We arrived in London dark and early at 5:30 in the morning. Immediately after getting off, having arrived earlier than expected for our bus, we began our search for the fountain of youth: anything caffinated. Thankfully for us, there was a small store alongside a cute café named Café Nero where we dropped our things and pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps in search of a recharge. Having nearly pulled an all nighter, with the high score being 4 hours of sleep on the flight, this was much deserved. However, much to our horror, it has been discovered that there is a ban in the UK from selling energy drinks to those under 18 years old. This information was particularly devastating to some members of our group, however it was quickly resolved with a purchase of a coffee and the discovery that some of the seniors had turned 18, and all became well in the world.
With our (legal) coffees in hand, we took a bus to the hotel to drop off our luggage before our first full day of cardio. If you think speed-walking to class in four minutes is a struggle, try power-walking through London in 41-degree wind. Bonus challenge: dodging double-decker buses (jk jk we did not j-walk, we sat at the sad sides of the cross walk while watching everyone else j-walk)
First stop: Buckingham Palace, where we watched the Changing of the Guard. This was actually both an incredibly amazing and incredibly lucky opportunity, as this was discovered just by luck and a ginormous sea of people coming to watch. From there, we hit Piccadilly Circus, Green Park, and finally Victoria Station, where we clocked in at exactly 11:33 AM.
The highlight of the afternoon? The tea bus tour. Imagine sipping fancy tea and eating tiny sandwiches while being chauffeured through London. We had amazing tea (I went with a classic milk chai), even better food (mini sandwiches, cakes, cupcakes, and scones), and aggressively waved at strangers like we were minor celebrities. Some waved back. Some ignored us (tragic). Our soundtrack included impromptu bus karaoke to Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat, and our views featured Big Ben and the London Eye.
Then we walked. And walked. And walked. Cardio!
We went back to the palace. Walked back to the hotel. Passed the British Museum. Checked our step counts. All had reached their 10k step goal, some at the cusp of 20k, which meant it was time for dinner. We dined at the Italian restaurant Wildwood with incredible pasta and pizza. Those who ordered pizza ended up getting an entire full sized pie. Others got spagetti pomodoro, not realizing that an authentic Italian resturant would make authentic Italian tomato sauce. Turns out, authentic tomato sauce has authentic tomato chunks, which promptly ended up on the plate of the one person who despises tomatoes. The class Italians were not amused.
Finally, to end the wonderful night, we traveled to the West End to watch the new musical "The Devil Wears Prada."
The show:
• Vocals? Incredible.
• American accents? Hilariously british.
• The plot changes? A choice. Some extra storylines and unnecessary songs were thrown in, and we had thoughts about that.
After the show, we walked back to the hotel at 11:30 PM, officially closing out the second day of london with an average of 24k steps, sore feet, and a caffeine dependency (so basically bca students if they followed the health advice on the hallway tvs).
Other (un)eventful things:
• Somni Baboulis finished the giant bag of goldfish
• Almost everyone fell asleep somewhere at some point during the day
• It is impossible not to slip into a British accent at some point
Keeping you posted,
Kayla Newton