LONDON

Hello Fam!

I'm traveling again and you know what that means, the blog is back in action. This time I'm a little older, a little wiser, and still the same traveling procrastinator. Literally packed my bags at 10 am before my evening flight. You think I would learn from all my travels but nope, spent five days before my flight putting everything in order and calling in the village for reinforcements when booking hotels and packing my apartment seemed impossible. 10 hours and a whole ocean later; Voila! I'm in London!

Jes picked me up in style with a homemade cardboard sign and all. For those of you who don't read bangla (a group in which I myself am included) the bottom of my sign says "don't get kidnapped," a throwback to our 2014 days of working in Bangladesh where that phrase was the best BRAC had to give us during our preventative security measures lecture -.- At least I can thank them for helping me find a British best friend, five years later and we can still tolerate one another (just kidding, love you Jes hehe).

For those of you who have yet to meet Jes, let me tell you one thing, she's a walker. So my very first day in London, after this 10 hour flight, I arrived at noon and stayed out until midnight. Not only did we take a train and three subway lines to get from the airport to our airbnb, but also we walked six miles along the canal. Looks like there's no more A/C car girl here. The weather was actually phenomenal, as in sunny and 75, so we just lazed in the grass, ate ice cream, and checked out the house boats. There was even a bookstore boat! (which is pictured below)

Day 2: Jet lag isn't too bad, but that didn't stop me from waking up at the crack of dawn today. I forced myself to go back to bed for a few more hours, especially since early wake-up calls will be the norm once work starts. Around 9:30 we decided to get dressed and adventure! Not even 24 hours together and we are already accidentally matching.

We started our morning at the Sunday flower market. Trust me when I say I will be back EVERY Sunday. They had orchids for five pounds! ORCHIDS. I'm talking the potted plant kind that you pay twenty-five dollars for in the grocery store when you're running late to a party and need a quick gift for the hostess but BIGGER. Seven pound bouquets of roses and four pound peonies! This girl is going to have fresh flowers every week hehehe.

I think Jes really wanted me to appreciate her country bumpkin roots, because we went to a city farm next! It is literally just as it is named, a farm in the middle of city.

For those of you that remember my Paso Robles County Fair days, you know that pigs aren't really my thing. So imagine my terror when the farmers asked us to stand behind the gate as they moved the two hundred pound pig into another pen. I was on the other side of the farm faster than you can imagine! I'm not about to wait around and see if cujo the pig wanted to crash the gate and eat me for breakfast. I promise you the pig was massive and the picture just does not do her justice. 

Okay the next part is my favorite because I GOT TO PET THE FILLY AND SHE LOVED ME. Also hilarious to watch her prance around because she still couldn't quite figure out how to handle her legs yet, hence the weird stance she took while grazing. 

We had lunch at the farm next and I had real coffee...finally! I seriously need to figure out why it is just so much better in Europe. Maybe I need to up my barista skills because really there is nothing like a European latte or cortado. 

Found this cute scenery on our walk home. Don't be fooled though, most of London is just a regular city. But I'm hoping to find more spaces like these during my time here.  

That's about it for now, it's raining, so I'm inside sipping my tea and blogging through the afternoon. I think that makes me practically British now. I'll keep you guys posted!

Love you lots,
Carolyn