Hi C,

I want to start off by telling you I’m so sorry for not writing you for so long! This masters has been kicking my butt but I’m absolutely loving it. A few weeks ago I had one of the most fun trips I have ever had. I went with A and L who are two of my closest friends at school. We went to.. London! I hadn’t been since I was a young teenager so I was really excited to go as an adult. We brought our suitcases to class on Friday and couldn’t stop looking at the clock. We were sooo excited. It was finally 1:20 p.m… the time had come! We got our bags and headed to the airport. When we finally got on the plane, we all enjoyed the complimentary movies. A and L both watched the nail biting movie, “The Girl on the Train” and I watched the hilarious comedy “Keeping Up with the Joneses.” Less than two hours later.. we arrived!

We stayed at the London Marriott Hotel Marble Arch. It was really well positioned for everything we wanted to do and see during our weekend getaway.

After settling down in the hotel, we had dinner at an Italian restaurant called Sale e Pepe. We wanted to take the bus and we got so lost that we ended up talking over an hour to get to the restaurant.. oh and it was snowing!! Hahaha it was quite an adventure. The restaurant was extremely accommodating and still saved our table even though they were packed. When we finally reached the restaurant, we ordered prosciutto e melone to start and then pasta.

My friend P who is studying abroad in London joined us after dinner and took us to one of the city’s hotspots Mahiki. It has a really cool underground and Hawaiian vibe. During the first few hours we were there, the DJ mostly played music from the 90’s and around 2 a.m. he started playing current hit songs. The space isn’t that big but it was still really fun. We only had to wait about 5 minutes to get in and the dress code seemed to be pretty casual as there were people with jeans and sneakers, and others with dresses.

The next morning, we woke up and wandered around the streets of London. We ended up having lunch at Ivy Café in Marylebone which was packed! My friend told me that it is one of the best brunch spots so I definitely recommend making a reservation.  The three of us had the eggs Benedict of course. A wanted to be healthy so she ordered hers with salmon instead haha.

After brunch, we went to admire the street art in Shoreditch. It had a really similar vibe to Wynwood in Miami.

In the afternoon, we met up with my friend M at CRATE Brewery. When we were walking in, one of the security guards started telling all of the people in line to cover up the logo of the club teams they were supporters of in order to avoid any conflicts inside. I guess in London they really take sports seriously!! As you know, I’m not a huge beer fan but everyone else seemed to be in beer heaven haha. You would have loved it! We ended up staying there so long that by the time we got to the hotel, we only had 20 minutes to get ready to meet up with my friend N who is working in London. We met him at Coco Momo where we ate amazing burgers.  We then met up with L’s friends at Salvador & Amanda which played reggaeton so we were super happy.  We didn’t have to wait to get in as we got there pretty early. About an hour later (1 a.m.) it was packed. The crowd was mostly people our age but there were also people who were older like 30s and 40s. When 3 a.m. came around, we weren’t ready to go home so we decided to go to Hippodrome casino for a drink. It was so overwhelming from the moment you walk in. It was HUGE but had a really nice vibe.

Can’t wait to tell you about the rest of my trip!

Xoxo,

K