I'm a born and raised Texan. I like BBQ and driving way too fast, just like everyone else here. But now I'm in London, and let me tell you, the Americans really stick out. We are loud compared to them, we don't walk as fast on the underground system (like the New York subways), we aren't as skinny, and as one of our tour guides, Nigel, said, we Americans "like to sing that one Journey song about believing when we get drunk." We certainly are not in Kansas (or Texas) anymore. The streets are closer together, the houses and restaurants and stores are smaller, the roads are completely insane compared to ours, and everything is hundreds of years old and absolutely gorgeous. Oh, and in one day I walked nine miles, which for a Texan who drives everywhere and only ever walks no more than three miles a day, that is a lot!
The closest place I've been that could even slightly compare London to is New York, but yet it's nothing like New York. Yes, they both have an underground transportation system, millions of people, are huge cities, and are tourist hot spots, but they are nothing alike. London is gorgeous and old, but it's also a place that I feel like I belong. Being surrounded by this much beauty every single day is astounding, and I feel so lucky to be in this great city's presence. Taking tours and learning the history of this city is so amazing to me because everything here is old and has a history, whereas the oldest buildings in American only date back to the 1800s, but a pub here has been in business since 1753.
Many of the streets still have remains of cobblestones, the old buildings (even the inside renovated ones), the castles and churches, the businesses, and the royals. Everything here has a history that is worth hearing, and every piece of history I've learned over here so far is so interesting.
So here I am, a 20-year-old American girl living in London for the next month and I feel like this is where I'm meant to be. I was meant to come on this trip of a lifetime and study, sightsee, tour, walk, and fall in love with this amazing city. I'm living a dream in a place that I would never get to visit, and I really never thought I would visit a place like this being this young. But here I am, in London.
