…we all landed in London on July 6. I was super excited, especially since I had never been there before.
I was flying in from Florence, while everyone else had come from a group flight. Naturally, I was nervous about meeting them because they had already somewhat gotten to know each other. I was glad it was a smaller group though because we could all get to know each other better instead of separating into groups.
As soon as we checked into our rooms, our leaders, Amanda, and Will, took us on a walk around London. We passed by the Westminster Abbey, Big Ben (which was unfortunately still under construction), and Buckingham Palace. It was so surreal seeing such iconic landmarks in real life. I had constantly seen it on TV and in movies and I was finally getting to see it for myself.
After the walk, we went to lunch, and I got to know a couple of the other kids in the group. We talked about where we were from, shared stories, and joked around. Because of this trip, I got to meet people with different backgrounds and of different ages, which probably wouldn’t have happened back in my school in California.
…we walked by the River Thames and then took a tour of the Tower of London and met some ravens. It felt like taking a step back in history. I learned about the history not only from our teachers but from the students themselves. As we walked by historical landmarks, everyone shared what they knew about it. For example, over 3,300 people are buried in Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace is over 39 acres big, and there are 6 ravens kept at the Tower of London.
All of Europe is rich in history and I’m glad a lot of it is still there for us to see. Walking in the same footsteps of Kings and Queens such an odd thing to think about.
The next day, or time in London was over. I was going to miss it, but I was super excited for our next stop, Rouen.
Discover our Modern Europe Program