3 Days in London

On Saturday evening, I left from JFK with over 100 students in the group flight to Heathrow in London. It was great to meet new people and catch up with older friends, although the plane ride was rough at times. When we got off the plane we were sent to a line of a few hundred people at customs, and were soon told that as a travel group we may cut the line. So, I got through customs in under 30 minutes. :-) On the plane, I met a girl named Michal who lives next door to my flat, so we shared a cab and it was my first left-side-of-the-road experience.

The area is really nice here, there are beautifully restored buildings, and I have a single with a terrace (that I'm not allowed to use unfortunately). After settling in, I learned that my phone order didn't go through, my Oyster card wasn't accepted (meaning roundtrip tube costs $16), my adapter was European and not English, and my wireless could not be activated until the next day and I didn't bring an Ethernet cable. This has meant lots of errands for me over the past few days, but now almost everything is done except for the Oyster card.

Also, I have learned some lessons the embarassing way. For instance, when a deli asks you "Would you like salad?" They mean: "Would you like lettuce, tomato and cucumber on your sandwich?" Speaking of food, there are few similarities between here and the US. I have to buy food frequently because it goes bad in about 2-3 days. Also, almost all of the brands are different. However, Kellogg's is here but with different types of cereal (except for Frosties a.k.a. Frosted Flakes and Rice Krispies).

Over the past three days, I have learned an enormous amount of information about London and I will try to remember some highlights now. The first day, we went on a tour of the local area and discovered the various stores, museums and important sites. Surprisingly, there is a Claire's here (the jewelry store). I can't think of another store that I have seen yet that is also in the US. Tesco Express is similar to 7-11 or WaWa. Waitrose and Sainesbury's are the grocery stores. There is also a catalog-based store called Argo's where you walk into a store of catalogs on high desks, you search and write down the desired product on a card, pay for the product, then wait in line for them to retrieve it from the back. I also learned that we live in a nice neighborhood with many young families and private schoolchildren.

The second day, we went on a boat tour down the Thames River (pronounced Temz). Here are some interesting highlights. The weird thing about London is that there are extremely old and new buildings right next to each other, this is somewhat related to wars. For instance, Canary Wharf is the first place that they decided to rebuild after a war, and thus is how it became such a nice financial area of London. Also, they built a bridge and the London Eye in celebration of the millennium. One of the reasons why the wealthy live west and the poor east is because the wind blows east. England is currently in a drought, and it would take 3 weeks of torrential rain to bring them back to a normal state. They do not get snow, and they get very little rain, it is just frequently overcast and there is a slight drizzle. Actually, for the first two days I had clear skies. London was founded by Julius Caesar and is actually very tiny, it is the City of Westminster that has gradually grown closer to London that most refer to as London. This contributes to the many boroughs that make it so that London has multiple theatre districts, shopping districts, etc.

The second night, they dropped us off downtown and a group of us walked to an italian restaurant. We also passed a really nice McDonald's with a bar, and a Pizza Hut. We then walked to Trafalgar Square (a general center for celebration, etc.) and Big Ben. We took the tube back only 4 stops costing $8 (without my Oyster card). We stopped in a local pub, but didn't stay late because the third day began early with orientation.

The third day began around 9am with orientation and a lecture about the political and economic history/current state of England and the European Union. The tutor (not 'professor' here) spoke about the British Empire's victories and defeats, and why it is resistant to uniting with Europe. They simply cannot decide where they stand, particularly with the US. After lecture, I walked around Hyde Park with some friends, grocery shopped and came back to rest for the night. Tomorrow begins again with 915am lectures until 4pm.