Just like that, we are at the end of the trip! It really is insane how much we have done on this trip, how many new people have become friends, and how much I have gained from this trip. I am so happy I got to experience this and I had an amazing time! For the last day, we are in London! This is the day I was super excited for on the entire trip!

Firstly, to start off the day, we took the tube and went to see the Florence Nightingale Museum. Although it was a small museum in size, there was so much information to learn about what she did and the impacts she has even to this day! We, as nursing students, still learn about her which says a lot about her outstanding impacts on society and the healthcare system. In addition, we learned some fun facts about her personal life as well. For example, Florence Nightingale owned a bad tempered pet owl named Athena. We also tried on parts of the nursing outfits back in the time! I found that really cool because the nursing uniforms now are very different. 

After the museum visit, we were off on our own! I truly had the best day ever with such amazing friends! Addison, Julianna, and I started off by taking cute pictures in front of Westminster and Big Ben. Then, we made our way down to Buckingham Palace, where we saw some guards. I really liked the monument with the water fountain right in front of the palace. 

Next, we decided to take a long walk to the Tower Bridge. There was nothing really planned, so we were just going on with the flow and seeing what we ran into. On our way, we found a cute little market where we bought some lunch. In the market were tiny shops and street vendors, which represented many different types of cuisine across the globe. The one stand that caught my attention was the Indian food. Once I saw the Indian food stand, my face just lit up and I felt like the happiest person ever! I had been craving Indian food for a while since it had been so long (little over than a week) since I felt like I had not eaten good home food. I got myself a chole bhature and had the time of my life eating it!

After lunch, we decided that walking to the Tower Bridge was a little too far so took the tube towards London Bridge. I had known that London Bridge was super boring. However, I was super excited to see the Tower Bridge and walk on it! This was one of the things I wanted to do in London on this trip! We took cute pictures in front of both the bridges and kept on walking. 

Then, we went to Burrough Market where Addison and I bought a quick snack, which was chocolate covered strawberries. It was actually so delicious! I love it so much! It’s not a lie when I say I have never had strawberries that fresh and tasty! In addition, we did some souvenir shopping for family and friends at this time too. It was very nice to just spend time with friends, walk, wander, and explore. 

At this point, we needed to get to the London Eye as soon as possible since we had a booking for it at 3pm. We were super spontaneous and decided to take the UberBoat back to the London Eye! It wasn’t a long ride but it was crazy just to think we were on an UberBoat! We were able to see such amazing views from the river, which was a new experience.

Then, we walked over the bridge to go to the London Eye! I was super excited because this was the other thing I really wanted to do! Regardless of how expensive the tickets were, I think it was totally worth it just because of the amazing views! It was just incredible! We took a lot of cute pictures on it! After the ride, we did some more shopping and planned on what we wanted to do next.

Then, since I am a huge Harry Potter fan, we decided to get on a bus and go to King’s Cross Station. This is where Platform 9 & 3/4 was located and a Harry Potter store! I was super excited! Once we got there, I was just amazed to think that I was at the actual place where the movies were filmed! We took some cute pictures at the platform and I did some souvenir shopping as well. Then, we got some dinner at Pret a Manger and it was delicious. We decided to stay at the station a little bit longer since we all needed to charge our phones. 

Then, we took the tube back to the Piccadilly Theater, where we met as a big group to watch Moulin Rouge. It was so amazing! The sound effects, lighting, the actors, and everything was just so good. However, I think the exhaustion of the entire day got to me and I unfortunately fell asleep toward the end of the show. I was so mad and sad about me falling asleep, but I guess it’s what it is! 

After the show, we got on the tube to head back to the hotel. This is when I realized this was the last time we will be together as a group, since everyone was leaving the next day to different locations. I had a great time on this trip and a major reason for that was the people. I truly got to know more about the people on this trip and hung out with all of them. I really hope I can do this again and experience something similar during the next three years at Pitt!