Second to last lost in london entry, here we go! It goes without saying, but London has been the ride of my life (on the wrong side of the road, unfortunately). Therefore, these next two entries will be a chance to reflect on my many adventures, say goodbye to some of the closest friends I’ve made, and look ahead to what comes next. Which means these entries will be sad, soppy, and very sentimental. Totally understand if that’s not your thing, I’d maybe just skip to the last entry instead of reading through this mess.
Now that you’ve been warned, I’m gonna start by saying I’m not the queen of goodbyes and saying bye to london has been hard because of the incredible people I’ve had to say bye to. Without further ado, here’s a little note to my amazing friends/mates (feel free to skip this part if you don’t care):
Yami- I already miss you, and it’s only been two weeks! I’m glad you’re catching up on my blogs, and I hope that means that you see this soon. When you do, I hope you know what an amazing person you are and how much you’ve changed my life for the better. Your laughter is contagious, your cooking is delicious (I’m sure those el pastor tacos could never) and your spirit is admirable. From our very first conversation about your cute cats, I knew we’d strike up a great friendship. You made me feel at ease right away and it’s been the same ever since. I can’t wait to hopefully meet up in seattle and look at the rain a little brighter.
Madison- I’m so glad we met and became close so early on this semester! You’re such a sweet person and great friend and this semester wouldn’t have been the same without you. Thanks for all the fun memories we made over the last few months: westminster abbey, cinema trips, nights out, the Liverpool trip, wine tastings, chemical cocktails, and so much more!
Chris- Bratwurst, thanks for being the funniest and most stubborn older brother a girl could ask for! We were rewatching the gender reveal and nothing makes me laugh more than when you said our entire kitchen stunk, bc…true. Sorry we unleashed the bombitos at you but I’ll have to come to Berlin soon to visit! Alice guter tsan kabutstag!
Elizabeth- Thank you so much for being a breath of fresh air and constant reminder of home! I can’t describe my lucky stars that one of my favorite people I’ve ever worked with (shoutout to fun and games) studied abroad in London at the same time as me. I feel so lucky that I get to share this experience with you and am excited to meet up at home:
Katie- Who knew I would come to london and leave with an American best friend? Idk it does seem kind of funny looking back, but are friendship meant and means everything to me. Thank you for traveling around the world with me, from the shittiest streets of glasgow to the highest point of the Santa Maria cathedral in Florence. I feel infinitely lucky to tell my kids that I ended up next door to one of the most ridiculous (and dramatic) people I’ve ever met, and to know that they’ll know her too. I know our friendship will be one for the history books. I know you won’t read my blog ever, so I just passed this little section to you on our train back from new milton to read. Thanks for saying my phone is greasy, btw.
Ellen- And last but not least, the Brit flatmate who was the guide I didn’t know I needed. Thank you for being you. To the people reading this that aren’t Ellen, you should know I wouldn’t have made it through this semester (from taking food out of ovens to making my bed to just being the most supportive friend) without her. She’s an icon to everyone she’s around, and like Hamilton, she deserves more credit for all the credit she gives us. I’m lucky to call her a best friend for life, and ya know what? I think she’s even improved my accent a little too (ok that might be a stretch) I love you and I’ll miss you a lot❤️
There are so many others that have made my time here incredibly amazing, and you all know who you are xx. Not just the people I met in London, but my amazing study abroad friends (Mia, Iga, Melanie) who came to visit and my family/cousins/family friends who made an appearance too. Your support means the world and it was the reminders of home that have kept me going in my hardest, most homesick moments.
This is getting a little cringey, and I’m saving the worst cringe for my final letter so let me wrap it up with a recap of my last few days in London. Monday-Wednesday, I enjoyed a quick mini “vacation” to Barton-on-sea aka new milton aka Ellen’s home. I still don’t know why this area has 8 million different names, and probably would only benefit a little from a geography lesson, but it was a wonderful experience. We walked to the beach (which was quite rocky but whatever), tried my first sausage roll from Gregg’s (it was delicious omg), met her family (so even more British accents to get used to), drove some more on the WRONG side of the road, did some cringey sappy goodbye stuff, tried a chip butty (not so delicious but it was ok), adventured to …. Highcliffe… I think?, and enjoyed a whole LOT of rain. The ways of the British, I guess. It was a great little trip and a great way to handoff our letters of abandonment. For new fans of lost in london, this has become a tradition where we write letters whenever we leave each other…so you know we had to save the best for last and go out with a bang!
Thursday and Friday, my family friends came into town (hi if you’re reading this) and I spent time with them while also watching the QUEENS JUBILEE celebration in person. This is a huge bank holiday weekend in the UK celebrating Queen Lizzy’s 70 years in the throne, which has been really exciting. All over the UK (even in the good old bomberg lobby), people are hanging British flags commemorating the monarchy and it really is cool to see the whole thing in person.
But I do have to say, with no offense to queen lizzy of course, that the amount of people that come out for the jubilee is ludicrous. I used to think Americans were patriotic, and then I went to Trooping the Colour on Thursday and saw women draped in red, white, and blue flag dresses, children with patriotic bows and face paint, and millions? of flags. Let’s just say I’ll never see Fourth of July the same way again. My experience went like this: I arrived in the morning to find crowds that had been there since 5 am (and even heard about a group of Americans that camped out on the buckingham palace front lawn). I found a huge crowd standing around this pathway leading towards the st James park arch, so naturally I assumed I had struck gold. I pushed my way to the very front, waiting for the moment queen liz would wave hi to me. Unfortunately that moment never came, as Ellen texted me that the royal family was already on the balcony. I then saw police clear the path and start guarding the area, and the people around me began whispering that the horse parade was going to go through the pathway. So naturally I got excited again! Until the police officer in front of me began talking
into a walkie talkie saying that the pathway wasn’t wide enough…and ten minutes later, the horses subsequently marched out right BEHIND us. Oh well. At least I got to see the beautiful fly past for trooping the colour, hear the cannons, and say that I was within a mile radius of the royal family. That’ll have to do.
The problem arose once I tried getting out of the horse parade, which was now sectioned off by close to a million people and so.many.police.officers. The queue for the tube was an hour, and my phone internet conveniently decided to stop working— which left me blocked off from getting anywhere. But I eventually made it out, before going on a “secrets of london” tour with my family friends. We learned about secret societies, traffic light symbols, and hidden meanings behind street names, and it was a really cool way to rediscover london. And then we also spent Thursday checking out carnaby street, soho, and shoreditch, while seeing 1000 queues for everything everywhere.
Friday, we explored the Tower of London, which I’m really glad I saved for the last day I was here because I think it’s such a beautiful way of typing it all together, the history and the modern excitement of the jubilee. And to learn about torture within the tower in early times. Oh and the Crown Jewels are really pretty too. I finished off Friday by going to a pub with some friends for my last legal drink for a while, and then explored Chinatown for dinner/bubble tea as the cherry on top of a perfect day/week/semester.
In addition, I embarked on the best mission of all: packing. There’s nothing quite like dumping your entire life for 5 months into two suitcases and hoping it doesn’t make them overweight. And then doing it all with the exciting anticipation of the six loads of laundry you’re going to have to do once you’re back in “the states”.
So that’s been my week, full of craziness, nerves, sadness, excitement, and so many other mixed feelings. A perfect bow on a perfect semester. I’m excited to hear some American accents, to see my friends, to have some good old Kraft Mac and cheese, and to drive on the right side of the road. But I’m gonna miss these wankers, every last one of ‘em, a lot. And that’s all, folks. See you in the next—no, last—one.
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