Heading to London!

The Carleton Cambridge program kicked off Wednesday, June 15th as 23 young Carls converged on the city of London. A few had brief stop overs in Iceland as they made their way "across the pond" to settle for five days exploring the largest city in the UK. 

View of Iceland from plane window

Regardless of from where we originated, we all began our adventure abroad in this same location: border crossing and customs.

Crossing into the UK

The first few days of the program found students exploring the city by foot, tube, bus and ferry.

Economics is everywhere - even in the tube stations!

 From an early overview of the city on a double-decker bus (albeit on a less-than-perfect rainy morning), to a cruise along the river Thames, there seemed an endless supply of things to do and see in London.  Sites on the city tour ranged from the Museum of London and the British Museum, to the Houses of Parliament, the Maritime Museum and St. Paul's Cathedral.

Exterior of St. Paul's

 While no photos were permitted inside the magnificent St. Paul's, our spunky tour guide did allow us to sneak a photo from the recesses of this incredible stone staircase:

View from the bottom of the spiral staircase within St. Paul's

Many of the students were tickled to hear this very staircase was used in the third Harry Potter film  - a fun modern day fact intertwined with the rich history described by our guide.

Another highlight of our five days in the city was a night out to the theater for a showing of the musical Billy Elliot. 

All smiles before the show

A post-show group photo-op

We held a group dinner at a very tasty Indian restaurant, Memories of India, to ring in the start of our time together and to cap off our stay in London.

Memories of India group dinner

 From London our travels continue to the town of Shrewsbury, where we'll visit several sites that play pivotal roles in shaping the history of the Industrial Revolution, as well as give context to our studies on the economics of current environmental policy.