From London to Reno

This fall break was one I’d been looking forward to for a long time. I finally flew to Nevada to see my friends. Over the summer I studied abroad at the University of Roehampton in London, England. While there I met three girls I now know will be my best friends for life. Their names are Averey, Alexa and Sage. All three of them attend the University of Nevada, Reno. At the end of the summer I bought plane tickets to reunite with them over fall break. 

When we met in London we immediately clicked. We all prefer to stick with a smaller group while traveling to stay organized and make the most of the trip. That's why we got along so well. We packed so many adventures into those three weeks. Every day we went to our classes and every night we found a new place to explore or sight to see. It was genuinely an experience of a lifetime. We were also neighbors in our university housing so we did everything together. Leaving them at the end of the summer was bittersweet. I was so excited when we made these plans to get together again.

I flew out of Columbus on Friday night after my classes. I had a short layover in Denver and landed in Reno at midnight. The girls were waiting for me at the airport with a sign and big hugs. I stayed with Sage in her apartment because the other two live in a sorority house and aren't allowed overnight visitors. On Saturday morning we decided to get breakfast at a place called Two Chicks. I had the eggs benedict and it was fantastic. Then we went to a thrift store called Freestyle. The thrifting in Reno is amazing. 

Then it was time for the main event: We went to a tailgate! I have never attended a football game at ONU and I don’t even know if we have tailgates. If we do I am sure they are nothing like this. It was wild. So many students were packed together dancing and chatting. The frats all had big trucks and trailers and they pulled their favorite sorority onto them. We four are pretty tame when it comes to partying so this was crazy for us. We ended up hanging out with a few of Averey’s friends from her film program. It was a new experience but it was a ton of fun. It wasn’t anything like the parties in London though.

The next day Averey and I went to another thrift store called Junkies. It was very eclectic. It wasn’t necessarily my style but I can appreciate interesting pieces of clothing. That thrift store had a food court attached so we grabbed some street tacos. Mexican food is definitely better in Nevada than it is in Ohio. That night we decided to go see “Saturday Night” in theaters. It was way better than I thought it would be. I didn’t know much about it going into it but the movie grabbed my attention from the first scene and held it the whole time. I’m glad we saw it because it's not a movie I would have gone to see on my own.

On Monday morning we went to a cool coffee shop downtown and said our goodbyes. It was sad but thankfully we have already made plans to get together over the summer in New York City! We are hoping to get matching tattoos on that trip to commemorate our London experience. I knew I would make life-long memories in London but I am so lucky to have made life-long friends too. Until next time girls!