Thursday, 7 November
Today, I worked at my favourite cafe again from 10-5. From 5-8:30, I cleaned my room, packed for Málaga, Spain, and fell asleep.
Friday, 8 November
Spain time. Ava and I left the dorms to catch our bus to the train station at 3:00 am. Getting to an airport in London is never a walk in the park. We had our route all planned out. We would take the night bus to Liverpool Street Station, then catch the Stansted Express train to the London Stansted Airport. We waited at the bus station in our ridiculous airport outfits for about 20 minutes after our bus was scheduled to arrive until we realised it simply was not coming. I called an Uber to the station, and we arrived just in time to catch our train.
The airport was a smooth experience, even though both our bags were stopped by security and searched. We were through in less than 30 minutes. I slept on the plane, and we landed in Spain before I knew it.
The Malaga Airport, however, was not a breeze. It took us an hour and a half to get through passport control. We were already exhausted from waking up at 3:00 a.m., and we had to stand in the boots we brought for going out for way longer than we anticipated. Ava and I stood silently most of the time, only exchanging glances when the obnoxious middle-aged British men behind us said something annoying.
Once we escaped the airport, we hopped on the bus to the city centre. I was sipping on a glass of sangria while we waited to check into our hostel in no time. We checked in, changed out of our airport clothes and went to the pier for dinner. We totally got tourist trapped. The location was beautiful, but the food was really not good. It ended up okay; we grabbed drinks at a rooftop bar when we were finished at the restaurant.
We headed back to our hostel with plans to go out, just the two of us. When we were getting ready, though, the girls in our hostel room convinced us to join the hostel pub crawl with them. It was almost too good of an opportunity to pass up. We had guides that would take us to two pubs and two clubs where we got to skip the line. At each new location, we got a free drink. We only paid 10 euros each for the whole pub crawl experience. We also met a ton of new people who were also travelling. A girl in my hostel was from Beaverton, Oregon, one guy was an Austrian doctor, and another was a Canadian pipe fitter.
Saturday, 9 November
We woke up in the morning to clear skies and sun! We walked around all afternoon just shopping around and seeing the sights. The city was decorated for Christmas already, but they weren’t turning on the lights at nighttime yet. We had a really yummy late lunch/early dinner that we ate on the rooftop of our hostel. Only 5 euro for a giant sandwich. We were in heaven compared to the London prices that we’re used to. We rested at the hostel again for a little bit before returning to the rooftop bars at the pier for a little sunset drink. And then it was back to the hostel pub crawl.
Sunday, 10 November
We got our beauty rest last night. We woke up around 1:00 p.m. and started our day at 2:00 p.m. on a catamaran boat ride. It was relaxing and had gorgeous views of the city from the ocean. Ava and I got there early enough to grab a spot on the front of the boat above the water. After our hour-long boat ride, we stumbled upon a Sunday market at the pier. Ava and I spent way too long there, almost two hours, running back and forth between the jewellery booths trying to decide what to buy. We made it to the beach just in time to catch the sunset and grab paella for two. I’m glad I tried it, but I have zero urge to have paella again. I think we got tourist trapped again.
We headed back to the hostel to rest before we got a late dinner and a sangria pitcher while wearing our matching I ❤️Malaga shirts we got while shopping around the day before.
Monday, 11 November
Our taxi in London from the airport dropped us off pretty far away. We didn’t mind, though, because the sun was shining, and we got to walk through Regents Park. After our lovely walk, we grabbed lunch and an espresso before returning to the dorm to rest and recharge for the rest of the week.
Tuesday, 12 November
On Tuesday, I went to class in the morning and worked on homework and my internship for the rest of the day. I closed down the Marylebone Corner. Once I was off work, I got ramen with my friends and we got gelato afterwards at a food hall in Marylebone that used to be an old Catholic church.
Wednesday, 13 November
Wednesdays are my 8-hour days. I started today at 10 a.m. in person at my internship. At 1:00 p.m., I grabbed a quick bite at the street food market before commuting to my photography class, which is from 3:00-5:00 p.m. The rest of the evening, my friends and I worked on our papers that were due for our internship class and had a big spaghetti party in Sydney and Tyler’s kitchen. It wasn’t really an effective work method, but I had a great time and ended up getting everything done.
Thursday, 14 November
Today was the full day of my internship, so I worked from home in the morning and went back to the Marylebone Corner for the afternoon part of my shift. Once I was off work, I got a bit of homework done, packed for Florence, and then met up with Ava and Noelle to explore the Southbank Christmas market. Upon our arrival, we got some mulled wine and walked over to see the view of Big Ben and the London Eye.
Near the Waterloo tube station, there is a mural of Paddington Bear. It has the quote from the movie; “Mrs Brown says that everyone in London is different, and that means anyone can fit in.” It made me so emotional that I rented the first Paddington movie, and I watched it later that night. I was crying my eyes out about how much I related to Paddington Bear. His experience is so real. It’s really hard to figure out how to walk in the crowds here. It’s humiliating to ask for directions and be completely ignored. It’s difficult to feel like you belong at first. But it gets better. London is a malleable city; it will mould to what you need, and you’ll find your place among nine million people. It’s sad to think about how I will finish my study abroad program and be apart from my London friends very soon. But this experience has been exactly what I needed it to be.
Friday, 15 November
Italy time. I woke up with plenty of time to finalise my packing and also to relax and shower. My journey to the airport was a breeze. I took the tube to the London Bridge train station and boarded my train to London Gatwick Airport right on time. Once at the airport, my flight got delayed a little bit, but I was happy since I had a bowl of cheap JD Wetherspoons chips to help me pass the time. Once I landed in Florence and arrived at the Airbnb Max and I was staying in, I didn’t have much downtime before it was time to meet up with the rest of my friends for dinner. I had an amazing lasagna. It’s not pictured since I ate it so fast. After dinner, we stopped by an Irish pub and a karaoke bar before calling it a semi-early night.
Saturday, 16 November
I should have planned better for today. My friends are notorious for waking up ridiculously late. Max and I waited around for them until we couldn’t bear it anymore, so we left our Airbnb seeking pizza and beer, and that is exactly what we got. We sat at the cheapest pub in this square, soaking up the daylight and waiting for the rest of our friends to leave their beds for the day and meet up with us. Once the sleepyheads were up, we crossed to the other side of the bridge and shopped around. We stopped at a sandwich shop around 3 p.m., when the restaurants usually close to prepare for dinner. This sandwich shop was an exception. They were blasting music so loud we could barely hear each other speak. We got to-go Hugo Spritzes and made our way back to the other side of the bridge. I took the best nap ever once we got back. When I woke up, it was time for another Italian dinner before we headed to the clubs. Max got an insane Florentine steak that he shared with me. It was so delicious.
Sunday, 17 November
Today was a very gloomy day in Florence. It kind of killed my motivation to do any sightseeing since I just wanted to spend time inside with my friends. Max and I still found the energy to wake up and grab coffee before we met Michelle at the Ufizzi gallery. It was a nice museum, but the views from the windows were my favourite part. After our trip to the gallery, we had another midday nap before dinner. Siestas every day for me in Florence. Ben and Beckett convinced Max and me to go to a super nice restaurant for dinner under the ruse that they did tableside flambe pasta and steak. It turns out they didn’t feel like doing either of those when we were there. We still had an epic time, though, and I got another amazing lasagna. I got full pretty fast since I was really enjoying the bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar before our food came out. I offered up my leftovers, and an argument broke out over who would get to finish it, thats how good this lasagna was. After dinner, we stopped for a nightcap at a cocktail bar Ben and Beckett like. After that, we said our goodbyes and hit the hay.
Monday, 18 November
The Florence airport is so small. I left the city centre at 11:00 a.m. and was through security by 11:25. It is kind of annoying that the airports are so far away in London, but I have come to really enjoy the train rides back to the city. They’re really relaxing to me and give me time to plan the week ahead in my brain. When I was back in the city, I met my dorm friends for dinner and a drink at our nearby pub and then got plenty of rest.
Tuesday 19 November
Today I had class in the morning and my internship in the afternoon. Once I was off the clock, I went straight to the Convent Garden Christmas market. I was with Ava and Sydney and our other girlfriends who go to school in Chicago. It was a little too bougie for us, so after one cup of mulled wine and seeing all the lights, we switched over to the market that Ava and I were at last Thursday in Southbank. We got more Dutch pancakes and discovered a super Christmassy beer garden. So festive.
Wednesday 20 November
Today was another full day of class and internship. I worked on homework and got dinner with my friends when I was off the clock. I called it an early night after dinner and had some much-needed alone time.
Thursday 23 November
I worked remotely all day today. In the afternoon, I switched locations to a bagel cafe that I had noticed the night before when I was walking back from dinner. It was amazing. Once I was done with work, Sydney and I went on a little dinner date in Soho and then popped into our favourite Thursday spot, Gaz’s Rockin Blues.
I get to have a little taste of home this upcoming week because my best friend Avery is visiting me over her Thanksgiving break. I’m excited to show her what I’ve been up to a what my life is like here. Thanks for reading! xx
DU Abroad 