Amanda Stancil

well, in my last week or so in london, my time was filled with finishing up gathering information for my project, soaking up every little thing i could about the city in order to not forget any little detail about my new found home, avoiding any thought of leaving, enjoying my last few days of getting to live with my friends with whom i now have an irreplaceable bond, spending time with a new friend, and making connections with and saying goodbye to an old one. unfortunately, in all of that, my blog suffered a little. but not taking any of my london time for granted was crucial. i’m back in north carolina now, which is definitely my true home, but have caught myself trying to start sentences with “back home in london…” and automatically converting the time to whatever time it is back in little venice. it’s an adjustment to be back, but i’m so excited to have a whole month of memories that i cherish so much and will never forget. i’ve come back with not only a camera full of great photographs and a few souvenirs, but a life-changing experience and some new friendships that i know will last. i signed up for the trip with a completely different idea of how it may go, but i can only agree that everything happens for a reason, and i found mine in a humbling experience of my time on green street, cultural experiences of a place i had never been, images of some of the most beautiful places i’ve ever seen, and a group of people who will always be there to share my memories and take me back even when we can’t hop on a plane back across the pond.

so the past few days have mostly been filled with some break time and touring around. we spent a day touring around kensington – definitely where i’ll be living when i move back here (slash when I make enough money to buy more than bread there). we went to the albert and victoria museum. and went to harrods of course. life changing experience. and I also spent a day in camden town at the stables market! so awesome and so much fun. i wanted to buy basically everything. but held myself back to only a few items. we’ve made some great friends the past few days as well. then today i got a delicious english breakfast including beans, toast, poached eggs, and sausage. so unbelievably good. then went back to oxford circus for a few souvenirs. i have two sessions tomorrow for the project – one with a shop owner and one with a boys’ group at a youth center. hopefully we will be visiting buckingham soon and we’ll be touring around parliament with one of our new friends soon! so excited. and so not ready to think about leaving.

so today was casually the best day ever. very unexpected but had so much fun. megan, kaila, and i set out to see a few sites around the city. we may not have hardly seen anything we intended, but it was so nice to be out and about. we couldn’t find platform 9 3/4. not wizardy enough i suppose. but we did wander around and enjoy the only mildly chilly weather. we got to see more of our neighborhood. which is really nice and adorable. we’re officially opening up our own cupcake and tea shop here. our meals may not have been quite so authentically british though. burger king for lunch. with a side of a giant costa coffee. but snagged some amazing pizzas from the local pizzeria. we visited chinatown. so cool and definitely going back. we also made a stop in the british museum. and walked in almost every shop we passed. but we were good and didn’t buy anything. but next most exciting purchase? a paddington bear and a london sweatshirt. overly excited.