy hour (although, I can officially say I'm not a fan of English beer, since they drink it luke-warm!) 

Our hostel, the 'White Ferry Inn'

We had 3-tiered bunk beds...a little scary at first!

Funny story about our hostel...I had left some snacks in my bag from the road trip and on the second day of being there, I opened the compartment of my bag holding all my food and saw that my bag of chips had a hole in it. Part of the wrapper was caught in my zipper, so I didn't think much of it (assuming the chips had gotten stuck in my bag's zipper). Well, on the last day I pulled out my rice cakes, only to find a perfectly eaten hole right through the wrapper! Then I pulled out my cookies and found a similar perfectly eaten hole! Clearly, a mouse got to my bag! Gross right?! Lesson learned: don't leave food in your bag, on the ground, in hostels!!!

Anyways, we followed somewhat of a strict itinerary each day and toured several major media agencies, including Thomson Reuters International Press, the local Channel 5 news station, as well as the world-famous BBC! After interacting with these news agencies and learning about their internal operations, I'm happy to report that my education back in the states is feeling like it'll be worth every penny. I realized that so much of what I'm learning through CU's journalism school can be applied anywhere in the world! After the week's study tour was all said and done, it felt good to know that the practice of journalism follows the same principles, no matter where you are in the world. 

After our tour at Reuters, we went to Greenwich where we climbed a giant observatory hill...this was the gorgeous view from the top!

They gave us free hats and pink bandannas after touring the local Channel 5 station, so we rocked them the rest of the day!

The class also went to Oxford for a day and visited the university's internet institute. My friend Bri and I decided that seeing the sights of the city would be a more beneficial use of our time instead of listening to lectures all day haha. So, we took a 3 hour walking tour of London and it was AWESOME...

Jiles, our tour guide (such an authentic English name!)

We started off by watching the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace...it was PACKED with people!

Trafalgar Square...so pretty!

Memorial Gate for Queen Victoria...when she was alive and would drive through it, they laid out a red carpet. This process got old after a while, so they finally just painted the road through the gate red...such smart English folk!

Big Ben!

The London Eye...it's the largest ferris wheel in the world!

Parliament...Truly one of the most astounding buildings I've ever seen!

Overall, the week in London was beautiful! The city is filled with royal culture and beauty that's impossible not to fall in love with. After spending a week there, I realized how refreshing it felt to be in a country where their native language is English. It felt so good to be able to look up at a sign and actually understand what it's telling you. As simple or as cheesy as this might sound, England felt like America with an English flare to it. Which makes sense I suppose, considering the US originated from the English culture. Because of this, I felt a sense of familiarity throughout the city's food, shopping, and people in general, which was a feeling I tried to soak up as much as possible!