So as most of you know, I’m an American girl but I’ve been living in England for most of the last two years (and in London specifically for the last month)! I thought I’d share a little bit about a day in my life. If my life is interesting enough (hah), I might do more of these posts in the future!
6:30am
My alarm goes off at an UNGODLY hour (6:30am) and pick up my daily dose of Starbucks. I don’t understand why, but the hot chocolate at Starbucks in the UK is significantly different than in the US. I prefer the US hot chocolate, but the UK hot chocolate is still pretty good!
7:26am
Then I make my way to St Pancras International, where I hop on the high speed train to Canterbury West. Although I live in London, I go to university in Canterbury, which means I have to commute! Yuck! The train takes about 50 minutes. When it’s a 7:40am train ride, I usually end up sleeping!
8:50am
Now it’s time for a trek from the Canterbury West strain station up to campus. Luckily it’s such a pretty walk!
I usually only have one class a day. This term I’m taking: video game design, managers and organisations, and digital visual effects & post production. I also have the occasional lecture about my final year project.
1:42pm
After class, it’s time to head back to London! Since I’m more awake at this point, I usually read on the train ride back.
This is totally just another photo of St Pancras International, but I forgot to take a photo at Canterbury West station!
3:00pm
Before heading home, I hop on the Underground and swing by Picadilly Circus for a little adventure!
I head down the street to Waterstones Bookstore. This particular Waterstones on Picadilly is Europe’s largest bookshop! It used to be a department store, so it’s laid out very much like one. They have six whole floors of books and over 8.5 miles of shelving!
After browsing through the young adult section, I walk a few minutes down the street to Hatchards bookstore. Hatchards is London’s oldest bookshop (established in 1797). It’s such a cute store with several floors and this really cool staircase. Also apparently J.K Rowling has done a signing there. She should totally do another one… *hint hint*
5:45pm
It’s getting late and I’m getting hungry, so I walk a short distance to Nando’s! This is one restaurant that NEEDS to come to the US! There are actually nine restaurants in the US (supposedly), but I think they’re all on the east coast, so they obviously need more on the west. This place is seriously amaaaaazing! If you like chicken (who doesn’t??) then you’d love it!
Just taking a stroll down Regent Street on my way back to the Underground…
6:30pm
And finally, it’s time to head back home! Snuggle up, whip out the Kindle, do a bit of blogging, you know the drill!
Thanks for reading!
Let me know if you’d be interested in seeing more of these posts. 🙂
Looks like fun! :p
Wow, I’m rather jealous! London looks gorgeous! I enjoyed getting a peek into your real life, you should post these more often 🙂
Wow! You sure keep busy there 🙂 I can’t even imagine a bookstore that large, but I’d love to see one someday.
And yes, you should absolutely do more of these. It’s a great idea!
I love posts like these! Nafiza at Bibliophilic Monologues sometimes does them, and they’re my favorite. Yours is awesome, too. :3
Loved this post Ashley and would definitely like to see more 🙂 I would so love to visit one of those bookstores – sigh, we don’t have anything like that here 🙁
This was a cute post! I’m totally jealous, it seems like you are having so much fun there! 🙂
Very cool! I love seeing all the pictures of the UK. What gorgeous scenery! 🙂
Totally loved your post! Great pictures, brought back a few memories!
LOVED “Day in the Life”. More please!
London is on my ‘travel’ wish list so I love this post. I’d love to spend a day at Waterstones & Nandos is pretty popular here is Australia as well.
Thanks for sharing, its always nice to learn more about other bloggers 🙂
I think I have to steal your life. I don’t want to do it, but you leave me no choice. *wonders off muttering to herself about duck tape and rope knots*
I loved this! Of course I desperately want to travel through England sometime, if not live there as well! I’m part English and am also an English major and school librarian when not blogging who completely in love with all things English Lit. like Shakespeare, Chaucer, etc. I even have tattoos to honor them.
Anyway, loved the fun post. Thanks for sharing, plus I’m rather jealous of your mad techie skills!
I loved reading about your day! It made me really homesick, haha. This time last year I was studying abroad at the University of Essex in Colchester (University of Kent was actually on my shortlist!). I love the UK and desperately want to go back 🙂
This is so awesome! Love this. When I go to London one of these days, Waterstones is an absolute must.
Ashleyyyyy I love this post. I love all the pictures you shared with us. Nandos sounds great and I now want a Starby’s hot chocolate REALLY BADLY. I blame you. 😉 I’d love to come visit England someday. *sigh*
Sorta jealous of that big bookstore! J.K. Rowling totally has to do a signing there, I’d love to hear about it. You should definitely do more posts like these, it was so interesting to read. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Duh, of course I love hearing about your adventures in London, especially because then I can compare them to mine! I’m lucky in that I only have a fifteen minute journey from where I live to my uni. But, if I want to head into London for Waterstones Piccadilly, it takes me just under a hour. Speaking of which, I just went there last week so it’s so cool to see your photos of a place I was just at and think how we were both there! Oh wait, does that make me sound slightly stalkerish? haha. I only went into Waterstones for an author event and didn’t fully explore (aside from the teen section) and I didn’t head into any other bookstore. I think I will spend one day in the future just exploring the various bookstores in London! Sounds like fun.
Cool! London really is beautiful – you’re so fortunate to be living there! But 50 minutes is a long ride >< Good thing you have a Starbucks and a Kindle to accompany you on the way!
I used to live in Essex for a while before moving to Singapore, and my grandparents would bring me to London to visit Piccadilly, or Regent's Park, sometimes to go to Hamley's! But on a recent trip, I went Oxford and visited Waterstones; and I fell in LOVE. I understand how you feel about that bookshop 😉 There must be so many of them around! In Singapore there's only 1 where you can find everything 🙁 And it's a little of a ride from where I live, so not very convenient.
Thanks for sharing Ashley! We all love seeing these little things that happen in your daily life 😀
How did I never know about how large that Waterstones was and I’ve never even heard of Hatchards. Next trip to London, I’ll make sure to fit both of those in as they look and sound fab. I always love the buzz of Picadilly Circus and as for Nandos, yum, yum! Great post Ashley, I love hearing about your London adventures.
This was so much fun! I’ve never been to the UK (someday…) so it was cool to live vicariously through you. Love the graphics. And the bookshops! *swoon*
Love this post, Ashley! Thanks for sharing your day ♥
Such a great idea for a post. One of my best friends lives in London and I love seeing her pictures of the scenery and places that she goes to. She works in the fashion industry and is a journalist so her daily do’s are very exciting.
Loved the last pic of your nerdom! 😀
That’s so cool! 😀
Busy, busy day and way too early to start ;-). London looks pretty cool though and your campus is gorgeous. I attempted riding the underground transportation in Montreal and near about had a heart attack. I guess it’s something you get used to. My hubs wants to visit London. We have been discussing either a Euro trip or Mediterranean…so far, still undecided. How much longer are you there before coming back to the states?
Agreed!!
I’ll be in the UK off and on throughout the year. I’m going home for a few weeks over Christmas, but otherwise I’ll be here until June-ish!
What a fun post! London is beautiful! I want to visit so badly! Your campus looks absolutely stunning. And those bookstores!!! *drools* You should definitely post more of these. 🙂
What a fun post! Thanks so much for sharing a slice of your life with us! That Waterstones bookstore sounds amazing — six whole floors of books?!
And yes, I’d love to see more posts like this one. 🙂
This was so fun! I can’t imagine a bookstore that huge, I think you’d lose me there for days. I sympathize with the early morning train ride – I don’t think I could sleep though, I’d be too worried about sleeping past my stop LOL!
At first I was afraid of that too… but after a while I think my body has just grown accustomed to waking up at the right time LOL. Plus there’s always an announcement that says “We will shortly be arriving at [train station]”, and that usually wakes me up for a moment anyway.
You’re so gorgeous Ash!!! I love your life. Can I steal it??? 😀
*huggles* I love you, but no you cannot steal my life! 😀
I use to live in England for three years, but then I moved back to South Africa! We also have a Nandos here but it tastes a lot different to the UK one, it’s more spicy and has more flavour to it (well, the burgers do) 😀
I loved going into Waterstones when I lived there, they always had such a fantastic selection! 😀