[slideshow]Photo by Clare Hennig/The Gazelle;Photo by Clare Hennig/The Gazelle;Photo by Clare Hennig/The Gazelle;Photo by Clare Hennig/The Gazelle[/slideshow]

LONDON, United Kingdom — Celebrations of Chinese New Year took place throughout London this past Sunday, Feb. 2, with parades and performances spilling out into the streets across the city, from Westminster to Chinatown. Iconic sites, such as Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square, were decked out with streams of red lanterns, and crowded stalls were set up to sell everything from snacks and tea to fire crackers and paper dragons. More than 500,000 people joined the street festivities, making it the largest Chinese New Year celebration outside of Asia.  For NYU study-abroad students newly arrived to London, the weekend celebrations offered a taste of the city's vibrant cosmopolitanism.

"I thought that it was a good reflection of the diversity of London," said NYU Abu Dhabi sophomore Layan Abu-Yassin. "I had a good time walking through the streets and finding all sorts of random things. Overall, it was a fun day in the city and a good start for the semester."