I can’t believe this trip is already over! While some days felt longer than others, these past two weeks have flown by. Time really does fly by when you are having fun! Today we got to be tourists and explore London, it was so much fun.

Before walking around the city, we went to the Florence Nightingale Museum. We had briefly talked about Florence Nightingale and her contributions to the nursing profession in my Intro to Professional Nursing class. Nightingale played a big role in propelling the use of evidence-based practice in nursing, enhancing cleanliness standards, and the establishment of nursing as a profession with rigorous educational standards. Nightingale assisted in funding the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas’ Hospital. This school sought to create well-educated nurses. They had to adhere to a specific moral code as well as wear pristine uniforms. But they received an education that was specific to this field, such as anatomy, that would help the be better nurses and therefore be more equipped to handle their patients. I also learned that during the Cremean War, Nightingale treated all her patients as equal (despite the soldier’s rank) and thought more about their family’s well-being, she would write to soldier’s families to keep them updated. She went above and beyond for her patients and really created the ideal that the patients’ needs and well-being always comes first – you are there to be an advocate for your patients. It was interesting getting to learn more about her life and seeing how much the profession has changed over time. For example, they nursing uniform is no longer a dress. I’m particularly thankful for that because I think it would be very annoying and uncomfortable to have to wear a dress while working a shift!

After the museum we went on to explore all the tourist attractions. We went to the London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. It was fun getting to see all these landmarks, but I will say, Buckingham Palace did disappoint me a little bit because there were no soldiers with their horses sitting outside of the gate. I was really looking forward to seeing that! Although we did get to see a Royal Mail van leaving the palace which was pretty cool. We also walked through Buckingham Garden and that was really beautiful, there is a lot of open space and greenery. After visiting the tourist attractions, we walked around London and took in all the sights. We stopped at a cafe to get some dessert (the tiramisu I has was absolutely delicious!). We then made our way over to Novello Theater to watch the play Mamma Mia. This play was amazing! The actors were so talented, and they all had such an incredible voice! I really enjoyed how they added some remarks about London life – I think it made it more personable. My favorite part, however, was at the end when we got to do a sing-alone with the cast. The songs from Mamma Mia are so catchy so getting to sing a long and even dance a little bit was so much fun and honestly a perfect way to end the trip!

I’m very sad this trip is already over (this trip definitely slipped through my fingers!), but I have made so many wonderful memories with some amazing people that I will never forget! I’m really grateful for this opportunity.

That’s all for the blog! Thanks for following along with me on this adventure!