Orientation and First Week

Orientation was very exciting and super fun! Met some really nice people and visited some great places around where we live. The Rocket in Euston is a very chill pub where everyone seemed to be the first week. We had a great time dancing to our favorite tunes and it was great to chat with so many new people over drinks..definitely a great place for students! I can tell it's sort of the NYU in London hotspot. The Nag's Head in Islington was a nice little sports pub...my friends and I got to mingle with the locals and we are definitely planning to go back!

The Nag's Head with some great girls!

One of our orientation events was at Smithy's Wine Bar and Restaurant. We enjoyed some canapes like mini sausages, chicken fingers and cheese biscuits and listened to some great music by a popular DJ in London. Definitely one of the most fun evenings...we headed to The Rocket after a few hours :)

Smithy's Wine Bar and Restaurant

After our first day of classes, we decided to dive in and explore London...and boy did we. We took the Tube to Piccadilly Circus (the Times Square of London) and walked through all of Piccadilly, Theatre District, Oxford Street and Leicester Square. We picked up some hot drinks from Caffe Nero to keep us going and saw a lot of cool stuff! We also got to visit the Topshop here and it was packed even on a Monday afternoon!

Of course, we had to take the cute red telephone booths as a photo-op:

All in all, it's going great here so far! I'm really glad I chose to study abroad :) Definitely a wonderful experience to learn new things and a different culture.

France!

So I'm finally back from France and moved into NYU in London two days ago! It has been a crazy past couple of weeks and the wedding events were absolutely fantastic. It was such a grand wedding with just the most gorgeous venues..have a look at some shots from the traditional French wedding scene:

Here's a picture of a few people from my family before the wedding (I'm 5th from the left):

And here are the bride and groom from both the French and Sri Lankan weddings:

The food was fantastic! First, we had an appetizer buffet with about 20 different hor d'oeuvres like quiche and sausage. That was followed by a 4-course French meal with everything from egg salad, duck, potatoes, cheese and a dessert buffet with about 20 to choose from again! It was great seeing everyone and nice meeting people of my family that I haven't seen before. France was a great place to end the summer in :)

Festivities in France

Flying out Tuesday evening! Before I head to London though, I'm taking my official summer vacation out to France for my cousin's wedding this week! I have family that lives in Cergy, part of the 'burbs of Paris. It is a pretty big occasion since this is the first of my 1st cousins to get married. Definitely can't wait to hug and kiss so many of my cousins, aunts and uncles that I have not seen in a few years. I know we have all been looking forward to this.

This is why I LOVE family weddings. They bring everyone together to do nothing but celebrate and have a crazy good time :)

Now, how gorgeous is Cergy?

featured from meteosun.com

Trendy.

Ever since Topshop popped up in New York City a few months ago, London fashion has taken my attention by storm. Although I never made it around to the store near Broome Street, I've been on the website on a weekly basis and they have some super chic pieces! For one, the cropped tops caught my eye and with a pair of skinnies, anyone wearing them in NYC would be awarded a double-take. I especially love the ones with sequin detailing and floral prints:

tops featured from topshop.com

The tunic tops are very interesting. Floral prints seem to be popular, but some have crazy prints and loud cutouts as well. Topshop seems to have a great mix of soft and bold collections. Still can't figure out if these work for my taste or not, but they are nothing short of unique...

tunics featured from topshop.com

Pre-Departure Pep

Hey guys!

I'm going to be a junior at New York University and will be studying at the international NYU campus in London this upcoming fall semester! This blog will cover the 4 Ls of London: Lunching, Lounging, Looking and Living. In the past couple months, London has been all I can talk about. Not only is it a great conversation starter but many have told me on numerous occasions: "You'll have a great time in London...and I'm sure you won't have much trouble adjusting since London is very similar to NYC for the most part." Well, let's see just how true that holds to be...

This blog is meant to show what it's like to live in London from a New Yorker's P.O.V. As most NYU students know, it's not easy to live on a college student budget in the city. But it's going to be even harder to manage money in London where 100 dollars is only worth 60 pounds (talk about a rip-off!). I've worked hard this summer for 13 weeks (with 1 to go) at my finance internship and found that I have not only gained some very valuable work experience, but also made a nice chunk of money to make the most of my study abroad experience this fall. But as everyone in finance knows, money should be spent wisely...with a little splurging every now and then. Where better to do it?

NYU in London's Academic Center in Bedford Square seems absolutely stunning at night, doesn't it?

So keep checking back to read about and see pictures from my experiences in London and other English and European cities this upcoming fall. I'll keep you guys posted on the food, nightlife, trendy looks and other odds and ends there. Ta-ta for now!