LISS takes London

Oh my goodness, where do I even begin? I am so sorry, dear readers, for delaying this post for so long: it's been a crazy (wonderful) week here, so I'm going to break it up into separate posts.

We left Friday morning for London -- this being my fifth time in the past month -- but I was nevertheless extremely excited. We, as the Leeds International Summer School, have made so many wonderful memories in Leeds that we couldn't wait to make some in London, and it certainly did not disappoint. Our coach trip was filled with Catch-Phrase games and naps, which made the four hour drive very pleasant. Upon our arrival into the city, we headed straight to Wimbledon, the magnificent tennis club that just hosted its prestigious tournament a mere two weeks prior. I enjoy playing tennis (although I'm pretty terrible at it), but I've never really watched or followed it, professionally. This outing, however, was loads of fun and very, very interesting: it was definitely a neat afternoon (plus the weather couldn't have been more perfect)!

Shout-out to Nebraska

After leaving Wimbledon, we headed to the heart of the city to our accommodations at the University of London, which, coincidentally, was very close to Nebraska Street, much to Anna's delight. That evening, we went to the Ice Bar, a bar that is literally frozen (hence the parkas), and it was very cool. Get it....COOL....(Don't pretend you didn't chuckle.) We then explored London's night life and had lots of fun going to new places and meeting new people.

Chilly fun: even the walls were made of ice!

On Saturday, all of LISS went to the Shakespeare Globe Theatre, where we took a tour and learned the history of both the original theatre and the current company and monument. We even got to see a sword-fighting demonstration, something everyone was entertained by.

My friends and I spent the afternoon sightseeing around London: we stopped by St. Paul's Cathedral and then took a boat tour along the Thames. It was a very, very hot day, so the river breeze was lovely! Afterwards, a few of us walked around Westminster and went shopping at the amazing tourist store, Cool Britannia, where you could purchase literally anything imaginable dealing with Great Britain (friends and family, get excited about souvenirs). We even ventured over to Hamleys, London's famous toy store that my family and I went to nine years ago. That night, we went to this super cool club called Bounce, a bar that offers ping-pong on the sight where ping-pong was created. I was terrible (shocker), but we all had a blast hanging out with each other and laughing at ourselves. 

Everyone is excited for Prince George!

On Sunday, we walked the Victoria and Albert Museum and then made the trek to Buckingham Palace in hopes of still being able to view the Royal Birth Announcement. Unfortunately, it was no longer displayed, but we stopped for brunch and I ate the best omelet I've ever had! I wasn't even that deprived of Prince George hype because Harrods was all about the Royal Baby: they had congratulatory signs posted all over the store and even sold commemorative mugs (which of course I had to purchase). We were all so exhausted from the weekend that most of us slept on the bus ride home, a sure sign of a great trip! I'll definitely update the blog soon about this week, but for now, I'm off to our Farewell Dinner *insert sobs*. But really, I cannot even come to terms with the fact that this amazing summer is almost over. Okay, I can't think about it or I really will start crying.....

Thanks and gig 'em,
Rachel