New Years in London

After visiting Germany, Riley, Audrienne, and I said goodbye to Allison and Ben and went to London from December 28th to January 4th to celebrate New Years. It turns out that many K students studying abroad choose London as their destination to celebrate the New Year. I got to hang out with some friends who I hadn't seen for more than half a year. We spent a lot of time exploring the city with Hunter, one of my flatmates at K last year. Hunter has always been a big fan of British culture (talk to her about Sherlock sometime!), and her excitement for seeing all the sites in London was infectious. I always have the most fun in London when people visit me, and this time was no exception.

-London is so full of things to do that it was easy to find plenty of attractions I hadn't visited yet to fill our time. This included the Tower of London complete with Beefeater tour and the City of London Museum. The London Museum was a treat I hadn't known about before. It covered the history of the city from its hunter/gatherer roots thousands of years ago up to today. My knowledge of London's past has always been murky, so it was informative to learn the history of this city I've been living in! After the others had gone, Trent (studying in Spain) and I visited the Churchill War Rooms where British military officials spent much of the war during German air raids (although Churchill himself thought the rooms were rather stuffy and often preferred to watch the air raids from his roof, being a total badass). Anyways, the attached museum on Churchill was full of enough information and interactive exhibits to entertain you for hours, and Trent and I as two war buffs spent a good amount of time in there. Well worth the ticket price.

-Drew (a fellow K student studying at LSE) joined Hunter, Audrienne, Riley, and I to wait in the returns cue to see if we could get tickets for LeMis. There were not returned tickets, but as we started to leave a man came up and said he had an extra ticket because his date was sick, and he was willing to give it to us for free. We decided to let Hunter go, and she had a great time and said the man was very nice! I hope the karma gods are kind to him.

Enjoying some fish n' chips with Hunter!

-New Years itself was fun but very stressful for many parts. Say what you will about the nightlife in Kalamazoo, but there are a few nice things Kalamazoo has that London does not. 1) people generally have large enough houses/apartments where you can hang out with a large group of friends before/after going out 2) There are plenty of places where you can enjoy some of the best beer in the world for much less than the standard 3.50 pounds (~$6) that a standard pint runs you in London and 3) although the fireworks in Kalamazoo are not as impressive as London's show, it's really easy to find an excellent spot to view them, which can not be said for London

where you have to line up 5 or 6 hours in advance. Of course, it was fun to spend New Years with my friends in a big city, but next New Years, I think I will appreciate all the things Kalamazoo's humble New Year's Fest has to offer.

K students in London! 

The nice thing about London, however, is that there is always more to see!