Day 1

Our arrival in London is more than just getting here and getting settled in. I feel as though I've walked enough to cover the distance between home and here at least four times. But today has proved to be just a taste of what I'm going to expect for the next three months. I'm excited. I'm nervous.

First stop was to go to Paddington, which put us in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of the city. Nothing's really changed since I was here last, but there wasn't that sense of urgency that I'd always assumed there would be. Maybe it had something to do with the weather - a rare sunny day in an otherwise overcast environment. A little while later we emerged from the tube station Camden Town - London's eccentric side; the part of the city that people come to live and learn and forget. The buskers were lovely.

Now we've taken residence in Southwark, where locals frequent The Old School Yard in hoards of boozed-up twenty-somethings, ironically enough. It's midnight now, and tomorrow is the beginning of a lot of things.

Side note: my favorite bun shop in Bayswater is now closed. An unfortunate turn of events, but asi es la vida.

ak