I am currently in Italy for GTL, but I was in the UK with family for vacation before coming to Italy. I am aware that the original purpose of the LMF blog was for residents to post about their summer trips like MISTI, but I don't think it's an issue for the LMF blog to include IAP trips (GTL, classes abroad, etc.). I could write this on my blogger website, but no one reads that, so I decided to share my thoughts here on the LMF blog.
My vacation in London was a week long from 12/27 to 1/4, followed by Cambridge from 1/4 to 1/7. On 1/3, I did an Oxford day trip to visit a family friend studying at Oxford, which was fun.
From my trip, I realized that there are way too many things to see in London and a week is not enough. For instance, my family decided to spend a second day at the British Museum because the museum is so large with nearly 100 galleries, each gallery containing many objects. Likewise, we ended up spending the whole day at the Victoria & Albert Museum. As a result, we did not go to some places on our itinerary such as Tate Modern, Kensington Place, Design Museum, etc. I would like to go back to London sometime in the future and visit those museums.
Overall, I had positive impressions of London. People joke that British food only consists of pubs and taverns, but there are a lot of ethnic food options such as Indian food, Chinese food, etc. Since my family is Chinese, we ended up going to different restaurants in Chinatown. My favorites were Rasa Sayang, a Malaysian restaurant, and Four Seasons, a Cantonese restaurant known for its roasted duck. We had to wait a while in line, but it was worth the wait because it was an indication that the restaurant had good food. I also liked riding the tube because they came every 3-5 minutes, the stations were clean, and they had lots of transfer options. I wonder when the T will become the tube. Probably not.
nasi lemak at Rasa Sayang
London is an international city and I didn't experience much culture shock except for hearing British accents and seeing black taxis on the streets. The double-decker buses are very cool, and I feel like some cities would benefit a lot from a double-decker bus. I am still not used to the fact that the driver's seat is on the right side instead of the left side. The modern parts of London like Canary Wharf (financial district) felt like the U.S., really, with minor modifications like British spelling and British equivalents of American shops. For instance, Tesco is a popular convenience store, whereas Waitrose is a grocery chain.
What makes London unlike American cities is that it is a much older city with more history. Seeing the 1000-year-old Tower of London in real life was very impressive. So were the Tower Bridge and the House of Parliament. The old storefronts and the quiet streets are nice to walk around.
The Tower of London
Not only that, but also I feel like people in London dress a bit more formally compared to us Americans. This is just my impression, not a general statement. For instance, it took me a few days to realize that I was one of the few people who wore running pants not for exercise. This made me feel a bit self-conscious because I felt like what I was wearing was too casual. While I do have jeans, I just like how joggers aren't as tight. Anyhow, I am digressing from the main point of the blog, which is about my travels in London.
Taking the train from London to Oxford provided a nice change of scenery because Oxford is rich in history. While the U.S. has impressive college campuses, I have to say no college town in the U.S. is the equivalent of Oxford or Cambridge. The highlight of Oxford was visiting Christ Church College because some scenes in Harry Potter were filmed there. Unfortunately, we got there when it already became dark at 4 p.m. (sunset early in the UK), but it was still an informative and interesting tour.
Dining hall in Christ Church College
As for Cambridge, I plan to write an article for my column on The Tech about being in the other Cambridge just because it is amusing to compare Cambridge, MA with Cambridge, UK. I loved my three days in Cambridge because of how peaceful and picturesque life was there, though to be fair I was there during winter break, so it is probably not an accurate representation of Cambridge. Nevertheless, I loved how many bookstores and shops there were as well as the River Cam.
The iconic Bridge of Sighs in St. John's College
Overall, I enjoyed my time in the UK and would be happy to visit again. Traveling was pretty smooth since the UK speaks English and most things were like the U.S., so I didn't feel lost or confused compared to what's happening in Italy (that will be a blog for later).
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