A Prince is Born & London Life Goes On

This past week has been filled with a lot of schoolwork because this is already the fifth week of classes! For our final paper in my British Culture and Visual Media class I chose to compare London and New York fashion. I found out a lot about the two cities and even that they are the top two fashion capitals of the world. London has been ranked as top fashion city for the past two years. After this week is over, we start a new set of classes and then it's already time to come home. I can't believe how quickly my time here has gone. I keep thinking about how many things we've already done and yet there is still so much more I want to do. The one thing that I absolutely want to do before I leave is go to Princess Diana's playground in Kensington gardens where she used to bring Princes William and Harry. I wonder if Kate and William will bring their little boy there!

Speaking of which, I knew that Kate was due to give birth while I would be here for study abroad and it has been a waiting game up until now. There were rumors that she was due last weekend and that didn't happen so no one really knew what to expect. In fact, she left London because of this heatwave that is still going on and Kensington Palace doesn't even have air conditioning! Sunday night there was a violent thunder and lightning storm but there was nor rain! Some people thought that the thunder was sounds of a helicopter to bring the Princess to the hospital, but it just so happened to be a coincidence. Yesterday when Kate went into labor, it was all anyone could talk about. Before class, we were all tuned to BBC to see if there was any news. Photographers and reporters have been camped outside St. Mary's hospital for weeks now! I even saw Cat Sadler from E! News when we went to see a play with our Shakespeare class last week! When the press release finally came out last night it was 8:30 PM here and I was at dinner at British Chef Jamie Oliver's restaurant, Fifteen. Both the food and the atmosphere was amazing. Even the bathrooms were decorated beautifully! My friends in the US were texting me and asking if people were celebrating but strangely enough I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. However, I do know that people spent up to an hour just trying to see the easel at Buckingham Palace
where the announcement of the birth is posted.

We are all still eagerly awaiting to find out what the Duke and Duchess have chosen to name their child. So many people thought for sure that it was going to be a girl and personally I was hoping so because a new law was passed this year that said the first born no matter the sex would be next in line for the throne. Nevertheless, everyone is excited for the arrival of the royal baby and all sorts of souvenirs have already been sold in commemoration of this royal occasion. I am planning on saving yesterday and today's newspapers because it truly is amazing that I am here for this. I was a bit jealous that last year's study abroad group was here for the olympics but I'm happy that I'm here for this momentous occasion.

The royal baby is the biggest news, but I'm also going to the London Eye tonight and I'm excited for that! The London Eye is a giant ferris wheel on the South bank of the River Thames. It is right near Big Ben and we've passed it many times so far and it'll be fun to finally go on it! Also, after classes are over this week, I am going to Barcelona for the weekend! I look forward to reporting back on that in my next post. Then when I get back, I will be taking the History of Modern Design and Food, Society and Culture in Great Britain.