Submitted by Jessy Buckter on the 2014 spring semester study abroad program in London, England…
This week in classes, I went on some field trips. On Monday with my art history class, we explored the Tate Britain Museum. We were assigned to look at the works of two specific artists, but I stayed longer and looked at all the artists. London has such a rich cultural background, but it was nice to see that the city has built museums to acknowledge more modern things, too. On Thursday, I went to the Museum of London with my class. It was newly renovated about two years ago, so it was a very nice museum. There were many interactive parts and lots of modern technology. The museum outlined the entire history of the city of London, right up to the recent Olympic games in 2012. The museum was extremely interesting and informative.
On Fridays, some of my roommates and I have no class so we decided to spend the day doing touristy London things that we haven’t done yet. First, we traveled down to the borough of Southwark to visit the Borough Market. I love all the open markets here, but this one really takes the cake for food. There was so much cheese and bread, I was in heaven. I got a falafel wrap for lunch, which was just as good as ones I used to get when I went to Israel. Next, we crossed the London Bridge and saw Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye, but in typical London fashion, the rain started unexpectedly with furious winds. The wind ruined any type of cute pictures we wanted to take. Finally, we took the tube to Oxford Street and shopped in Primark, which was quite the experience. I was blown away by the prices of the clothes there, but also at the fact that I managed to lose both of my friends in the first two minutes of being there. That is definitely the go to place for cheap shopping. Overall, this was a jam-packed day and I was exhausted at the end of it.
On Sunday, London held a huge festival for the Chinese New Year. London actually has the biggest Chinese New Year celebration in the world outside of China. First, we went to Trafalgar Square which was packed with people. There was a huge stage set up with different performers from China. It was very interesting to see authentic Chinese dances and hear songs sung in Chinese. Next, we headed to Chinatown with apparently everyone in London. The city shut down many streets for this day, but you could barely even walk around. My roommates and I wanted to get lunch in Chinatown, but that was completely out of question. The area was way too crowded, especially the restaurants where there was authentic Chinese dragon dances. Overall, it was a great experience getting to see how another culture celebrates their new year, especially Chinese people because they have so many rich traditions. It was really nice to see people from London of diverse ethnicities and backgrounds come to this celebration.
