Giselle

After a nine and a half hour non-stop flight from Seatac airport to London, our somewhat exhausted crew stumbled off the plane and onto the underground (affectionately known as 'the tube') and prepared ourselves for the incredible three month journey to come. We begin, of course, in London, the hub of England. We made our base at the St. Athans Hotel near Russell Square and branched out from there for the last couple of days. We've definitely played "tourist" for the beginning of our trip... seeing all the major sites: Big Ben, the Houses of Parliment...etc., and we all have been taking ridiculous amounts of pictures! I was fortunate enough to get some time to run off on my own and explore the National Gallery, which is a definite must see for anyone visiting London, even if you are not an art major. The Gallery is incredible and holds some amazing paintings, such at Van Gogh's Sunflowers, Monet's Japanese Bridge in the Lily Gardon, and one of my ultimate favorites, da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks. Our second day in London was filled with stair climbing, as our whole group hiked to the very top of the St. Paul's Cathedral Dome. We were able to take in an incredible view of the entire city just before the rain clouds rolled in. We also spent a morning at the house of John Wesley, listening to Keith Beebe lecture and other students present on John Wesley's life. It is quite an experience to listen to a professor speak of a place when you're actually there, standing on the ground where your history lesson was once reality. Our group is so blessed to have this sort of experience for a whole semester! I can't wait to explore the rest of Britain and Ireland, it will be amazing. We're off to York next, which will be a treat after spending some time in the big city. The hustle and bustle of London is fun, but also overwhelming for a small-town Alaskan girl like myself. York is in the country, and should be quite relaxing.