Submitted by Jordyn Levison on the 2014 spring semester study abroad program in London, England…
This past weekend was hands down the best weekend I’ve had in London thus far. We had always wanted to plan a day trip to Greenwich, London so that we could visit the Prime Meridian and the Royal Observatory, and we were finally free to take the hour long trek. When you reach Greenwich, you must cross the River Thames to get to the town center. We ended up taking the Emirates Air Line cable car to get from North Greenwich to the Royal Docks, which was absolutely incredible. We were 300 feet above the ground and could see a birds-eye view of the entire city! Once we landed, we wandered around for a bit until we stumbled across this huge, dome-like arena. The arena turned out to be the O2, one of the largest entertainment districts in all of the UK. It recently featured famous artists such as Beyonce, Jay-Z, One Direction, and Katy Perry. Once inside the venue, we saw a merchandise booth selling t-shirts for The Backstreet Boys—who happened to be performing that night!! We decided to wait in line at the ticket booth to see if there were any tickets left. Although we ended up waiting an hour and a half, we ended up getting last-minute tickets for the show. It was so spontaneous, but definitely worth it! To pass the time, we visited the Greenwich Meridian where we were able to take pictures standing in both the western and eastern hemispheres at the same time. We walked through the gardens and visited the Royal Observatory, which is London’s only planetarium. We finally returned to the O2, where we saw the best concert of all time. The Backstreet Boys were incredible live—even twenty years past their prime—and it was an overall unbelievable experience with some great friends!
