UK Tour

    I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! My spring break was from April 8th until April 18th and enjoyed my time in the UK. Firstly, I traveled to London and was super excited to see where my sister Alexa spent her time while studying abroad there back in 2016. I extremely enjoyed my time in London because of its beautiful apartments and parks filled with tulips. My favorite part was visiting Notting Hill and pretending I was Julia Roberts for a  moment. The colorful houses were adorable to see, as well as the vintage markets. Taking the tube and riding in the famous double decker busses around the city brought me great joy. I finally tried English breakfast tea and felt like a local. I was lucky enough to see Big Ben with no construction wrapped around the top of the building. I saw the famous locations of Birmingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Tower of London, London Bridge, Little Venice, and Camden Town. I even took a Harry Potter tour and got to see what helped inspire J.K.Rowley. Seeing her inspiration of the Harry Potter books and films was truly fascinating to hear about how her story unfolded. Overall, it was comforting to hear and speak only english to people at restaurants, attractions, airport, etc. I would love to visit London again and potentially live there one day. Being in London felt like I was living in a movie while walking past red phone booths and palaces. 

    My next destination to travel to was Scotland. I was extremely excited for this trip because of the beauty and history I saw in the show Outlander. I finally made it to Edinburgh by train from Kings Cross Station. I stayed at a guest house, which was giving old period drama ambience. I explored tons of thrift stores, the national history museum, and walked along the old gloomy dark streets. Edinburgh was student friendly with having discounts at every restaurant. I admired the Scottish monument and castle in the rain, while listening to a man play the bagpipes. I visited the beautiful Dean Village and walked along the stream. My favorite part of my trip was hiking Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano. The hike was steep, but the views and fresh air was stunning to grasp. It was hard to stand at the top and take pictures because the wind was pushing me over. However, finally seeing bright green grass made me really happy as well as eating delicious ice cream at the bottom by a pond with swans. Edinburgh was a quiet and a peaceful trip compared to London. I would like to visit the highlands and see more of Scotland's beauty in the near future.The cafes here were aesthetically decorated and inspired me to be optimistic about the future. It gave me the idea that maybe one day I would like to create my own cafe/bakery surrounded by books and plants  for students and families to enjoy.  

Huge thank you for London and Edinburgh for inspiring me and giving me a sense of comfort in my travels. I look forward to exploring England and Scotland in the future. 

 

xoxo,

Kristina