{"id":19555,"date":"2020-01-08T17:43:39","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T17:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/?p=19555"},"modified":"2020-01-09T03:09:33","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T03:09:33","slug":"studying-abroad-in-london-was-better-than-i-could-have-hoped-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/2020\/01\/08\/studying-abroad-in-london-was-better-than-i-could-have-hoped-for\/","title":{"rendered":"Studying abroad in London was better than I could have hoped for"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Wow. A lot has changed since my last blog post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 12-week fall semester at Queen Mary goes by fast. For the first two weeks, I only had one friend whom I met in math class, and I enjoyed wandering around Mile End by myself. Emma was a study abroad student from California and remained a good friend of mine throughout the term. I made more great friends my third week of school by going to meet and greets for clubs (or societys in the UK) I was interested in. I\u2019m so lucky to have met Harvey, Maisy, Amanda, Ripley, Bet, and Sasha. A few of us went to a Halloween party together, where we grew closer. Soon after, I went to Bristol to see Rex Orange County. I stayed the weekend at Harvey\u2019s home nearby Bath. Harvey was going to be home for reading week. As a maths\/computer science student, I don\u2019t have reading week, so I had to go back to London. I enjoyed Harvey\u2019s hometown so much, and didn\u2019t think I\u2019d have a chance to go back to their village, so I went back the following weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I used to visit Tennessee or North Carolina for winter break to enjoy a week of snow with my family. Harvey\u2019s hometown reminded me of those family vacations: wooden bungalows, the smoky smell from fireplaces, hills that look like mountains, and a coolness that is refreshing. London\u2019s weather is much harsher because the tall buildings create wind tunnels. Upon arriving back to London, Harvey and I went to a Rex Orange County concert we coincidentally had tickets for the same night. After taking my midterms and my GRE, Harvey and I went to Paris. Harvey loves Paris and spent 6 years learning French in school. We spent 6 days and 5 nights in Paris having a relaxing vacation where we woke up without an alarm or itinerary and didn\u2019t have to think about school at all. We walked streets amongst locals, ate at the best vegan restaurants and pastry shops Paris has, sat in parks, visited second-hand bookstores, and saw art at Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay. A highlight of the trip was seeing the sunrise at the Sacr\u00e9-C\u0153ur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fellow Rollins students studying abroad and friends of mine Jade and Gaby visited me in London. We went to Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park and I showed them the famous Brick Lane. Winter Wonderland had many fun rides, even for frequent Disney\/Universal goers like us. I wasn\u2019t ready to leave London after the term ended, so I extended my trip to after New Year\u2019s. Queen Mary allows you to keep your dorm until December 31, but I stayed with Harvey in their hometown for the holiday season after classes ended. Harvey\u2019s parents were so welcoming and made me feel part of the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Christmas and New Year\u2019s were so wonderful. Harvey\u2019s mum sewed my name onto a stocking full of presents, and even Harvey\u2019s grandparents gave me a peacock ornament to remember their hometown by, which is known for its peacocks just like Winter Park. For New Year\u2019s Eve, Harvey and I went to one of their friends\u2019 place for a party. Harvey and I stayed in London my last weekend in England doing our favorite things: going to markets, eating vegan food, watching movies, and going to a museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m so thankful for my time in England, and to Harvey for allowing me to see more of England than I could have imagined. I\u2019m leaving good friends in England and have made friends going back to their homes in the US too. The day I left Florida, I was leaving with a one-way ticket, and I told my parents I\u2019ll be in Europe for New Year\u2019s\u2014whether it be London, Paris, or elsewhere. I was just saying out loud my wildest dreams, and then Harvey made it into a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Part of my heart stays in London, but I\u2019m looking forward to the next adventure. Life is long, and you never know what\u2019s around the corner for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Love,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Carla Daza \u201820<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191127_231222-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"19568\" data-full-url=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191127_231222-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/?attachment_id=19568\" class=\"wp-image-19568\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191127_231222-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191127_231222-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191127_231222-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191127_231222-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191127_231222-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191127_231222-1200x900.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Mus\u00e9e du Louvre at night<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191130_085146_HDR-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"19566\" data-full-url=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191130_085146_HDR-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/?attachment_id=19566\" class=\"wp-image-19566\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191130_085146_HDR-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191130_085146_HDR-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191130_085146_HDR-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191130_085146_HDR-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191130_085146_HDR-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191130_085146_HDR-1200x900.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Sunrise at Sacr\u00e9e-C\u0153ur<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191103_181538_HDR-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"19569\" data-full-url=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191103_181538_HDR.jpg\" data-link=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/?attachment_id=19569\" class=\"wp-image-19569\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191103_181538_HDR-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191103_181538_HDR-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191103_181538_HDR-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191103_181538_HDR-675x900.jpg 675w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/20191103_181538_HDR.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Stage at Rex Orange County concert in Bristol before he performs<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wow. A lot has changed since my last blog post. The 12-week fall semester at Queen Mary goes by fast. For the first two weeks, I only had one friend whom I met in math class, and I enjoyed wandering around Mile End by myself. Emma was a study abroad student from California and remained&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":579,"featured_media":19567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[369],"class_list":["post-19555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-qmul","tag-rollinsabroad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19555"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19590,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19555\/revisions\/19590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}