Today, May 16th, we had a tourist day in London! We started the day with a delicious breakfast at the hotel before leaving for the Florence Nightingale Museum. We took the “tube” for the first time, which is essentially London’s subway system. The Florence Nightingale Museum was so much fun because everything we learned was related to nursing. One of my favorite parts about the museum was the section that had an audio recording of Florence’s voice. It also had a box with the scent of her perfume. After the museum, we took many pictures in front of Big Ben, and even though it was raining, it still felt like I was looking at a picture and not seeing it in real life. The night before at the alumni dinner, one of the alumni recommended that we visit Soho to go shopping and try good food. So, we took the tube to Soho and we were so proud that we did it successfully. We had a day pass to use the tube and it was so helpful because we saved so much money on Ubers and transportation. Once in Soho, we visited a crêpe shop that had the most delicious coffee and chocolate covered strawberries. I could not try the strawberries because they had milk in them, but they looked so delicious. Also, they are going viral online right now, so the fact that we found them in London was so exciting! We took lots of cute pictures in the cafe and then we made dinner reservations.
This is a picture of Big Ben.
Shortly after, a small group of us went to Madame Tussaud’s wax museum. We purchased our tickets beforehand and I was a little nervous about trying to get there, but we ended up taking an Uber and making it to our allotted check-in on time! This museum was so much fun and even more engaging than I was expecting. I had no idea what to expect, but this exceeded my expectations. I saw a wax, Ed Sheeran, Taylor, Swift, Harry styles, and so much more. There was even a section that went over London’s history, and it reminded me of Epcot, in Disney world, but this was 10 times better. When the wax museum was over, we rushed over to our dinner reservations at Franco Marcos, a pizza place right next Novello Theatre. At dinner I had the yummiest dairy free pizza.
After dinner, we saw the play, Mamma Mia, at Novello Theatre, and it was an amazing experience. When I was younger, my mom, dad and sister all saw Mamma Mia on Broadway without me and I’ve held a grudge ever since! Now, I’m so excited to say that I saw it in London, which in my opinion is better than Broadway. The musical was amazing and I’m so happy that we had the experience to see it. Mamma Mia is one of my favorite movies of all time, so to see it live made me so happy. After the show, we took the tube back to the hotel where I got Subway with some friends and finished packing to go home the next day.
I am so sad that this trip is over! This has been one of the best experiences I have ever had. On this trip, I made some of the best friends and I am so grateful for everyone and all the memories we made. I will always remember my Plus3 trip and I am beyond thankful for all of the professors and staff that made this opportunity possible.