"All that Life can Afford"- LD3, September 5, 2015

London is my favorite thing.

It's really late here now, so I'll have to make this quick, but if you take away nothing else from this blog take away that in my mind, Disneyland can't beat London as far as favorite places go in my mind.

I think I'm finally caught up on jet lag- at least my sleep schedule is. I woke up at a decent time this morning and was able to have a proper breakfast and run some errands by myself even before coming back to the Landward and going on more errands with the flatmates. We discovered a couple new grocery stores- Sainsbury's and Tesco- as well as a lot of really sweet little cafes. After lunch, it was time to make the test trek to BADA so we won't get lost on the way to Orientation tomorrow.

Even the shabbiest parts of London that I've seen are beautiful. Every corner you turn, there's some sort of fantastic architecture, or open pretty street, or beautiful person. We got to Regent's Park and had to walk through it to get to the school. It was my first time being in the park, but it and the city together are... just perfect. It's hard to explain in words. The vast open spaces, the small British children playing football, the paddleboats on the huge pond in the middle of the park, the manicured gardens, the paths lined with European trees... I could live and die there happily. I couldn't stop smiling. It is beautiful and serene and still surrounded with life. There's no way you could be bored.

After we successfully made it to BADA, we walked over to Camden town, which is right next to where BADA is located but a bit north of London proper. It's a very quaint little town, but right in the center is a big marketplace. There's a street full of tourist shops and quite crowded, but the market itself is a mix between a Farmer's Market, Pike Place, and your favorite downtown. We went into a tea place called Yumchaa and all I'll say about that is I love tea and I love how they do tea in England and I will be going back to this place, unless I can find a way to go to every single tea place in England.

We met up with Bennett, who was hangry and tired, but continued to explore Camden until we decided we needed to turn around and head back to the Landward. We walked back through Regent's Park, and down Baker St. for a short while before returning home. Being on Baker St. made me really excited and I cannot wait to go to the Sherlock Holmes museum. I also really want to find the place they film "Sherlock", the BBC show, because it's my favorite TV show and we're here, so why not?

We had been at the Landward for about 10 minutes when three guys from a flat upstairs knocked on our door. They're also BADA students, and were going door to door in the Landward (based on the housing information we were given) to meet the other students in the program. Their names are Nahome, Alex, and Ari, and they're really cool. We chatted for a while and agreed to meet up later in the night, after we had all had dinner and run some errands. We did end up going to the pub across the street together, minus Bryn and Bennett, who went to a concert back in Camden! It's called the Liberty, and I tried a sip of cider for the first time. It's better than beer, and I like it, though it'll be a while before I feel like I can comfortably order one for myself.

The six of us hung out back at our flat for a while longer, which is why it's so late now. What's really fun too is all of us are hoping to do the same things while we're here- tea, museums, shows, etc. Plus, we all have something huge in common- a love of theater. We had some great conversation about shows and plays. I need to read more plays... but I always knew that.

Anyway, tomorrow is our BADA lunch and orientation, so I'll finally get my class schedule! I can't wait. Plus, I'm going to get to walk through Regent's Park again. Maybe I'll get lost in there, just because...

There's a quote in the journal my Grandma gave me, before I left for London by Samuel Johnson: "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." I think I understand what he meant.

Fight on, friends.