I met up with the other girl from NDSU who is doing the same study abroad program, Elizabeth, at the Minneapolis airport and got to meet her for the first time. The 7 hour flight to Heathrow went well, fortunately I slept most of it so I wouldn't be too groggy for my first day in London. Elizabeth and I took the Tube to where our housing is located. It was actually really easy to find, only a 2-block walk from the Tube station, and the line runs straight there from Heathrow.
For our first evening Tony, a pretty fun, knowledgeable guy who works for AIU, took us down to Covent Garden, a popular shopping and tourist district. We all had free reign to roam about and catch some supper. Me and four other people grabbed a quick supper then headed to the bar to get our first European drink (age is only 18!). So I can say I enjoyed my first legal drink last night.
Jet lag wasn't too bad. I crashed when we got back around 10pm and slept hard until this morning.This morning Tony took us on a "scenic" walking tour of London. We got to see St. Paul's Cathedral, the Millenium Bridge, Rivers Thames (pronounced Tems), replica of the Globe Theater, the London Bridge, and the Tower Bridge. We then headed to the west end of town to another popular, higher end shopping district. I got to stroll through Harrod's, a very famous, 6 story department store. It has everything, and by everything I mean EVERYTHING in it. It was crazy.
St. Paul's Cathedral. FRF (fun random fact): The reason St. Paul's Cathedral did not get bombed during the Blitzkrieg of WWII was German bombers used the cross on top of the cathedral as a navigation/reference point. If they were to bomb the cathedral, they would no longer be able to tell where they should drop their bombs from the air. 
A smaller cathedral located next to St. Paul's.
FRF: When it was first built the Millenium Bridge (pictured above), began to wobble as hundreds of thousands people crossed it daily. Even though it was fixed right away, it is still also known as "the wibbley wobbley bridge".
St. Paul's Cathedral. FRF (fun random fact): The reason St. Paul's Cathedral did not get bombed during the Blitzkrieg of WWII was German bombers used the cross on top of the cathedral as a navigation/reference point. If they were to bomb the cathedral, they would no longer be able to tell where they should drop their bombs from the air. 
A smaller cathedral located next to St. Paul's.
FRF: When it was first built the Millenium Bridge (pictured above), began to wobble as hundreds of thousands people crossed it daily. Even though it was fixed right away, it is still also known as "the wibbley wobbley bridge".
Tony telling us about the Globe Theater.
The Tower Bridge.
This is at Harrod's in the food market area, there was a WHOLE display case of JUST olives. I was awed. 
And of course, have to throw in a photo of those telephone booths!
The currency used in the UK, pounds and pences.Another FRF's:
-A primary contributor as to why London is such a big business/financial center is its time zone. Since London is on Greenwich Mean Time, it has the most ideal business day in terms of time, because it can do business with both Tokyo and New York for the longest amount of time in one day.
