Everything’s Bigger in… London?

By Alexis Greenberg

There’s this saying, everything’s bigger in Texas. However, some things are bigger in London. For example, the parks. The parks in London are just HUGE. Seriously, you could walk around Hyde Park or Hampstead Heath for hours without repeating a route or seeing the same thing twice.

I came to London with three goals. One, see all the places Taylor Swift mentions in her song “London Boy” and create a music video of me singing the lyrics in each place. Two, make new friends, meet new people, and learn new things. Three, go to Bravissimo, a specialty swimsuit and bra store I’d been ordering from for a year or so online.

As for goal number one, I visited Hackney, Highgate, Camden Market, Shoreditch, Brixton, the West End, Soho, “Louis V up on Bond Street”, and more. I made my music video and although it turned out somewhat different than I’d expected, I love it with my whole heart. I think making a music video in every country I visit would be so fun and such a cool way to capture the various places I go!

Goal two was easy to complete as well. I made friends with those on our trip, met new people in London on the tube, through Taylor Swift, and at group dinners that alumni went to, and learned new things about myself, others on the trip, and the world around us.

Goal three was very exciting to me. No, I’m not kidding. You’ve probably never seen someone so excited to go bra shopping. I hate shopping in general but this store is amazing. I’ve been wearing their products for a year or so, but it’s so incredibly expensive to ship things from the UK to Kansas, especially when half the time I didn’t know what size I should order and had to return things because UK sizing differs from US sizing.

Bravissimo only has one store in the US. Yes, one, you read that right. It happens to be in New York, not Kansas, (a girl can dream, right?) so I’d never been. There are twenty six Bravissimo stores in the United Kingdom. That is twenty five more than in the whole entire United States of America.

Kennedy and I went to the first Bravissimo location of the trip on Monday on Tavistock Street, and even though it was the smaller of the two stores I was still so excited! It was around the back of a building, and after a few minutes of walking I had decided it probably didn’t exist. Luckily, we found the door and I was transported into wonderland when we stepped inside.

I finally found a one piece swimsuit comfortable and supportive enough to wear to work as a lifeguard. That’s a search that I’ve been working on for years. I bought two things and decided I may go back to another location later in the week. Simply being able to try on so many styles and suits at once was weirdly exciting for me.

Thursday, Sydney and I headed to another Bravissimo location on Margaret Street. I didn’t look up how big the store was but when we got there I realized it was massive. I tried on more things and new styles and they had so much stuff in my size which was just amazing. I again bought two things and called it good.

Later in the trip, Shayla also went to a Bravissimo store. AKA I indoctrinated three of the people on our trip to Bravissimo life. None of them are mad about it, and I certainly am not. You’d think that if everything’s bigger in America and Texas, they’d also have bigger bras. As it turns out, that’s not the case, and England wins on that front. Thanks, Bravissimo.

On the way to a play, my contact fell out on the floor of the tube (Piccadilly line, to be specific) and I picked it up and put it back in my eye.

I didn't sleep at all on the plane ride back from London to Chicago and ended up staying awake for over 25 hours. I even submitted a homework assignment around hour 22!

I absolutely hate math, but found myself splitting the bill (correctly, might I add) several nights of the trip and navigating the tubes.

I walked about an hour to a kosher restaurant, Reuben’s, to get a burger the day the tubes weren't running.