Spent all morning trying to catch up on the blog, and i’m almost there! Hoping that by tonight or tomorrow i will hopefully have caught up completely!

I landed in Singapore last night around midnight, and am in my hotel room in the Little India area writing this currently. Since i’m so far behind on the blog, and my posts have been so excessively long i think what i will start doing is just posting pictures and then providing descriptions of them and how they relate to my experiences.

This post is about my trip to London, England!

London!

Right after our program in Sevilla ended, i was in England for 4 days as my flight back to the US was out of Heathrow airport. I was staying with my long lost cousin, Ruth, in Shepherd’s bush market in London! To be honest, i didn’t really know Ruth that well before i spent time with her in London, but it turned out to be an amazing visit and consider her to be one of my coolest cousins!

Day 1

My flight got into England around 5pm or so, and Ruth met me at the airport. We took the metro to her stop: Shepherd’s Bush Market!

Shepherd’s bush market was also home to the BBC station, as well as the world’s second largest mall (Westfield)

My good buddies from Sevilla, Scottie and Lucas, came to England with me and we all stayed together at Ruth’s apartment! All of us, along with her cool German apt. mate Robin all went to this delicious Syrian restaurant to grab dinner than night…it was delicious!

Day 2

On my second day in London, Scott, Lucas and I set off to explore the city. We decided to head towards Buckingham palace first, and me and scottie decided to stop and lounge for a bit in Green Park!

In front of Buckingham Palace!

We took a walk through St.James Park and saw a ridiculous amount of different ducks and birds. They even had pelicans that people were petting. Lucas tried to pet one and it almost bit his face off haha

Soo cool, believe this was a government building

Had to recreate dad’s photo making fun of Saba’s london mishaps with Phone booths in England haha

Swung by Big Ben for a bit

Pure Joy! There is one Chipotle outside of the US, which is located in London. Naturally, we had to go find it. Even though it wasn’t quite the same without the Mexican ladies working there, and they had minor differences in ingredients it was still delicious. Lucas ended up buying two burritos, and it was following this meal that the BBC challenge was born!

Went to Trafalagur square and hung out there for a while

Later that evening, after grabbing dinner at a not so great chinese buffet in Shepherd’s bush, we headed off to an English pub to grab a drink. Scott and Lucas were both heading out the next morning, so was a great ending to an even better friendship. Was really glad to have had them with me to explore england, and feel fortunate to have met such good people. Looking forward to our reunions next year at UMD and Michigan!

Day 3

On my 3rd day, Ruth and I met up with my cousin Ayesha who happened to be in England for vacation at the same time, and we went to grab lunch. Being that we were in england, it only felt right that we should grab lunch at a fish and chips place!

So good!

Cousins: Ruth and Ayesha!

After lunch, ruth took us to this sweet undergroundish record store called Rough trade

We swung by a book shop, and then headed off to check out the British Museum!

In the Australia Garden exhibit outside the British Museum

Went to the London Book Review for a bit!

We met Ruth’s mom, and got dinner at a Pakistani restaurant!

After dinner, we headed to a pub with Ruth’s mom and a couple of Ruth’s friends

Day 4

On my last day in England, spent the day relaxing and exploring the areas close to Shepherd’s bush. I started the day off by grabbing lunch at a Carribean place and got some great goat curry!

Went to the check out the Shepherd’s bush market for a bit

Went to the lovely Holland Park, and had a great time exploring the area!

Kyoto Gardens!

Holland Park had a life size chess game!

Peacock!

After my full day of exploring Shepherd’s bush and the surrounding area, Ruth and I decided to grab dinner once i got back. To continue with the weeks theme of trying out delicious cultural cuisines (A welcome change after eating Spanish food for so long) we decided to go to an Ethiopian restaurant.

My meal!

Ruth and I at the restaurant

Last morning

The next morning, it had been forever since i’d cooked so i decided to make us some scrambled eggs. Ruth sliced up some bread, we got some bananas and tea, and had a fantastic “English Breakfast!”

After breakfast, i lugged my two heavy suitcases to the airport and took off to fly back home to the good ol’ US of A!

London was lovely, and was so glad that i got to stay with Ruth and get to know her better. Really feel like you enjoy a place so much more when you’re staying with a local who can show you around!

Cheers,

Sahil