This past weekend I attended a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars Conference in London! It was a great chance for me to meet other Rotary scholars as well as a few Rotarians. If you are given the opportunity to attend a conference like this- GO. It was really useful to have half way through my year. Not only did it allow me to meet other scholars, but it also helped me assess where I am now in my year abroad and what else I would like to accomplish (for myself and for Rotary) during the remainder of my stay.
I'll first go into when I arrived in London and I will work my way to the conference :)
Since the conference was Saturday and Sunday, I arrived in London Friday afternoon around 1PM with plans of going to the Tower of London and then on a Jack the Ripper Tour. Unfortunately, after going through customs, taking the Gatwick Express to London, taking the Tube to my hostel, finding my hostel, then actually GOING to the Tower of London the Tower was already closed (bummer! I guess I'll just have to make a trip back to London!)
So now that I had two hours to kill (and alone none the less since the other scholar from Neuchâtel had to cancel coming to London and I didn't know anyone else in the city) I walked around the Tower as well as Tower Bridge.

[image: Walking on Tower Bridge]

[image: View of the Tower of London, the London skyline as well as the Gherkin from Tower Bridge]
At 7:30 I headed to the meeting place for the Jack the Ripper tour and was eventually joined by a group of people who also wanted to spend their Friday night walking around the East end of London :)
The tour itself was pretty awesome and I'm glad I went. The guide was really knowledgeable and even managed to throw in a few jokes every now and then. He went over each murder case by case and even explained the area we were in and what it was like at the time of Jack the Ripper. Overall it was a really neat tour! I even managed to meet a group of guys (4 Americans and 2 Canadians) whom I ended up going to a pub with after the tour for a drink and a meal. They were all students who were also working for Parliament. Meeting them was a neat feeling... being completely alone one minute and putting myself out there to make a friend (or 6) the next. I was really grateful that I didn't have to spend the evening by myself with no one to talk to and they seemed pretty happy to have me tag along :)
Moments like that always have a profound feeling on me. Just knowing that we aren't as isolated as perhaps the media or news makes us out to be is a great feeling. Knowing that yes, you can go up to a complete stranger on the street (or tour in my case) and become their friend
without being murdered or disappearing or just being plain old rejected makes me really happy. We're social creatures. I love it.
I went to my hostel that night content and with contact information from my new friends :)
As part of the conference, Saturday was going to be filled with food and a tour of London! I arrived at 6 York Gate at 12:45 as expected and began to meet Rotarians as well as other Rotary Scholars.

[image: 6 York Gate. The Rotary International District 1130 Headquarters- set in one of the "posh-ist" (is that a word?) areas of London]

[image: Me in front of 6 York Gate]
What a great group! Everyone was so talkative and friendly- I loved it! I became friends with everyone, but ended up going out at night with James, an Australian studying in Budapest, Eileen, an American studying in Copenhagen, Juliana and Mark, a couple who I actually met at ASETS in Austin (!), and a guy named Alex who is studying in Hungary.
The tour of London was excellent and I got to see a lot of wonderful sites that I might not have been able to see on my own. Here are a few pictures :D

[image: Buckingham Palace]

[image: Nicholas (France), Eileen (America), Me, and James (Australia) near Buckingham Palace]

[image: Me blocking Westminster Abby :P]

[image: The obligatory Double Decker Bus picture]

[image: Me with Big Ben in the background. Did you know that Big Ben is actually named after the bell in the tower and not the actual tower??? I did not know that! Knowledge is power people, and knowing is half the battle.]

[image: OK now before you go wondering why on earth I took a picture of this creepy alley, I would like to state that this is where the Demon Barber of Fleet street did his business. Still have no idea what I'm talking about? I'll give you a hint: Sweeney Todd. Yeah, turns out it's based on a true story. The barber would lure his victims in for a shave and once they were in the chair, he would kill them and drop them from the chair through a trap door to Ms. Lovett's where they were then cut up and made into meat pies. It's no wonder people are always commenting on the quality of London's food...]
We all ended the night at Pizza Express (not like what we have in the US) and we all went our separate ways.
Sunday was the conference which was made up of guest speakers and 3 discussion sessions where we divided into 4 groups and talked about how we found out about Rotary, our involvement with our club (at home and in our study country), our counselors, in what ways we have served as an ambassador of goodwill, our challenges and successes, and finally, what we planned to do after our year abroad.
As I mentioned before, it was really helpful going to the conference. I was able to assess where I was in my year and what I wanted to accomplish. It also gave me a chance to make suggestions to other scholars as well as receive suggestions :) It was wonderful being around other people in my situation :) At the end of the conference, we all took a group picture (which I will hopefully find a copy of...) and went our separate ways.
James, Eileen, Juliana, Mark and I decided that we were going to eat Mexican food that night and planned to meet for dinner at 8PM. Since it was only 5, James, Eileen and I decided to walk around Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.

[image: In front of Tower Bridge. Me, James and Eileen]
The whole night ended with full bellies of (much missed) Mexican food- which was actually REALLY good!
And that was my trip to London for the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars Conference! I made a ton of new friends and new connections, shared and received valuable information with Rotarians, and had a splendid time in general!