Study Abroad London 2014: First Full Weekend Here!

Of course, we did a lot of stuff this past weekend--the most important things were going to Oxford and the Harry Potter Studio Tour!

Saturday:

After waking up at 6 AM, taking the Tube to our bus stop, and taking an approximately one-hour-long bus ride, we finally arrived in Oxford! It was an absolutely beautiful campus, which we were able to better see through our 2-hour tour. We saw things like one of their libraries, their medical discoveries museum, and the view of the city from the top of a church tower.

We even ate at a pub where many famous people like Bill Clinton have been. There was actually a pretty humorous story about how Bill Clinton had gone to that pub with a group of individuals who supposedly had been smoking pot, which he apparently "did not inhale." I tried a sampling board of some typical British foods, including a pork pie, sweet potato "crisps," pork scratchings, and simple bread and olives. All were delicious except the pork scratchings, which were nearly impossible to eat so I gave up on those pretty quickly. I had wanted to order the Scotch egg but they ran out :(

There was also a really nice shopping center in Oxford that we did not spend a whole lot of time in, but I did get the chance to purchase a really nice puffy sweater from Zara! I can still choose to return it, but I'm waiting for it to cool down here before I try it on with a full outfit that I would actually wear with it. It's been in the 70's and sunny for the past few days (NO RAIN), which apparently is pretty abnormal here!

We spent a total of about 6 hours at Oxford, and it was definitely worth it--especially since it was such a beautiful day!

Sunday:

Sunday was more of a resting day for us, but we went inside St. Paul's Cathedral in the morning, which was very pretty/modern looking. Afterwards we tried a Pret a Manger for the first time, which is a little chain deli that is EVERYWHERE--I got a smoked salmon sandwich and a smoothie, both of which were pretty delicious and relatively inexpensive! Finally, we went to the British Museum to do homework, but we couldn't stay there very long because there was nowhere to plug in our computers, and there wasn't a whole lot of room in there--but it was still pretty cool to see the inside of it!

No pictures though :(

Monday:

WE WENT TO THE HARRY POTTER STUDIO TOUR! It was so cool, and we saw all the set pieces, including buildings that were constructed to film in, such as the Great Hall, the Dursley Home and Privet Drive, etc. It was pretty nostalgic to think of all the years that were spent in this studio, and how these movies began so long ago (in 2000 I think?). We also drank Butterbeer on Privet Drive, which apparently there are only two places in the world that sell butterbeer including Universal Studios in Florida. It was simply incredible and definitely worth it. The only thing that would've made it better would have been if Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint were there!