Cruising Down The Thames

Today started off pretty slow. I had originally set my alarm for 9:30 so I could get an early start to the day, but somewhere in the night my phone died, and I woke up very confused around 11:30. I guess I was more tired than I had originally thought, but when you're running around all day exploring a city as big and interesting as London, you don't really notice your waning energy level too much. It turned out to be a good thing as I spent the first half of the day really relaxing for the first time since I got off the plane.

Later, around 3:30, I met up with Maddie and a couple of other girls from the Arcadia program in their flat to have an early (a very early) dinner. We had to eat early because as part of our welcome week Westminster had organized a boat cruise for new students on The River Thames! (Side note: I still have yet to understand why the name is pronounced as it is) However, the boat didn't have any food on it so we had a family dinner of chicken risotto and garlic bread that one of the girls made, which was absolutely delicious. We had to be at the Tower Hill tube station by 5:20, but due to a rare tube delay that of course happened at the worst possible time, we had to sprint through the streets of Tower Hill to make it on time. I'm sure we were very entertaining to all the people we ran by in our formal(ish) attire.

We finally boarded the little river boat with a bunch of students from the University. I hadn't realized until then just how many abroad students had come to Westminster to study--and from all over the world. We were surrounded by so many different people speaking so many different languages, you caught yourself turning your head wherever you went trying to take it all in. Our little Arcadia group grabbed a couple of drinks at the bar on board (of course they have alcohol but no food) and then headed to the upper deck so we could do some sightseeing. (For those who are curious (Mom) I got a Malibu and Cranberry and while it was actually really good it was the only drink I got all night because like everything else here it was expensive).

From the deck we had a fantastic view of the Tower Bridge as well as The Shard, the tallest building in the European Union. As we started moving, we also got a great view of the Tower of London which I plan on returning to in the very near future.

And, dirty as The Thames was, (frankly as dirty if not dirtier than the Hudson), it was so cool to see the city from the river. Had the school not organized the cruise, I don't think I would have been able to do something quite like this, and I'm really glad we were able to. We sailed under the Tower Bridge and were able to watch it recede in the distance as the sun set behind it (yes the sun!) and then admire the passing scenery.



We soon found a few of our friends who had been housed at different campuses and caught up on the last couple of days as well as interacted with other students we hadn't met yet. I got to talk to a couple of nice girls from Australia who had come to Westminster to study fashion as well as other people in my dorm who I had seen but had yet to talk to.

I spent much of the cruise talking and watching London pass by, snapping pictures whenever a good opportunity presented itself. After the sun set it got distinctly colder out, which sent a lot of the cruise-goers inside where they were playing music. I tried to stay outside as long as possible, though once we turned around to head back I went in as I could no longer feel my fingers or knees.

Before we turned back though, we passed by the arena where the Olympic Opening Ceremonies had taken place. I'm assuming it looked more interesting on the inside because the outside just looked like a big white dome under construction. However, the way back was just as cool as the way up because everything we had passed before was all lit up. The boat docked around 9:00 and we disembarked to
another fantastic view of the Tower Bridge, only this time it was illuminated against the dark backdrop of the night sky, which of course prompted one last picture before we caught the Tube to go back home.

I honestly can't believe it's already been a week here! Some times it feels like it's been longer while other times it feels like we just got here. Though I've seen so much and met so many new people so far, there is still a lot left for me to discover. London has been absolutely amazing so far, and I can't wait to see what the next week of adventures will bring!