London.

As my time abroad begins to come to a close I think one of the things that I will never forget is that while I was here I fell in love...with the city of London.

In all seriousness, from the first time I got lost trying to navigate the double-decker buses back to the Arran House from Tower Bridge 5 hours after landing in August to my last journey into the city wandering the streets of Soho last Friday, I have loved every minute I have spent in London.

I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to share this city with Mom and Dad, John, and Dadda at Christmas-time, and as wonderful as I think London is in the cold, rain, and snow, there is nothing compared to London on a gorgeous, warm, sunny day which is exactly what Phoebe and I had this past Friday. Since last July when I read the opening chapter of A.N. Wilson’s London: A History, and he described the incredible view of the city from the top of Parliament Hill at Hampstead Heath all I wanted to do was see the view for myself. Having been so immersed in the city streets, I was looking forward to have the opportunity to step back and take it all in from afar. Our class was supposed to visit Hampstead Heath on our last day in London in September, but unfortunately it was one of the two days, during the 4 weeks that we had been there, that the rain was so terrible that we wouldn’t have even been able to see the cityscape. Finally I dragged Phoebe and after hiking the area for a while we found ourselves staring at the most gorgeous (fog free) view of the city. It is actually is the opposite view that you see if you are standing up at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich—and for me a perfect end, seeing the city in the exact opposite direction than I did the first time I saw the city from Greenwich in August.



These past few months I have been all over Europe. I have seen beautiful sights, eaten amazing food, and been with the most incredible people. One of my friends will say Barcelona is her favorite city, another loves Paris, just yesterday one friend told me when she visited Kilkenny she felt at home--- I loved traveling, and the places I visited, but there is just something about London that I will never forget.

I will always have a fond memory of the Goodge St Tube stop and nights at The Court with Humanities 309, sitting at Covent Garden on a cool summer evening listening to buskers and developing favorites all over the city (there is a string quartet on Jubilee Bridge that is incredible!), relaxing with a book or my journal in any of the green spaces—a hidden gem in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, and emerging myself in the surrounding history, from museums, to cathedrals, to the old Roman wall scattered across the city.

I will never forget all that I learned about London; about travel, about food, about history, about pubs, about fashion, about fear, about love, about myself.

Boston, see you soon; but London, I’ll be back.

Xo.
-A