Now I'm in London.

Its taken a week but I finally have it in my head that I am actually in London!  You'd think that I would have realized that this foreign country that drives on the wrong side of the road is in fact London the moment I stepped into the street but it took seeing London's greatest and most well-known landmarks to actually realize that I am living in the city of Big Ben, Parliament, the London tower, the giant ferries wheel, and the list goes on and on.

Sunday I went to the British Museum for my first taste of cultural experience in London.  Yes I had explored Thursday, Friday, and Saturday but it was more running errands, shopping, going to markets, getting lost, wandering around, and getting over the sleep deprivation from the jet lag.  The British museum was incredible! So many exhibits with so much culture from all over the world.  It is far too much to take in in one day, but I saw quite a bit from ancient Greece and Egypt to Japan through the ages to Chinas pottery over time.  And my favorite exhibit... the Africa one.  The Africa one just had such unique art one of my favorite pieces was this "tree of life" made out of old weapons symbolizing the wars the country has gone through and violence that it has had.

After the museum we went to a place outside that was suppose to have fish and chips but really it was just super tourist store but hey I still got a fish sandwich.

Even this experience wasn't enough to make me realize I was in London, so after a lazy Monday of shopping and settling in, I wanted to do the whole tourist thing. So I set off to see the "real" London.  We take the tube to Westminster and step out of the station and right in front off us literally is Big Ben!  Walk a couple steps and its Parliament (and of course outside Parliament is the Occupy "Wall Street" people... yes Bloomington not only did this strange movement make it to small hippy towns it also made it overseas... congratulations.) And across the street is Westminster Abbey... amazing! So we wander around the area and meet a security guard who is kind enough to suggest a tour route for us so we set out to Buckingham Palace followed by Trafalgar Square. The Square was a really need place right outside the Gallery. 

The culture in London is amazing but I was lucky enough to get to see the VIP Club treatment also this weekend. Saturday night through Dean's cousin who is a club promoter in London a large group of people from the Arcadia program were invited to the VIP list and table at Amika in Kensington. This was like nothing I have ever seen... drinks at least 10 pounds a piece (obviously I'm not gonna buy that!) and people dresses so nice.  The club had a classy ambiance and was decorated impressively.  But it was pretty neat being at a VIP table, how often are you in London at a prime club in a VIP table?  Once in a lifetime experience.

So I am continuing on my exploration of London this week there is an unbelievable about to see I will never see it all, but tomorrow I take a touring day off and get to meet with my internship company and I have to attend my first class with all the other Indiana and Wisconsin students.  However, I am very much looking forward to meeting the Ad Agency, and getting into a more normal pattern, after all this business is still part of the London experience for me!