Best of Order in London, please!

So I made it to London around 8 a.m. London time yesterday morning! The first day was a lot of unpacking and trying to become adjusted to the area of London we are in.  My flat is pretty nice, although I am in a three person room so there is not much space. We do have two bathrooms and two showers, so for five girls, that is nice! The grocery store we will be shopping at most of the time is Sainsbury and Boots is like CVS and we've already made two trips there!

We are all still getting over jet lag and trying to adjust to the time change.  Last night we went to our first London pub called "London Pub."  We had fish and chips and beers on our first night in London and it was a lot of fun! About half of the people on my program went.  Then we came back to the flat and tried to get over jet lag around nine, but I couldn't fall asleep until 11 even though I was so exhausted.

Today we took a bus/boat/walking tour of London.  It was my first time on a double decker bus and we sat on top where it was open for a bit, but then the rest of the time it got too cold so we had to sit on the inside!  It is such a huge city, well it is really divided into the City of London and the City of Westminster, but I cannot wait to explore all of it! We saw many of the big monuments like Big Ben and Parliament and it was great way to start the trip because the tour was just a major overview of London. I have a feeling on the weekends I will be just taking the tube to all the fantastic places in London.  Our first tour guide was named Ian and he was legit. He insisted we get this shot of Big Ben and the London Eye because he said it was not on any postcard! Our other two tour guides were quite fussy and asked us to keep "best of order" while they were speaking. We obliged and were quiet, but I think by this time a lot of us were so tired it was hard to pay attention.

We also took a boat ride down the Thames.  We could see the Globe Theatre and many other London landmarks I am determined to explore.  The most exciting part of the day so far though was seeing the Palace Theatre (where I will be working) in person!! We did not go in of course but the musical "Prisicilla" is playing there and I cannot wait to get started! 

Tonight we are going to the restaurant TAS with all 17 people on my program and our head professor, James Thompson.  It is a turkish place which will be new for me, but I think it will be very good! Tomorrow we have orientation all day at Winston House (UNC's building in London) and at the University of London, where we will have access to their libraries, clubs, and organizations. Tomorrow night we are going to Wagamama, a noodle chain, and Piccadilly Circus! I will post more pictures soon!

The Adventure Begins

      So today is the day I finally leave for London for five months! I can't believe in less than one day I will be in my flat and starting my life abroad.  I hope my cool and hip friends love the title of my blog and it is definitely dedicated to all you Mary Kate and Ashley fans out there!  Although I am nervous/sad about leaving loved ones, I am extremely excited to get this trip started (especially after being snowed/iced in all week in Gastonia without any friends).

      Hopefully this blog will help everyone who wants to keep up with my classes, internship, travels, and life in general.  I will try and update it often and post cool pictures (probably some really touristy ones too as requested by Lauren Scarborough, who should make a twitter).

      For those of you who don't know, I am doing an internship at the Palace Theatre with a website called Whatonstage.com.  It works a lot with providing tickets for West End musicals (perfect for me!) and other theatre opportunities for people in London.  I am so excited! Here is a picture of the Palace Theatre:

I hope everyone who reads this will send me their addresses so I can mail you all postcards! Just email them to me at blackar@email.unc.edu.  My flight leaves at 6:20 pm Friday evening and I will arrive in London at 7:20 am. Saturday morning.

"As a student in London, I had seen so many shows, so many plays and had seen so many greats of the day."- David Naughton


I love this quote because I am completely motivated to see as many musicals and plays as I can while in London. I will also be traveling around the rest of the UK and on the continent, but I know my time in London will mean the most to me and I cannot wait to arrive! I hope you all keep in touch and have a great spring!