It was Monday. 4/5 of the worlds least favorite day…I made this up but it very well could be in all ways true. Mondays are the days that it usually rains, or your favorite coffee shop is closed. Well this Monday was our last full day in the City of London together as a newly formed inseparable bond. We were told it was a free day which was in some ways a sigh of relief since it followed the two days filled with brain power and mental exhaustion, but in other ways felt surreal because this meant it was near the end of our journey. We were given the option to rest our tired little minds by sleeping in which unfortunately I grew weak to instantly. I love sleeping in more than ice cream at times like these. After my great nights slumber, I met up with a group that decided to make way to the Buckingham Palace. We spent a little while there, admiring the beautiful golden sculptures and large black gates. We then made our way to the London Eye, stopping frequently to oooh and aaaah at the geese, swan, and pigeons–
I decided to not take part in the London Eye experience but I enjoyed a nice noodle lunch with a friend from our group who had the same interest! After all of this goose observing, walking, and noodle indulging, I returned to THE room 515 to check in on our groups secret surprise. Everyone had taken part in a little something to show just a small amount of how we felt to the two that made this trip worth everything! We each took a few minutes to reflect on our experience(s) here in London, and thank both Ingrid and Regina for everything they did for each and every one of us. During our ‘last supper’, we presented the two prints to them, overwhelmed with appreciation. I still cannot begin to explain just how important these two were during this whole trip! They were great company, mentors, teachers, friends, and sometimes even tour guides.
Not only were both Ingrid and Regina super amazing during this trip– but the rest of the crew was pretty damn rad as well. I got to spend time with all 13 of them in one way or another and in just ten days, learned some of the most valuable and memorable things. I’ll share a couple with you—
- Steven has really good reflexes
- When given blocks on blocks of sticky notes, don’t EVER underestimate the power of the outcome
- Big Ben is a bit smaller than I had imagined
- Autumn is basically a traveling Tarot card mentor
- Reggie is always willing to high five me after being told “you’re being too loud”
- Nina has sick dance moves
- Referring to our hotel room as ‘home’ got kind of cute
- The Umass Lowell Art and Design Department contains some of the most inspiring, unique people you could ever hope to spend ten days with.
My numbered list could go on to the hundreds but I think my blog would get removed… so enjoy a few that sum it up in my eyes. I am so beyond thankful to have made the decision to go on this trip and pull it off. I feel like this was an experience of a lifetime and one that I will reflect on for the rest of my life. I learned more than I could of imagined learning especially within this timeframe. I am sad that this Monday (that actually wasn’t rainy) had to happen eventually but also extremely happy with the friendships that I walk away with and that beats any Monday filled with rain and closed coffee shops.
Blurry, but we tried