London Adventures

Disclaimer: This post represents the sole effort to communicate with any non-London community beyond my family during my study abroad. I was perpetually distracted for the remainder of my time there. You'll get a better post later, I promise.

I assure you, I am not up writing this at 3:35 am. I am actually sitting in my flat in London at 11:35 writing this.

I am most fortunate to have been selected by my university to go on a fantastic six-week Study Abroad to London, England. I've been here since Wednesday. To get here, I had to catch a flight from Salt Lake to the George Bush International Airport in Houston, Texas. Very simple.

Ah-ha, but whilst leaving the United States is simple, getting into the UK is certainly not. The flight itself passed uneventfully, although the kid sitting next to me on the plane threw up as we were landing.

(I love flying. I understand that it's crowded, and you get cramps, have to wait until the bathroom is vacant to go, are stuck with crying babies and germs and turbulence and the horrible ever-present smell of airplane coffee, but the fact is that I am shooting through the sky at the speed of sound, thousands of feet above the ground, seeing the world from a whole new perspective. Give and take, everyone. Give and take.)

After the plane, though, all visitors to the UK have to stand in a huge line, or "queue," as they like to call it, that snakes eternally towards the generally crabby, sharp-eyed and rather intimidating Customs Agents. A.k.a., "They-who-can-and-will-deport-you-if-you-give-them-the-excuse." Although all the students in our group were armed with a letter explaining why we were there and that we won't going to steal their jobs, 45 minutes of shuffling along, double-checking my passport, and nail-biting ensued.

Then the proverbial ogress at my literal gate drilled me about discrepancies in my addresses for all of five minutes, during which I did not have the ability to swallow spit, and then let me and my luggage go on my merry way.

I and my companions (Breanne and Addison, a delightful married couple) took the lift down to the bowels of the Heathrow airport, where the dragon called the London Underground lived. After purchasing our magical Oyster Cards, we were able to tame this beast and make it do our bidding, namely, we rode it to the Tube Stop closest to our flats and "alighted." After death-marching down Gloucester Road (Pronounced "Gloss-ter" not "Glou-chester") for an indeterminable amount of time, dragging our luggage, we arrived at Hyde Park Gate number 37, flat number 1, which had been remodeled merely two days ago and still smelled like sawdust.

Upon discovering that there were no towels (Argh!) with which to shower with, I crashed on the top-right bunk of the room at the very end of the longest hallway I had ever seen. Room D. I am quite fond of it now. It has the best windows ever and is very clean, white, and British. We even get maids to do the heavy cleaning. Our kitchen is amazing, too. We have three ovens, four fridges and freezers, two microwaves, and all sorts of fancy cooking equipment. It almost makes me want to go gourmet, except I know I'm going to be eating cereal and microwave meals the entire time we're here.

London itself is very cosmopolitan. People from all over, walking on all sides of the sidewalk, speaking French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Swedish, Portuguese, Afrikaans, Japanese, and English in all kinds of different accents. Everybody and their dog seems to be represented! Literally. Lots of people, lots of dogs. Lots of people walking their dogs. Lots of people walking more than one dog. London is very dog friendly, it seems.

It's also very old! In the US, we are proud of our buildings that have stood for a hundred years. In London, that is nothing. Nothing at all! There is so much old stuff here! I love it!

Well, I know this is lame, and I wanted to wow people with my clever cultural insights, but my body is currently complaining that it is 5:00 a.m. and what is my brain thinking letting me stay up this late? So until next time, adieu! (Gasp! French word!) And stay tuned for more London Adventures!