First Trip to London #HogsAbroad #TBT

Happy Throwback Thursday! Who doesn't remember their first trip to London? Here's Spencer take from his exchange back in spring 2015...

Hello from England,

London was great! The first day was not at all an English weather day. Very little wind and the sun shined on the River Thames that flows through the city. The first day my travel partner Jon and I stayed on the east side of London. The tower bridge was truly a work of art (pictured left).

Close by was the magnificent St. Paul’s cathedral (pictured above). Buckingham Palace itself was surprisingly not that great to look at it. The gate and surrounding statutes were much more impressive. Another thing I was impressed about was the underground system. It was very easy to navigate and you can be anywhere in the city within 10-15 minutes at the most.

 The first night we ate at a famous pub called The Black Friar and had a proper British dinner. Bangers and mash and English beer to drink.  Surprisingly it was lovely. (British lingo intended).

After dinner, we headed back to our hostel for a rest. We planned on seeing Big Ben and Westminster Abbey on day two. As we lay in our bunk beds,  John spoke up and said “why don’t we just go see Big Ben now?” Twenty minutes later we got off the underground and saw the biggest most beautiful clock tower I have ever seen.

Later, we took the underground to Piccadilly Circus to find a couple of pubs. We got  approached by a man while walking through London’s equivalent of Times Square and got convinced to go in to bar for only 10 pounds. This also gave us entry to a night club. Turned out great. There are actually many people who work on strips like this on a commission based system. They’re not con artists like I expected.

After we left the club we started walking toward the underground only to find it with its gate closed. We then walked 5k (3.2 miles) back to our hostel. As painful as this was, considering all the walking we already did, it was a great opportunity to see London at night.

The next morning went to the Saturday market on Burrough High Street. We found a stand that was roasting whole hogs! They had roast hog with fennel and apple sauce on a ciabatta bun. Surprisingly, very good. We then headed over to the Buckingham Palace area and walked around the shopping  district. We found a Canadian pub and had some traditional food and beer. (Jon is Canadian). After this we took the underground back to the train station three hours early because we were so exhausted!

Around the corner we found a pub that was showing the Premier League football (soccer) match of the  night. After it was over we took a train and then a bus back to Colchester which only took an hour.

I will be going to London again next week, not for pleasure, to take an entrance exam for graduate school. The day after I will be leaving for Scotland though. Tonight I will be going to a bar on campus to celebrate a few friends birthdays.

Cheers,
Spencer Anfosso

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To find out more about the U of A exchange program in Essex, England, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/exchange/essex