Terenzi and Sam take London by storm

I've been pretty much studying non-stop for almost an entire week straight. Exam period is upon us all and we're all drowning in revisions, essay writing and practice exams. I put in an extra effort to study all week long because Terenzi came to visit me from Scotland on Sunday and Monday, and my exams are all on Tuesday and Thursday. We had two full days of London to fill up and it was the perfect study break from endless learning about the endocrine system.

We of course started at Parliament Square.

This statue of Nelson Mandela had been turned into a memorial overnight and was laden with flowers and beautiful cards.

We took a walk through the park on our way to Buckingham Palace and did some bird watching!

These beautiful black swans were some of my favorites.

This pelican just took the cake, though.

We tried to catch the changing of the guards--we missed most of it, but did see them come marching in playing music!

We then took a stroll down the river and admired the architecture--he especially loved this building above.

Of course, a walk across Tower Bridge was needed.

We also popped into the Tate Modern to take a look around, and then caught a glorious sunset across the Thames.

We hopped on the tube to head over to South Kensington to check out my favorite museum, the V&A. It was all sparkling with Christmas decorations!

Harrod was also looking festive, and we of course had to take a quick look around.

This ultra HD TV boggled our minds with its insanely crisp picture.

We then headed over to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, where Terenzi had a go at the ladder-climbing game.

Hyde Park was overflowing with people, as usual.

However, we were feeling exhausted--he rode an overnight sleeper bus from Glasgow to London and I hardly slept the night before because all I could think about was the process in which the kidney filters urine (finals were making my mind reel all night long). We headed back to Mile End for a home cooked meal and an early night.