Settling In

As mentioned in my previous post, my sense of direction is somewhat sub-par. So imagine my surprise that I was able to navigate myself and my flatmate Margaret to campus for orientation with no help from Google maps! Sure, we have made the walk a few times by now, lead by official navigator/pack leader Kaitlin (who refers to us all as her little ducklings because we follow her around blindly), but hey, it’s all about the small victories.

The walk to campus is actually quite nice. We found that we can cut through a dog park and shorten our journey, or we can stroll through Exmouth Market, where daily food stands are set up that will come in handy for bites to eat on the way to class. At night, the market area has many pubs and restaurants that will be perfect for nights out when we stay in the neighborhood. On the whole, our neighborhood of Clerkenwell seems to be a perfect place to live and go to school.

Clerkenwell Green, a square in our neighborhood with lots of cute restaurants and things to explore.

So far, our time has been spent on orientation sessions during the days and freedom to run errands and explore during the evenings and nights. On Tuesday morning we had our orientation at ACCENT, the program that runs our abroad program, followed by afternoon tea at the British Museum. No words to describe how delicious that was. It was a great time also for us to socialize so the 11 of us could get to know each other better.

Good ol’ British scones, a feature of our afternoon tea at the British Museum. Yum.

Wednesday and Thursday were orientations at City, during which we learned about the university and got our class schedules. On Thursday we also went on a walking tour of the borough that our school and flat is located in, Islington. The tour helped us gain more historical insight on the area, as well as see some of the sites that must be explored throughout the semester.

A church connected to a former convent in Clerkenwell. Above are other views of Clerkenwell and Islington, including a shot of the Smithfield meat market (right), one of the most well-known meat markets in London.

We have also been able to get a little sense of the familiar by meeting up with some of our fellow USC students that are studying in London. On Wednesday night Margaret, Kaitlin, Kelly, Julia and I met up with a group of Trojans at a bar in Shoreditch. We conquered our first bus ride without a guide and successfully arrived at the bar. There, we were able to catch up and swap stories on what we have done and seen so far. It was great to see some familiar faces in a fun, new setting.

Obligatory first successful bus ride selfie

Kelly, Margaret, Julia and me at the Canada Square ice rink.

Thursday night we ventured out once again, this time braving both the bus and the tube to go ice skating at Canada Square in Canary Wharf. Big thanks to Margaret and her Frugal app for finding us a deal. The ice skating was such a fun thing to do, and nobody took a tumble so we’re calling it a win.

This weekend, Aubrey comes for a visit before she heads off to Capetown for the semester. We plan to do a lot of sightseeing and exploring, so more stories and selfies are in store. Until next time!