"Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to platform 9 3/4?": Study Tour in London

A foggy day in London town is where this tale begins.


Actually...no. It begins with SAS losing my luggage.


Despite that little fluke, my trip to London with my Current Trends in News Media core class was out of this world. Eating fish and chips, pretending to speak in a British accent, and actually trying to go through platform 9 3/4 made this one of the best trips I've taken in my life. Despite having been to London before, DIS was able to show me a whole other side that I had never experienced!
My expectations for this trip were far surpassed. The activities, the food, the lodgings...everything was so well thought out and absolutely amazing. Cheers to the DIS Study Tours office for planning out such a great trip!


Well, I obviously must recount everything for you.


Day 1: Took a relatively easy metro ride to CPH airport and got on a hour and half plane ride to London.
Stood and waited for my luggage.....didn't come. Slightly panicking. Listened to some Michael Buble which somehow calmed me down and got on a bus with genie bus driver (I kid you not) who took us to Fat Tire Bike Tours. Saw hot tour guides and forgot about losing my luggage. Took a gorgeous bike ride through Kensington Gardens, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, and other awesome places. Went to Royal National hotel then walked to pub where we were having dinner. 15 minute walk turned into 1 hour when we got lost. Had traditional British pub food (eh) and then went back and went to sleep.
Randomly, woke up at 3 AM and literally marched myself down to the lobby to ask for my luggage. Hallelujah, praise Jesus it was there.


Day 2: New clothes, new attitude...very sick. Where did this mac truck of pain come from? I don't know. But it unfortunately decided to hit me while I was London. Dismal.
Took the tiny tube to the Telegraph, which is London's equivalent of the New York Times. Had a very interesting lecture with a sassy character of a man who showed us the reporting center and what not. We then had lunch at The Shakespeare pub (eh food again) and after that we departed to the Tate Modern museum. This huge...warehouse type building sits precariously on the Thames river. It truly is a gigantic amount of space and being a modern museum it houses some of the strangest art I have ever seen. After that we somehow found ourselves on Brick Lane. Never heard of it? Because it is India. This one street was packed full of Indian and Banglandeshi (is that right?) stores, restaurants, and a short movie film festival. Variety..I like it. The film festival was called "Short and Sweet" and was a really cool experience. The venue had mismatched couches and seats that made it really quaint. We then watched different short films that were introduced by this spritely young British woman. Though I was still feeling like death I really was able to enjoy this unique experience.

At the Telegraph!

Day 3: Feeling slightly better from a good night's rest and large dose of Theraflu I went with three other classmates to an interview with Edelman PR. Edelman is the largest, independently own PR agency in the world with multiple offices across the world. Their clients include all the big name companies including Shell and Walmart and much more. This was honestly one of the most special experiences I had on this trip. We were taken up to the swanky office that just oozed cool. Exhibit A: the chandelier was made out of photographs of China dolls and everyone dressed like they popped out of Vogue. It was B.A. We sat down with two employees who gave us a little background and answered our questions about the PR industry. They were so nice and complementary and made our experience absolutely fantastic. It really sealed the deal for me, for I had a more concrete idea of what working in the PR industry is like and what it takes to truly make it. We did more cool stuff like Westminster Abbey and Convent Garden.

At Edelman! 

 Day 4: This was the super fun day. It was funny because I did this exact same excursion when I was in 8th grade but DIS made it so much more fun. Where did we go? To Stonehenge and Bath of course! Stonehenge is well...stone, but it is still pretty baller to think that these people were able to construct something so large without the necessary tools. Stonhenge rocks.
We then went onto the gorgeous town of Bath. Bath is the quintessential English countryside town. All the buildings are gorgeous and of course it is home to the Roman Baths! Okay, they did an overhaul of this place. It used to be you went and saw the baths, checked it off your list, and went shopping. Well now it had this amazing museum and they excavated even more of the original structure. It was mindblowing how much it had changed. And a change for the better at that! True, I still ended up going shopping after but I spent atleast 2 more hours in there than last time. After hours of shopping we then went to a glass blowing demonstration. I got to blow glass. Too cool for school.
O and we had dinner at this AMAZING, GORGEOUS English manor. It was delicious and so cozy. In love with the The Pear Tree Inn.

 

Day 5: Next day was a free for all. We met up the former Communication advisor for Tony Blair (heck yeah) and then we had lunch at a nice French restaurant in Convent Garden. After that we went to the O2 Arena were we went to the British Music Experience museum. SO COOL! If you go to London, you have to go here. It had all these costumes from famous singers (including the Spice Girls) and interactive things to do. It was a lot of fun and a really futuristic experience. From there I found a Chipotle and gorged myself with a much needed burrito. Then I traveled to King's Cross station. Blew my mind. I got to go through platform 9 3/4.....life.is.complete.
We then went to go see Wicked on West End. Jealous of my day? You should be.
O and then we all went out to O'Neills pub where I had British men talk to me..... living the viva loca.

Done.

In LOVE with England. Had the best time ever.