Three weeks in London, and I'm finally comfortable here. Streets are familiar, the "Chube" has become a convenience rather than a hassle, the food is sitting nicely, and yet almost as soon as I'm at home, it's time to go home.
The last three weeks have been full and fun, so it wasn't until this morning that I finally had time to do souvenir shopping for my family. With two younger brothers, the most obvious choice for a first stop was the Lego Store, for the London-exclusive double-decker bus.
...and while there, I found this monstrosity for the second of my siblings. Almost 1700 pieces.
After I finished my shopping and had a small train mix-up with the Tube, I met the group at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where we shared our last group meal in the cafe, and wrote postcards to ourselves from London to remind us of how much we enjoyed being here.
The museum itself was full of artwork and fashion pieces from the personal collection of Queen Victoria and Prince Consort Albert. The first picture here is a statue of Christ crowned with thorns, an incident recorded in the Gospels as a humiliation before the Crucifixion. The second is a white wedding gown, a now-tradition that was not fashionable until after Victoria's own wedding in 1840. The last, "Tippoo's Tiger", is an organ hidden inside a carving that the British looted from Seringapatam in 1799, the sound of which is said to be reminiscent of the last screams of a tiger's victim.
After the museum, I didn't do much besides return to the hotel to prepare for the journey home and unpack. It's strange that in less than twelve hours, most of our class will be flying back to the United States, many to never return here. It's sad that we have left so much undone here, despite all that we have done - but it's happy, too, because this is an experience of a lifetime, and I would not trade anything to take back the time I've spent here in London this summer.
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