I know I am a bit late getting up my first blog post, and I apologize. (Blame jet lag, I do.) Since I don’t think I will be able to do a comprehensive story of my first days in London, I will instead provide a list of impressions that have hit me since I left the US.
· No matter how many seats I have to sprawl on, sleeping on a plane is still uncomfortable. Our flight was way under booked, with the result that there were about 100 empty seats on the plane. Of course, every Elon student instantly claimed 2 or 3 chairs as their own personal property. I chose to take a set of two, because I wanted the window, but despite my extra sprawling room, it was still one of the most uncomfortable sleeps I have ever had. It didn’t help that I was playing an audiobook on my iPod, and every time I would wake up, I would get all confused because the story had kept playing and I had lost track of the plot for 10 chapters.
· Jokes about crowded London Tube = NOT exaggerating. I have gotten to ride the Tube a couple of times already, and most times it was no more crowded than a normal big city underground. However, at rush hour, it is packed crazy tight. The sardines cliché doesn’t even cover it.
· I love the pound coin! England has this nifty pound coin that they use instead of £1 notes, and I find them both adorable and useful. It is strange the first time you pay for groceries with coins, but you soon become enamored with the ease of use.
· I just want normal coffee! I am a bit of a coffee-holic, and I have always lived with a dependable coffee maker. However, our flat does not have a coffee maker, only an electric kettle. This means that I can either buy a coffee pot, or get used to instant coffee. I figured I’d be brave and go for the instant, but this decision left me with the humbling position of standing in the aisle of Tesco’s, looking at all the unfamiliar brand names, trying to determine which was the best coffee for the least cost.
· Brits Brits everywhere and not a word to understand. Well, I actually can understand most of the accents; I was exaggerating so I could make the reference. I have had great fun listening to all the conversations and recordings and drinking in the lovely accents. I have two especially fun anecdotes to share: 1) In our Health and Safety lecture, the police officer talking to us used a couple bits of rhyming slang, which left us baffled until he explained himself. They were “tea leaves” for “thieves” and “half inched” for “pinched”. 2) When I dialed Vodafone to put £10 on my pay-as-you-go phone, the lady on the recording was extremely cheery. She told me to “not worry if I entered the pin wrong” and “Great job!” after I entered it correctly. Americans, the Brits have got you beat on the whole prerecording thingy, even the lady on the Tube is very polite and actually sounds like a human.
· Limited internet stresses me out. As an American, I am used to this whole concept of unlimited internet usage, and having a weekly cap on my minutes makes me a bit jittery. I become so worried about how long I am online and how many megabytes I am using, that I end up signing off before I actually do all I meant to do. I suppose I will get better at managing it, but for now it might be my least favorite part of London.
· The Holmes Homeland. We had a walking tour of our neighborhood today which ended at Baker Street, and you know what that means: the Holmes fangirl in me went all silly. Our guide quizzed us about who lived on Baker Street (doi) and where he lived. The last question only I and Dr. Delpish knew (really people?) and so now all the group know my intense love of the detective. We actually walked past the museum, which I plan to visit soon. Also, our guide explained that he will actually be leading a Sherlock Holmes walking tour relatively soon, and of course I will be signing up for that the second I can, because I’m hip like that.
· VINDICATION! Those who know me (or have read my Facebook page) know that one of my favorite authors is Jasper Fforde. However, every time I mention him in America, I get a lot of blank looks. So imagine my joy and surprise when I see an iPad ad in the Tube, demonstrating the bookshelf feature, which proudly displays The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. I squealed, got a picture, and thoroughly embarrassed my American friends, but I don’t care, because I have PROOF that Fforde is a popular author, at least in Britain, and that my fascination with him is perfectly normal. And so, I leave y’all today with a mission: find a copy of either The Eyre Affair or The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde, and give him a try, I promise he is worth it.
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