London Top 10s

The 11 of '11 leave to study abroad in London on Wednesday morning (05/05/10). I can't tell you how excited I am!

Our campus in London sent us their "Top 10 Lists", so I thought I'd share them...


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Sights in London

1) The view from Waterloo Bridge at night. Perfect view of the London Eye, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, St. Paul’s, The National Theatre and so much more.

2) Primrose Hill at sunset/sunrise. It’s a gorgeous view of London and it’s free, unlike the London Eye!

3) Millennium Bridge at sunset/sunrise. It’s a nice little footbridge over The Thames. (Look out for rainbows when it rains!)

4) The roses in bloom in Queen Mary’s Garden in Regent’s Park. Make sure you see them before November(ish).

5) Changing of the guard that takes place at Buckingham Palace daily.

6) Fireworks over the Thames which can definitely be seen at the yearly Thames Festival, Guy Fawkes Day and New Years.

7) Street performers that perform every weekend on the South Bank.

8) Covent Garden on a weekend; the shopping is out of control!

9) The view atop of the hill in Greenwich Park where you can see the Maritime Museum and if you go up far enough, all of London!

10) Christmas lights anywhere! Oxford Street, Covent Garden, Marylebone are just a few.



Experiences in London

1) Having a picnic in Hyde Park, the biggest park in London.

2) Going to a BBC Prom at The Royal Albert Hall, which usually take place July through September. £5 promming tickets are available every day! Royalty attends these, so you never know who you might see... just ask Julia!

3) Pub crawling around London: There are many organized ones you can find online, or just pick a few in one neighborhood, bring your friends and have a blast!

4) Random bus rides around London are an amazing way to see just where you are going and to learn more about the area. Hop on a big red bus, ride around and if a place looks interesting, get off and explore!

5) Clubbing in Soho is an interesting and fun way to meet all sorts of people. Plus, a lot of places will offer you good deals.

6) Eating cheap Indian food, especially in the Brick Lane area. So many different types of great food! A favourite with the Admin staff is Mela on Shaftesbury Avenue- check out their lunch time deals.

7) Royal Observatory in Greenwich is a really neat experience where you can straddle time by standing over the Prime Meridian!

8) The British Library is a beautiful building that has incredible exhibits, the John Ribault Gallery and so much more.

9) Indie rock shows in Camden; cheap and a good night out!

10) Any Football/ Rugby match is a great way to experience British culture. Whether you have a team or not, go check one out! Some tickets run as cheap as 5£.



Unusual things to do in the UK

1) The Great Gorilla Run is a charity fun-run that usually takes place in September and spans 7km of London’s most well-known areas.

2) The Great Christmas Pudding Race is a relay pudding race that takes place for cancer research usually in the beginning of December in Covent Garden and is a fun way to spend an early December day.

3) Coasteering in Wales with Preseli Venture, an amazing company that does adventure weekends in Pembrokeshire.

4) Eating Haggis in Scotland.

5) Watching Shakespeare on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall.

6) Explore the London Docklands (East and Southeast water area of London) by hopping on a Light Railway and going through the skyscrapers in the area.

7) Walking around Ashdown Forest located in Sussex which is the largest free public access space in the South East. It’s known as the home of Winnie the Pooh!

8) Climb Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales!

9) Meal at The School of Life, a great place of fellowship for young adults.

10) Gondola rides in London’s Little Venice in Northern London.



Museums in London

1) The National Portrait Gallery is a free museum that holds the portraits of thousands of men and women that spans centuries.

2) The National Gallery is right next to the Portrait Gallery and also free; home to over 2,000 masterpieces by Monet, Picasso, Seurat, etc.

3) The Tate Modern is located on the Thames, is free and holds various displays of international modern and contemporary art.

4) The Victoria & Albert Museum is an extensive yet unique collection of everything from paintings to theatre costumes and is also free.

5) The Natural History Museum is a huge, free collection of all things scientific and hands on! Between October and April, check out a favourite annual exhibition- the Wildlife Photographer of the Year – it’s very popular with the staff.

6) Tate Britain is by far the best FREE place to see an extensive collection of British art from 1500 to the present day.

7) British Museum, possibly the most famous in London, holds an enormous collection of world art and artifacts, including the Rosetta Stone. It’s free and a block away from the Study Centre!

8) Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms: Students pay £10.40 for this extensive look into Churchill’s legacy.

9) London Transport Museum is a unique way to explore London’s transportation system. It has artwork, exhibits and much more!

10) The Foundling Museum- just up the road by Russell Square, this small museum tells the moving story of London’s first home for abandoned children. There are also exhibitions dedicated to two of its original benefactors, the composer Handel, and artist Hogarth.



Filming locations in the UK

1) Postman’s Park, which is featured in Closer.

2) Old Bailey as seen in V for Vendetta.

3) Australia House as Gringott’s Bank (Harry Potter); Durham Cathedral, Diagon Alley and many other Harry Potter sites. You can also take Harry Potter walking tours around the city!

4) Bridget Jones’ flat located in Borough Market on top of The Globe pub.

5) Criterion Restaurant where Rachel and Harvey Dent eat in The Dark Knight.

6) Hugh Grant’s bookshop (now called Gong) on Portobello Road as featured in Notting Hill.

7) Selfridges on Oxford street; seen in Love Actually.

8) Church of St. Bartholomew the Great: Shakespeare in Love.

9) Steps of St. Paul’s’ where the bird lady sings in Mary Poppins.

10) Albert Bridge: seen in A Clockwork Orange.



Literary sites in the UK

1) The Globe, a meticulously researched reconstruction of the theatre in which Shakespeare first presented his works.

2) Oxford is a great historically literary city, with the pub The Eagle and Child, which is where the Inklings (an Oxford’s writing group whose members included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien) used to meet. And for fans of the movies Shadowlands and Wilde, visit Magdalen College to see where they were filmed.

3) Bath is a great place to explore for its literary value. Jane Austen used to live and write there and many of her stories take place in Bath.

4) Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a pub located just off Fleet Street, is known to have been the drinking place of Charles Dickens, Samuel Johnson, Alfred Tennyson, Mark Twain and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

5) Highgate Cemetery; houses the graves of people such as Douglas Adams, Karl Marx, George Eliot and the Dickens Family.

6) Poet’s Corner, located in the South Transept of Westminster Abbey, is where poets and artists such as Laurence Olivier, Charles Dickens, Ben Jonson, Dr. Samuel Johnson, and Alfred Tennyson are buried. There are also many more who are commemorated in that area.

7) Kensington Gardens located in Hyde Park which is known as the setting of J.M. Barrie’s fairytale, Peter Pan.

8) Charles Darwin’s home, located in Kent. He also had several different London residences- look out for the Blue plaques…

9) Fitzroy Square, a twenty minute walk from the Study Centre, has historically been home to writers such as George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf.



Restaurants and pubs in London

1) Princess Louise: beautiful two story pub with a great atmosphere. Grab a bitter for £2! Make sure that you have a traditional Sunday pub lunch at least once whilst you’re here- Yorkshire pudding, anyone?

2) The Court: takes the yellow student card where you can have a beer and burger for £5!

3) Hummus Bros: most creative and delicious ways to eat hummus.

4) Ben’s Cookies: there are no words to describe how amazing these cookies are. Any day with a Ben’s cookie is a great day!

5) Monmouth Coffee: best coffee in London as voted by the Study Centre staff.

6) Brick Lane: so many amazing bargains for cheap yet great Indian food!

7) Souk Medina: a delicious North African restaurant just off of Neal Street!

8) Tas Pide: a great Turkish place located next to the Globe.

9) Cutty Sark Tavern: located in Greenwich with a beautiful river-side view.

10) Lantana: a great Australian restaurant located fairly close to the Centre.



Historical sites in the UK

1) Tower of London; the infamous palace/fortress/prison where Queen Elizabeth I was imprisoned before her reign and Anne Boleyn and other wives of Henry VII were beheaded.

2) Hampton Court is the palace that was originally built for Cardinal Wolsey, yet became Henry VIII’s again once the cardinal fell from power. This beautiful palace hosts many festivals and activities throughout the year!

3) Dover Castle is located on the infamous white cliffs of Dover and has housed many kings throughout history. Very scenic and worth the trip out there.

4) Warwick Castle, located in Warwickshire, was built by William the Conqueror, been occupied by kings such as Henry II and is a favorite site of the staff!

5) Hadrian’s Wall is the early Roman fortification that stretches across Northern England. It dates back from 122!

6) Roman Baths; located in the picturesque city of Bath and offers an extensive walk through the site along with an extremely informational museum!

7) Westminster Hall is now located within the Houses of Parliament and was built in 1200’s. It’s held numerous coronation banquets (the last being King George IV), has been used for trials (Sir Thomas More, Guy Fawkes) and is used for lying-in-states (Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother).

8) St. Paul’s Cathedral is a building that has stayed with London for many, many years; through fires and wars: a London must- see.

9) HMS Belfast: major battleship that fought in WWII. It has a great museum on board.

10) The Monument is a historic memorial built by Sir Christopher Wren in honor of those who died in the great fire of 1666.



Reasons to visit during the credit crunch

1) Right now the British Pound is worth approximately $1.60, up to as recently as summer 2008 it was still at $2. This makes a huge difference to your spending while you are in London. For example, a £2.50 sandwich which used to set you back $5, will now only costs you $4, a saving of 20%! The value of the Pound looks likely to stay at this level for a while.

2) You will be living in the heart of London in an area where not many students can usually afford to live. The central location means that you can walk to many of the major tourist attractions, theatres and entertainment areas, saving on transportation costs.

3) The Study Centre flats have fully equipped kitchens which mean you can cook for yourself, saving a lot of money on eating out. You can save even more money by taking it in turns to cook group meals – it’s much cheaper per head to make a meal for five people than to cook for one. You’re also more likely to end up eating more healthily this way too. There are several grocery stores within walking distance of the Study Centre.

4) London is a very student friendly city, with many discounts available upon showing your ISIC card including at theatres, cinemas, clothing stores, tourist attractions and restaurants.

5) The Study Centre takes full advantage of the many group and student discounts available when booking tickets for theatre and other events. It is not at all uncommon for us to get tickets for a top West End (Broadway style) show for under £20 and we pay even less for the smaller shows. This means that we can stretch your class fees a long way for
classes which involve theatre trips. Classes such as Introduction to London Theatre or Readings in Dramatic Literature usually manage to squeeze 10-12 shows out of £125!

6) Our faculty make full use of the on-site experiential learning that is possible in London – often at no extra cost to students as so many museums and galleries are free. As you will spend more time out of the classroom using London as your textbook, it makes your actual textbook expenses lower as you will be using less of them!

7) At the beginning of each semester we bring in travel experts to advise you on great ways to find discounted travel
around the UK and Europe during your stay. The Study Centre staff have all travelled extensively and are on hand
throughout your stay to help you find the best deals with budget airlines, safe and economic hostels to stay in as well
as giving you ideas for places that can be easily reached by train or bus.

8) You can never buy back the opportunity that you have available to you at this time in your life to spend a longer
length of time living and studying in another country. Treat your time as a valuable commodity and don’t undervalue
it! While you are young it may feel that you are ‘time rich and money poor’, but as you get older this will slowly start
to reverse. You should be able to figure out paying back a loan which you may need to take out in order to study
abroad, but you can’t go back in time to regain a missed opportunity once it is lost. Spending several months in
London will give you are far more meaningful insight into the city than you would ever be able to experience from a
short vacation.

9) Almost everybody who goes on a study abroad semester ends up discussing their experiences abroad with future
employers and interviewers for graduate schools. You will stand out as being a candidate who was willing to make
this investment in themselves, to broaden their horizons and gain international experience. You will be seen as
somebody who will not be intimidated by travel or relocation and as a person not afraid to try new things and
challenge yourself.

10) At this time when the economy is keeping many American students at home, the ones who do go will have that much
the greater advantage!



Shopping and markets in London

1) Oxford Street is the most famous shopping street in London and it’s less than five minutes away from the Study
Centre!

2) Harrods is one of the largest department stores in the world and is known for their gorgeous window displays.

3) Borough Market is our favourite place to shop for fresh food! Take advantage of the amazing food stalls there!

4) Portobello Market is home to many different types of stalls; antiques, clothing, books, food, etc.

5) Camden Market is known for its trendy, alternative style and has great clothes, food and miscellaneous shopping!

6) Deptford Market; a great fruit, vegetable and antique market located in South London.

7) Covent Garden Cheese Shop houses tons of different types of cheeses and is a great place to sample something you
haven’t tried before!

8) Hamley’s is one of the world’s most famous toy shops and has seven stories!

9) Columbia Road Flower Market is located in a great area and is open from 8am-3pm on Sundays.

10) Charing Cross Road is a great place to go book-shopping as there are several cheap stores with various collections.


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So to all the folks out there who have been to the UK before... Do you have any additional advice or ideas for my classmates and me? Please leave them in the comments section. :)