Today we explored London with the help of double-decker bus tours and a river tour. We saw what felt like every inch of London including Big Ben, The London Eye, and London Bridge. I learned a lot of history about the city and the significance of its iconic structures. The thing I was most surprised to learn was that tTower of London used to house exotic animals including a polar bear!

We broke off into small groups after the river tour to grab lunch and explore on our own. My friends and I found a small pub for lunch. I had the best fish and chips in the whole world, which was good because I was still really nervous about trying new food.

Best Fish and Chips Ever!!

Later we explored small book shops and candy stores while photographing all the diverse typography and design. I found it much easier to do things as a group of six rather than trying to account for sixteen people. Today was a great day full of laughs and photos; I am excited to see what tomorrow brings!

Luckily the rain held out long enough for us to get a great tour around the City of London.  We got to ride in one of the Double Decker buses which made it possible to get some amazing shots!  On our journey we got a close look at so some awesome places like the Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Palace of Westminster, the Westminster Abby, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, St. Jame’s Palace, the Wellington Arch, the Dorchester among many more.  Part of the tour was taking a short boat ride down the River Thames where we got to see some of the sites along the river such as the London Eye, the London Dungeon, the Imperial War Museum, Shakespeare’s Globe, the London Bridge, and Tower Bridge.  Afterwards, some of us got off at Leicester Square and got lunch there and explored some of the shops in the area.  Over all we got an amazing tour of all the different sites throughout the city and were able to get amazing photos of them.

Today it was quite cloudy in London. It had us shivering on the tops of the double decker busses that we hopped on and off of, familiarizing ourselves with the city all day. Rain drops started to fall as we boated along the Thames getting fantastic views of the London Eye and The Tower Bridge. Although the weather wasn’t particularly on our side, the morale was still high.

Breaking out of our 16 person group around lunchtime allowed for a more quaint experience in a small pub just outside of Leicester square. After finishing my meal of fish and chips we explored both the touristy parts of Piccadilly Circus and the more quiet surrounding streets. Coming across tiny antique shops and hidden bookstores (one with a pretty substantial section of art and design books!!) made it feel as though the city isn’t so big and overwhelming after all.

The more time I spend out in the city the more fascinated I am by the mixture of old and new architecture that London embraces. The contrast between the historic stone buildings and modern glass ones just works so seamlessly here. Even though much of the skyline contains those tall and shiny structures, I have an admiration for the charming small businesses that you just so happen to stumble upon such as this one:

Overall- a very exciting first full day on the town. Off to dinner! Cheers!

A view of Tower Bridge from our boat tour on the River Thames.

The last time I was in London, I had a guided coach tour of the city. This whole Hop-On-Hop-Off bus tour idea is bloody brilliant! We were able to see parts of the city that I had never even seen before, all from the comfort of an open-air double decker rooftop. Then, we could hop off and hop back on whenever we liked.

This gave us a chance to explore the city in our own way. First, we all took the bus to Westminster Square where we caught the City Tour boat. This brought us down the Thames back to Tower Hill, where we picked up yet another line to Leicester Square.

My little travel group originally hopped off at Leicester to get food (unfortunately of the American variety, but when you’re that hungry, it doesn’t matter too much), but ended up staying for its storefronts. We explored a variety of souvenir shops, all selling the same exact items (which, as you can imagine, was very frustrating… fidget spinners are highly overrated), and then ventured to M&M World, the Nickelodeon Store, LEGO World, and the Kingdom of Sweets (to anyone on this trip reading this, avoid buying Haribo, Kinder Eggs, or Kinder Buenos, etc. in these kinds of shops; a grocery store or druggist is much cheaper).

Having the freedom to explore the city gives us the freedom to explore our interests, and I am so grateful that we are able to do that with this program.

Heathrow Airport

Today we arrived in London and everyone was exhausted from our six-hour flight. Although our eyes were half open on the ride to the hotel we saw something new and exciting with every passing minute. We drove past beautiful buildings that are older than America, and it struck me how much history is in this city. After everyone arrived and had a chance to get settled we all went out to dinner most people got steak or burgers, some got fish and chips, but I got a caesar salad. I am not an adventurous person when it comes to food and it is really hard to make a bad caesar salad. As a result, it is always my go to when I am in a new place. After dinner, everyone went back to the hotel and most of us took naps. Later in the night, a group of us took an adventure to McDonald’s. I felt oddly comforted by being in such a familiar place. The menu here has “Great Tastes of America” specials like a chicken bacon ranch and a Mississippi Mudslide McFlurry. I found it kind of humorous to see our cuisine depicted as specials. I was also very excited to spot a Lush store that I hope to visit when they are open! Everyone has been walking around today with their phones photographing various design and typography examples but I am taking a little longer to adjust to the new surroundings. Everything here seems so familiar but slightly altered. For example, on our way to McDonald’s, there was a TK Maxx instead of TJ Maxx. Thank god most streets tell you which way to look because I am not sure I am going to master it in the short ten days we are here. Overall today was a great first day not overwhelming but not boring by any means. I am excited to see more of London on our double decker bus tours tomorrow!

“Stay safe, I love you”. Texts like this poured into my phone from friends and family while sitting at the airport the night of June 3rd awaiting the flight to London. The heartbreaking news of the attacks around the London Bridge area was alarming to say the least. When traveling abroad, safety is the most important thing these days. It has always been stressed to me since being a child to stay in groups, be cautious and aware of your surroundings and try to get a sense of the area as fast as possible to realize what places you probably shouldn’t hang around. But with all that said, you can never prepare for something like what happened in London that night.

Of course it’s been on my mind, along with the professors and peers I am traveling with but we refuse to let it change the way we look at this trip. We are doing everything we can to ensure that this study abroad experience will not only be a safe one, but a great one. This, being my first trip to London, I can definitely say that I am so excited to see what the city has to offer. Just from the minor sightseeing we did today, it is a beautiful place and I am so glad to have this opportunity as a UMass Lowell Graphic Design student.

So it may be a last minute blog post, but its for the better I promise. As everyone arrived today, I got here yesterday, just in time for the world to take a moment of silence for London. I got here early afternoon, on June 3rd, ready to take on the streets, meet some new faces, and explore with those who were familiar to me from UMass Lowell. I arrived earlier than the rest so I tried keeping my explorations close to where we were staying during our time here.. responsible, right? Well sometimes you can’t really help what goes on around you, even if it’s minutes to where you feel most comfortable. I sat at a bar stool watching the biggest futbal game of the season, asking the locals to explain to me just exactly what was going on. People roared with rage then moments after yelled in celebration as it was clearly a good game. These people made me feel comfortable, at home even as it reminded me of the small town I grew up in. A single siren interrupted the celebrations which turned to dozens followed by police officers coming from no where. Screams filled the streets and blue lights lit up the buildings. At first, it was merely an accident, probably something minor. The police officers became more frantic and the people more confused. It wasn’t till shortly after that, people from home were texting me asking if I was okay. Photos from the news were sent to update me and I feel as if things got worse every minute. I wasn’t allowed to leave quite yet so I wasn’t entirely sure as to what EXACTLY was going on..finally officers came in yelling to evacuate and get home safe. Thanks to the friendly people I had met, I did exactly that with their help and guidance. It wasn’t until I was laying in bed with the news on when it hit me. This was happening, and I was in the center of it. It got me thinking, it wasn’t just happening then, but everyday. We don’t realize it though, because we aren’t really caught in the center of it..

Things are going on all over the world that we live in and usually tend to take for granted. People are getting hurt, innocent beings are being killed, ice caps are melting, and while all this is happening, we read about it on Facebook, ‘like’ the article and continue scrolling. This time, the happenings were much more than a Facebook post or a newspaper article..

I apologize for not updating this blog with the beautiful churches of London, or iconic red telephone booths that we all know and love, but I felt that this topic was a bit more heavy on my heart and deserved a bit of attention. My thoughts go out to all of those who were affected during this time as I hope the word feels the same.

Hayley

Today was our first official day in London. After traveling across the big pond on a six hour flight, then skipping forward five hours through time zones. We landed at 10:00 am this morning, most of us had very little sleep on the flight. For the rest of the day it was as if we were in slow motion. Casually taking our time as we walk through the streets of London. No hurry, just taking it all in! We tried our best to stay up against the jet lag. But alas, it got the best of me when I knocked out for a nap at 7:00 pm. Overall, today was a leisurely day of enjoying the new scenery, taking our time and catching all the ZZZ’s!

It started off as just getting back into the groove of writing and doing some hand-lettering, then I decided I’m going to start recording and responding to what I was about to see and experience for the blog as doodles in my sketchbook. Since this is our first day in London, there was little of hardcore art and design exploration for me. If you’re interested in knowing what these mundane doodles meant, then keep on reading.

The latest episode of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” was on my mind when I was waiting at the airport, which led me to drawing one of the contestant’s signature make-up look. I was also drawing a person’s portrait in the waiting room. I poorly drew a batik pattern on a lady’s shirt on the customs queue line. The ‘EAT.’ type was a restaurant chain that we passed by a couple of times in the taxi on the way to the airport. We passed by the Big Ben and some street signs in the taxi to the hotel. “Catfish” was on MTV when I was waiting to meet the group for dinner. And lastly, I drew a quick rendition of my outfit of the day (OOTD), which consists of my shirt and shoes for our group dinner. At the end of the day, I am still very much confused whether we should be walking on the left or right side as a pedestrian.