Faraday House

T-3 Days... Or less!

In 3 days, I'll have landed at Logan airport. 

In 3 days, I will be back in America. 

In 3 days, I will be able to hug a bunch of people that I love. 

How is all of that in only 3 days?

Let's talk about some London by the numbers. 

106: number of days I've been here 

19: day in January I left 

3.5ish : number of days I have LIVED in London (woah)

60: number of hours I have left in London

I'm sorry? Where did my semester go & how is it already time to go home? 

Seriously, how is it already May & I am 2 tests away from my home country, family, friends, loves, & food? 

My future plan is to write you an entire recap of everything I loved & hated while in London. I plan on doing this either on the plane or while sitting in the airport, early Friday morning. Either way, I will soon be gracing you with a post regarding everything I loved about this dear British land. 

But all in all, I am so glad I did this & will never for 1 second regret this semester spent in the quaint little country of Britain, in the adorable, large city of London.

So for now, I'm gonna get started on these other two tests I need to study for & we'll catch up super soon!

Upcoming posts: 

review of where I lived 

review of the program

what did Hannah's school look like?

what did the area around Hannah's flat look like?

favorite & not so favorite parts of London 

So keep reading!

Quickly...

So fair warning: the next 3 days are set to be nuts... which means less blogging for you! Sorry friends!

I have 3 tests, 1 presentation, & 1 paper left to do... So that means I'm attempting to crack down on all of my work & do my best. 

Today, sadly, was my last day at Hillsong London. I could not be more sad to leave a church & not be able to return for quite some time. There was a big women's conference at Wembley this weekend, featuring Joyce Meyer & Beth Moore, along with some others. Therefore, church was packed this morning & we got to hear a sermon from Joyce. It was great! 

I honestly waited in line for 2 hours... I was trying to get into the 11am service but they ran out of seats (2,100 people per service) so I was unintentionally in the line for the 1pm service. Considering I wanted to experience the church one last time, I waited in line. It was SO worth it! Honestly, Hillsong  has been one of my favorite parts of every week. I will truly miss the welcoming atmosphere & just how they conduct their service in general. 

Anyways, back to writing my papers & studying. Happy Sunday!

BRIGHTON

Let's take a break form my marketing project & update you on my adventure today. Sound good? 

I'm hitting that moment... realizing this is the LAST 6 days I have here in London. It honestly seems like yesterday I arrived. I've been saying this to you daily, but where did the time go? How is it possible the next 6 days will be spent studying, exploring, working, writing, packing, & actually leaving? Craziness, I tell you. 

SO today marked my last day trip. I've done quite a few of these this semester (Bath, Stonehenge, St Albans, Windsor Castle...I think that's it?) but today we headed to a place I saw on Pinterest before I even came abroad. I decided I wanted to go here from day 1 & apparently Kelley did as well! 

BRIGHTON. 

This adorable seaside town reminds me of any beachy town on the Jersey Shore but this place was even better & had some weird spots... It was a hipster sort of village but was beautiful! There was lots of shopping & little stores to explore, as well as street vendors & of course, food!

My first view of the ocean included these adorable chairs you can rent. They're everywhere in England & I just might need one on my beach house (the one I dream of buying someday...) 

These pictures are out of order but my time period to procrastinate does not allow me enough time to reorder. Bear with me, friends. 

Yes, we indeed went to India today as well! (just kidding...) This is the Royal Pavillon. History of the Royal Pavilion. Basically, it was created as a Royal residence. We sadly did not go inside but don't feel too bad for me! I've seen more than enough royal buildings this semester. I'll survive!

All of the train stations in England are just adorable. Trains, I will miss you greatly when I leave. You're so fun to ride & even my brother would take you. 

The entirety of the Royal Pavilion. 

I want a bike like this... 

The Lanes (tiny, shopping streets)

The Pier! Seriously, filled with arcades, rides, food... basically any popular beach town in America would have the same.

But they have a ferris wheel on the water (I think this is the English Channel). 

It was a cloudy day but that did not take away from the beautiful colors of the water. Seriously, pictures do not do it justice. The blue was spectacular. 

Kelley & I relieved our childhoods! I obviously had to ride the carousel... Since mom would never buy me a pony. 

We had lunch at this little Italian place. It was pretty good but nothing like the pizza in Florence. 

So glad I met one of my best friends on this adventure abroad. Couldn't have done it without you!

So there's some snippets of my day in Brighton. It was about a 1.5 hour train ride from London & we spent about 4-5 hours in the city itself. It was the perfect day trip. We got back, not too tired, & were all able to still do work tonight. I wish it had been sunny but this is England! 

I will miss going on day trips. The nice part about living in London was the transportation system. Seriously, the National Rail service in England is INCREDIBLE. You can go basically anywhere! This little trip cost the equivalent of $15 for roundtrip tickets. How can I complain? The Rail allowed me to see places in England I would never have been able to reach otherwise, (abroad students are not allowed to drive or rent a car). We conveniently live right near a station & can catch the trains anytime. This has made traveling to other countries so easy, as well. You go London transport. 

I'll really miss you. 

In actuality, I could never live in NYC after living in London. I've been to NYC maybe 10 times & felt it was SO dirty, every single time. London is SUPER clean & the transportation system here is EXCELLENT. Seriously, I never want to take a subway in any other city (I'm looking at you Rome). London just has this magic about it that I have never seen in another city. Even Mom loved London the most out of the places she visited. London, you'll forever hold a piece of my heart. You've ruined me. I'll always compare everything to the Tube or the cleanliness. Or how the buildings are all under 6 stories tall (or so they seem) & your gorgeous parks/ squares every few blocks. You're the best. 

Happy weekend! 

Last Friday...?

Could someone please explain to me where the past (almost) 4 months have gone & how I can get them back? Can someone else also explain how it is possible that I head home in less than a week? That in exactly one week, I'll be at home enjoying a home cooked meal, seeing my family & friends? How? 

But let's be honest. I'm absolutely going to miss this place. The magic of finding something new to explore every single day, the city, the Royalty... just everything that makes London, London. I'm really going to miss it. 

So today, Kelley & I attempted to knock a few more things off our bucket list. First we had lunch with her parents before they headed back to the USA. See ya in a week family! We had a great lunch at a little Italian chain. Then Kelley & I headed off to King's Cross station to find... 

Platform 9 3/4! 

If you haven't watched/read Harry Potter, this will make no sense to you. But this platform is where you catch the magical Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts. So if law school doesn't work out for me, you'll catch me back here in a year, headed off to Hogwarts. Ok? 

Kelley & I then headed off to do some shopping... But ended up by Big Ben to take some photos, (don't worry - there's more coming but I can't show you them now!) 

I accidentally snuck in her panorama. Oops. But it came out super cute & now I'm glad I did!

We had a great day, just exploring & seeing more of London. How is it possible we find something new to explore every single day? Craziness! But in all seriousness, see you in a week America!

I took a haitus...

ALLLLL of the available apologies. These past few days have been a blur of workouts, studying, classes & homework. All of that typical end of semester type of things - all coming at once! 

But here I am, finally writing to you, as I do not have anything to do URGENTLY. 

So what have I been up to these past few days? you ask. Well, let me get right to informing you!

The answer? Nothing truly amazing. Just work & lots of it. I've honestly just been going to class, cooking, eating, & doing work. It has been some of those typical college days. 

But here's my day today! 

I went to the Tate Modern - the most visited modern art museum in the world - for class today. It was a really cool museum & we went to see the Rothko artwork. I'm not a huge fan of modern art but we did get to see a few Picasso pieces!

It was pouring rain on my way there - but I stopped to take this pretty picture. 

& this one

The turbine hall

I had a delicious lunch today from a cute little stand up the street. It was delicious! 

SO GOOD 

This sight was beautiful on the way back from the gym. I'll miss seeing the Shard & Saint Paul's every day. 

SO here I am, about ready to go to bed. & it's almost May! 

Happy Hump Day!

Sunday....?

I wish I had more to tell you about my Sunday but let's be honest, it was the same ole.

I woke up this morning & went to Hillsong London, as I always do. I will truly miss that fantastic church once I head home. It has been inspirational, thought provoking, & has felt like home for the past few months. I will really miss the music & people who you meet, where their mantra is "Welcome Home." I LOVE that!

I then headed home... for some homework. Sounds like a thrilling day, right? 

I'm now just finishing, as I am a terrible procrastinator & get distracted incredibly easily. I probably could have been done hours ago, had I only focused! But now here I am, writing to you as I prepare for bed. 

Only 4 more days of class left! How insane is that... I remember just getting here & falling in love with my classes. Now they are almost over. To say I'm sad describes only one side of the story... On the other hand, I'm ready to be done with school work, as I am at the conclusion of every semester. After this week, there's a few papers & a few finals that stand in my way of coming home!

So here goes nothing. Here's to completing the semester strongly!