Hello to all of my friends and family reading this blog! After months of planning I am finally here in beautiful and exciting London!! I've been here for one week, and already I feel as if I am getting to know the city quite well. I am living in the borough of Islington, which is on the northeast area of the city. I've spent my first few days here getting settled in my dorm room and finding my way around the local area. Besides a few hours of orientation a day, the rest of my time has been free for me to do whatever I would like to do. On Wednesday I made my way over to Buckingham Palace. I was fortunate enough to get to tour the palace before the Queen moves back in on October 1st. The palace was absolutely beautiful! I am glad I got to see it from the inside as the exterior of the building does not do it justice. I've also seen Parliament and Big Ben as well as some of the other downtown buildings.

Before I left for my trip I purchased Frommer's guide to 24 great walks in London. This book guides you through different walks pointing out what you will see along the way. This afternoon I took my first official walk through Clerkenwell (1.75 miles). It is great to have a book like this that tells me stories about what look like common areas that otherwise I would never know! Like in today's walk I was instructed to go down Faulkener's Alley which was once London's most crime-riden quarters. I was also shown a pub where George IV took out a loan when he was in desperate gambling debt. It is incredible to walk the streets where so much history has taken place!

Overall I am adjusting to life in the UK. However, I have definitely experienced differences that I did not expect. Yes, English is the language here, but this doesn't mean it is always easy to understand. "Do you want your coffee white or black?" "Are you going to wear your jumper?" "Would you like to top up your telephone?" And while I was prepared for the cars to drive on the left side of the road, I had never considered how difficult this would make crossing the street. Look right, then left! Seems simple enough, but after 20 years of doing it one way I've definitely had some difficulty adjusting to this...luckily at each intersection it says on the ground which way to look! I guess I'm not the only person here who needs the reminder! The final tricky thing I've run into is figuring out what street I'm on... sounds simple, but unlike in the U.S. street signs are not clearly visible. Street names are posted on the sides of buildings and sometimes not posted at an intersection at all. To make it even more difficult, streets rarely run in a straight line, and the names of the street changes about every two or three blocks! So map-reading skills are a definite must-have around here.

Well that's the update for now! I will continue to blog as I spend more time here. To my friends and family, I miss you very much! I wish you could all be here on this adventure with me :)