Jade ’25 and Jazmine ’25, describe the groups first day activities in London.
We started off the day by taking the London Tube from the airport to our hotel. It was a sunny day and our schedule was packed. Though we were tired when we landed in London, we had many fun activities such as going to a café, sketching in the park, drawing on a rooftop garden, and having dinner at Honest Burgers. We learned how to use water-soluble charcoals and drew iconic landmarks such as the Tower of London and The Shard while admiring the city’s beauty from the rooftop garden.
Initially, I wasn’t sure about what to expect in London. One of the first things I noticed was the architecture. There was a variety—from tall glass skyscrapers to intricately chiseled stone buildings. As a group, we all admired the uniqueness of London. Some highlights were the double-decker buses, street art on the bridge, Uber Boat, and green exit signs. As we explored the city, we searched for London’s distinctive art and made art of our own, which ties into the purpose of this trip.
-Jade ’25
The first day started a bit rough for me, as I flew to Boston from California and then from Boston to London. Instead of resting in our hotels or getting a chance to freshen up after the flight to London, we dropped our things off at the hotel and immediately started our day. Despite my initial grievances at walking around in the state I was in (I had been traveling for over 24 hours at that point and was on the verge of collapsing), I actually had a lot of fun exploring London on our first day.
First, we walked to a café for breakfast. I had a mocha and one of the biggest cinnamon rolls I’ve ever seen, and then we walked to a park where we got a chance to start exploring the art materials we got for the trip and connect with the other people in the group. We also got to walk across the Millennium Bridge, where an artist had turned the gum stuck on the floor of the bridge into fun little drawings, and then made our way onto the terrace of a building, where we used graphite to draw the city’s horizon. We ended our day with an early dinner at a burger place and then got snacks at a store. (I also found out that British people call lines queues!) Even though the day was tiring, we had a lot of fun, and I learned a lot just from exploring the art materials we got for the trip, so I can’t imagine how much more I’ll learn over the next few days here.
-Jazmine ’25
