London Spring 2011: The Final Countdown and Cycling through London.

In the last few days, I have unfortunately come to the realization that my time in London and in Europe is coming to an end. Two weeks from right now (Easter Sunday) I will be on my flight back to JFK. I have also realized that this is my last full weekend in London since I am going away next weekend and the weekend after I am visiting my Grandmother and then heading home. Throughout the weekend I reflected back on my experiences and all of the memories that I have from these past few months. The experience that I had is something that I will never have the opportunity to do in my life again, the chance to live, work and adapt to life in a foreign country.

I must admit that I did not choose London as my study abroad location because of my love for the city or for British culture. I would have really loved to go to Rome, but I chose London for a few logistical reasons. I chose London because my program offered an internship that was available in few other locations and because I am a UK citizen and my grandmother lives close by. Last but not least, I wanted a country that speaks English as the national language, to make my life easier. Despite my reasons for choosing London, I can happily admit that I have completely fallen in love with the city over the past few months. London is truly a beautiful city, filled with friendly people and the culture is one of history and tradition. Like Washington D.C, the city of London will always be special to me and it will always be a second home. Writing this makes me sad that my time here is coming to a close, but I know that I will make my way back to the city whenever I get the chance.

To take advantage of the beautiful weather in London this weekend, I decided to take advantage of the London Barclays Bikes. For those of you who have never been to London, there are hundreds of bikes owned by the government throughout the city that people can rent for about 1 pound a day. The bikes are in “docking stations” around the city and you can ride wherever you want and then return your bike to a different docking station. They are known by Londoners as "Boris bikes", named after London Mayor Boris Johnson who put the bikes into practice. The system is a great idea and I had an awesome time all weekend exploring the city. On Saturday I rode around Hyde Park, across to the theatre district, and then up to Notting Hill. Biking through Hyde park is really great as there are bike lanes everywhere and it provides great scenery. There are also horse trails around the park and it is very common to see people riding their horses in the park (rich people from South Kensington tend to own horses), which is something that you just do not see in other cities. Today I went with my roommate Mike through Hyde Park to Marble Arc, where we took a break at Speakers corner. Speakers corner is an area in Hyde Park where a bunch of crazy people gather on Sunday afternoons to speak to the public. Basically a bunch of mentally unstable people stand up on a chair and preach about things such as religion, politics or the end of the world. Everyone pretty much mocks and laughs at the speakers and it provides an entertaining afternoon. After speakers corner we continued by bike to Buckingham palace, Westminster, Green Park and Trafalgar Square before heading back to South Kensington.

I was very proud of myself for not getting killed on busy central London streets. If you go to London, I would not recommend biking on major roads until you are fully used to the whole driving on the wrong side of the road thing. If I would have biked the same route on my first week here in January, I would have easily been killed. Either way, biking was a great way to see the city, enjoy the city and get some exercise.

On Friday morning I leave for my last trip in Europe before returning to the States. I am going to Munich, Germany with my old roommate Greg and I will meet up with my friends Morgan and Jess who are studying there. It will hopefully be a crazy time and a fitting end to my time in Europe.