My first week in London has been such a great experience. I’ve learned so much already and am getting the hang of how to be a real ‘Londoner’ (at least I hope). Unlike most of the students in the programme I am with, I am not well-travelled and haven’t left my home of sunny, hot Florida, USA in many years. In Florida, I use my car to go everywhere, never using public transportation. There is not an underground tube system because the sea level is too high and trains are not able to float on water just yet.
For the first couple of days, I was exhausted
from the jet lag and weather, but I pushed on through to go exploring around the most beautiful city in the world. The programme I am on organised tours to show us imperative information such as what an oyster card is, where the grocery store is and of course, Primark. We were then shown the touristy side of things.
We went on a bus tour around the city and I was able to cross something off my bucket list, going on the London Eye. It was such a great experience to be able to see London from that point of view. After, we saw Buckingham Palace where I got my first real London experience when I was rained on without notice. Now, my umbrella has a permanent place in my handbag.
One of my favourite activities was going to the Camden Market Place. It was so interesting to see the different types of people there. They have every food you could possibly imagine and discounted beautiful items. The market was endless; I was there for hours and was not able to go into even half the stores. It is definitely a place I need to go back to before I leave.
Overall, my first week in London was better than I could ever have imagined. I've learned so much already and can't wait to discover more. After all, Samuel Jackson said 'When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life'. I now understand how true this actually is.
Written by Jennifer Roth. Jennifer is working as an intern at FOCUS this summer.
