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By Taylor Williams

In all honesty, the food has not exactly been the highlight of my trip. I don’t want to say it's been all bad, London is an amazingly diverse city with a wide array of options. All of the Indian food I’ve tried has been unmatched to anything I’ve ever had at home, similar to the Caribbean and Chinese food. Before I came to London all I would ever hear once I told people I was going to London was that the weather was bad and the food was even worse. Well, thus far the weather has held steady and it hasn’t been until recently that a dreary and dark sky has been the constant state of the city. Well, unfortunately, I finally understand what everyone means when they talk about London food. Now, I don’t at all want to say the food is bad. I think its horribly ignorant and rude to say that all of the authentically British food is bad and to be avoided at all cost. That being said, it’s definitely been much different than the food I’m accustomed to eating at home. 

When one thinks of London, you don’t normally think of it being a place that's drastically different than the US, and in many ways that's true. There are times when I can completely forget I’m in another country at all and feel completely come home, and then I’ll walk past Buckingham Palace or I’ll ride atop on the many red double-decker buses and I’ll remember how far from home I really am. I only have one week left to try and soak up as much of London as I can, so I’m going to vow to every day see something I haven’t before. 

By Taylor Williams

3 weeks left. As cliche as it sounds, it's amazing how incredibly quick time can fly. In three weeks exactly I’ll be back at home in Philadelphia and I’m assuming I will be experiencing a wide array of emotions. First and foremost the inevitable sadness I’ll feel from being away from London, and this little flat in Islington that I’ve begun to feel at home in. I’ll miss my roommates, the tube, the fact that everyone around me speaks so eloquently and with amazing accents and I’ll miss this moment in time. Because although I’ll return to London one day and look back with fond memories, I’ll never be able to return to this exact moment and the fondness I’ve grown for this city. I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t been a rocky road. Living in London has been incredibly interesting, as it’s similar enough to home where I don’t feel as though I experienced any major culture shock, and then something will happen, maybe something small like a sign saying “toilet” and not “restroom” and I’ll suddenly feel reminded of how extremely far away from home I actually am. London is an extraordinary city, and even though I hate to be one of those people claiming that “abroad changed me”, it truly did in ways I didn’t expect. And so for that I thank London, and the people of London who will always have a place in my heart. xx

By Taylor Williams

Paris! This month has honestly been truly magical. Returning to Paris is something I’ve always dreamed of. The first time I went to Paris I was 14, and don’t think I was truly able to appreciate the magic that is the City of Love. This time was completely different. For one, it was an amazing trip I got to experience with my soror’s, Faith and Jessica. It was truly a dream, to imagine that one day I’ll be able to tell my kids that at 20 I traveled to Paris with my sorority sisters! The first thing we did when we arrived was set off to the Louvre, to be honest, I wasn’t all that excited to see it, as I’d already been there and seen the Mona Lisa, and had been underwhelmed the first time I saw her. This time, however, was completely different. I hadn’t been able to fully appreciate the magnitude of the Louvre and how much beauty lives within it. 

More than anything, however, this trip inspired me. I’m sad to say I was becoming a little disappointed in London and a little underwhelmed with the city as a whole. That is until my friend Nzinga, whom I visited during my travels in Paris told me about how wonderful her study abroad experience had been, and how she was hoping to extend her trip. When I asked her what made her love it so much, she told me that each day she sets out with the intention of experiencing something new about Paris, and so that's what I aspire to do with London, to see, do, and overall experience something new and different every day.  Until next time! xx

By Taylor Williams

This weekend, I was tasked with the impossible… ok, not so impossible as much as difficult. My sorority sister, Faith, came in from Barcelona and was only staying for one day, meaning I was tasked with trying to show her everything London had to offer in 24 hours. This is a very daunting task, as you might imagine, London has so much to offer and I’ve already seen so much and yet even I’ve barely scratched the surface in the 3 weeks I’ve been here. We set out on an action-packed day and I was able to show her all of my favorite spots. We started in Camden markets, undoubtedly one of the favorite places I’ve visited since I’ve gotten to London. Camden is such a bustling and vibrant City. We started early in the morning so of course, we went straight for the food stalls. There are so many incredible smalls and food choices that it's hard to pick just one. Ultimately, I went with the safest option and I got an amazing arepa from the same stall I went to a few weeks ago. After Camden Market, I decided to show her Harrods. This was my time truly taking in Harrods in all its glory and it's truly an indescribable place. It’s such a big and grand place that we actually got lost trying to leave. Afterward, we decided to go to Buckingham Palace. I’ve never been to Buckingham Palace and ultimately it was a little underwhelming. Maybe it was due to the cold and dismal weather, but unpopular opinion: I was a little disappointed with Buckingham Palace as a whole. Kensington Palace and it’s accompanying Gardens, however, is in my opinion, a lot more beautiful and that's where we headed off next. We ended the day in Leicester Square, home to Chinatown and one of London’s 7 Chipotles’, the only place Faith really wanted to go while she was in London. All in all, it was a fun and action filled day and it was nice having Faithy here and reminding me of home. Until next time xx

By Taylor Williams

I've officially been in London for three weeks! It's insane how much I've seen in such a short amount of time and yet I've barely scratched the surface. In many ways, I’ve spent most of my time in London doing nothing particularly remarkable. I still haven’t seen Big Ben, or Kensington Gardens, I have seen any of the many castles and I haven’t stepped foot in a single museum, and yet I’ve loved every second of being here. Last week, I made the conscious decision to get lost because I’ve told that the best way to explore a city, to just walk in no particular direction. Somehow I made my way to The Kensington and Chelsea area, fans of the amazingly trashy show “Made in Chelsea” will recognize the neighborhood. As I walked around it was like I stepped into the London of my dreams. It sounds cheesy to say, but it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, It was like stepping into a picture book, perfectly serene and picturesque. Whitestone houses and manicured lawns, it was spectacular. Since that day I decided that getting lost is the only way I want to see London from now on. I spent the summer obsessively curating the perfect Pinterest board, and it seems almost seems comical now how I believed that I could plan every moment. Because if I had indeed stuck to such a rigid schedule I would’ve missed out on the little treasures and hidden gems London has to offer. xx

By Taylor Williams

In many ways, London is exactly what I’ve expected it to be. Perhaps, that's due to me being a little overzealous this summer having spent my days, watching an abundance of vlogs and obsessively updating my Pinterest board on things to do in London it almost feels as though I’ve been here before. To describe London as beautiful feels like an understatement. In short, it’s a grand and varied City with a rich and colorful history, and I can’t wait to further explore that it has to offer me.

My favorite place I’ve visited thus far has been Brixton Village Market. Brixton was one of the places I’d been most excited to see as I’d heard it was the “black” section of London, with a large Carribean and West African population. While London is indeed very much a diverse city and there’s hasn't been a shortage of black people near my hotel and while I’ve been walking around the District of Brixton had a palpable energy exuding from it from from the minute I stepped out of the Tube Station. The main strip had an abundance of shops, street vendors, people passing out flyers, a man with a microphone preaching his religion, I was immediately reminded of 52nd street in Philadelphia. I was very much interested in how my dad and I would be received when we arrived in Brixton because although we are indeed black,  we are African American with little knowledge of where our “roots” lie. The waitress at a Nigerian restaurant was all too excited to encounter us as she told us she’d only seen African Americans on tv, and as we know, that's not always the best or most accurate representation!

Although, Brixton was for sure a majority black area, all too familiar were the first stages of Gentrification. The gap between the old and new stores was very evident and it's interesting to note that the issue of gentrification and the displacement of black and brown communities much be talked about from a global perspective. Just a thought! xx