Finally.... LONDON!

My friend Rachel 

Hello hello!  I am writing this entry on my second day in London.  I am staying at Philippa's flat in Victoria Park in East London.  She goes to university at King's College and is in her final year.  Luckily she doesn't have much class so she is able to show me around all day!

Yesterday she met me at the train station.  After settling in at her flat, we walked to Victoria Park Village only a few minutes away.  We enjoyed a coffee together and then bought groceries at "Bill's Green Grocer".  Bill ended up being a lovely elderly man who was very excited when I walked in the door and said, "Hi Bill!"  I was only half expecting Bill to actually be working at the market.

Westminster Abbey

Once back at the flat, I met Philippa's flat mates Rosie and Jack.  I had met Rosie a year earlier when she spent her year abroad at UC Santa Cruz so it was nice to see her again.  Jack studied abroad last year at UCLA and is a charming, soft-spoken and extremely stylish gay Brit.  Together we all went to Central London for dinner at Wagamama, a noodle house.  We met Rachel there, another friend I made when she studied abroad at UC Santa Cruz last year as well.  They are all American Studies majors and have to spend their third year in America as part of the course.  Rachel and I worked at the radio station together!

Today I met Philippa at her uni after she finished with classes around noon, and we took the bus to Tate Britain to meet up with Fiona, my cousin Julian's Irish girlfriend.  Julian is American, but the two met when they were in a masters program in Scotland.  Fiona works at Random House Publishing and we got to see her office!  She is going to bring me a book to read when I see her next week (we are going to a gig together).  Philippa was very interested to meet Fiona, because she is interested in working for a publishing company.

Big Ben chiming

           











         We took a walk through St. James Park and caught the end of the pelican feeding!  According to the internet, pelicans were first introduced to London in 1664 as a gift from the Russian Ambassador.  There  are currently five pelicans in the park, but we only saw three.  They were walking around like humans and were very entertaining and comical to watch!

Can you spot the Black Swan?