My first full month in London was one capped off with perhaps my most eventful week yet. My lectures were all online this week, so there was no obligation to be on campus. Meaning I got a chance to explore. When I wasn’t (diligently) working on my lecture notes and formative assessments, I was meeting some new friends for our bible talks and bible studies, walking uncharted London streets, visiting the Emirates stadium, and trying new foods.

An experience that I feel characterizes so much of my time here in London was on Wednesday of this week when I was leaving my weekly bible talk and I decided to do something ambitious… Take the bus home. Now, until this point, I had grown comfortable taking the tube everywhere. It was the fastest way of getting places, I was starting to get familiar with the lines and stops, and, most importantly, navigating the tube made me feel accomplished. The only issue with that is… the bus is cheaper. So, to be more financially responsible, I mapped a route and decided I would take the bus back home. I did all this, just to find out I mapped out the wrong route, took the wrong bus, and ended up further away from home than where I started! As I got off, I was initially pretty frustrated, (as I’d had a lot going on that day and getting lost was the last thing I needed) but as I left the bus stop, I realized that I had a free opportunity to walk the streets of London and admire the sight of it. To cap it off, as I found my way home, I stopped by this 24-hour bagel shop and had the BEST donut I’ve ever consumed. The moral of the story, get lost more often, you never know what you might find. Anyways, as usual, below I’ll attach some substandard photos of my escapades around London for you to look at!

• Kaelen (2/22/25)