For those of you who have class, work, reading, etc., here's the picture book version of London so far.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Just Like The Movies
So I feel it's finally time for me to write about how London has actually been. It's been so different from day to day but I'll try to be brief while I write about the first few days.
When I got here the first few days I was amazingly unsettled. No phone, no internet, no way to reach anyone that I knew. On top of that the only people that I met the first few days were British freshman. And it was so fun, although the Brits seem to me just like those from the movies-- smoke a ton of "fags" in the flat, have hilarious accents, speak in slang that so exceeds my comprehension and are mature beyond what I could've dreamed at 18 moving into my dorms (although we do have cleaning people for the kitchen which is so bafflingly un-independent seeming to me).
I may have mentioned before, but I absolutely love the kids who are in my flat. The first night it was two other girls and I- no one else had showed up- so I went out with them. We met with the kids next door (who were, of course, more British freshers) and then went to the Hobgoblin, the bar right around the corner from my bar. I had a ridiculously fun night and loved being in New Cross that night. But the next day I woke up extremely anxious about making sure everything was set up alright.
On Saturday I woke up intending to head off and buy a phone and adapter. I headed to the Loring Management Center where I had checked in and gotten my keys. Luckily there were a group of student aids outside who pointed me in the right direction and, because I clearly seemed so uncertain, the head of the student center actually walked me to where I needed to go. I was pretty certain they were wrong when they told me that Sainsbury's, the supermarket, would have the phone and adapter I needed. After all, the idea of going to a Stop-N-Shop and getting a phone was pretty hilarious. But after I got to Sainsbury's and looked around I realized they have just about everything possible there. It's one of the things that Brits do way better than us because it's a one stop shop for everything you might need. My only complaint was this: who the hell keeps eggs unrefrigerated? I feel entirely uneasy about eating eggs that've been sitting in the aisle all day and became convinced that they were either a.) fake Easter egg type eggs or b.) some type of terrorist device designed to trick those of us who're accustomed to morning eggs. Right now I've a carton of 6 eggs just sitting in my fridge that I'm not sure I'll eat because all I can think of is little bugs and creepy crawlies growing in them...
But after I went to Sainsbury's and Curry's I got my adapters and phone figured out and were actually able to use my electronics (although I didn't manage to get my internet password for another day). I lucked out and that day another 4 people arrived in my flat, making 7 of the 8 of us present. Again, ridiculously nice people, but it was another 4 British freshers so I began to worry that I wouldn't meet another American the whole time I was there since clearly I was being forced into some sort of isolation camp where everyone would attempt to imitate my accent and make me the token American. Felt pretty foolish when the next day an American (one from Penn no less) showed up in my flat and turned out to be just as nice and twice as convenient to attend orientation events with as the Brits.
The night of the 26th was my birthday and I celebrated by going out with all of my new British friends and Jess, the girl who was also celebrating her 20th. Highlights included Jess wallowing on the floor of the pub about having missed out on her teenage years, only to bound back to life when I reminded her she had managed to evade teenage pregnancy. Then on the actually day of my birthday I kept it pretty low key, celebrating by buying a 5 pack (yes, 5 pack) of Red Stripe and streaming the Patriots game. I then drank some with the flat mates who later went on to a Noah's Ark party dressed as cats, butterflies and Oliver as a zebra [pronounced: Zehb-rah] who really looked more like a member of KISS than any sort of zoo animal. The real celebration came last night when I went out with another Chi O, Lauren, in central London. We went to Fabric which is one of the must go to clubs in London. It was AMAZING and I had such a good time celebrating by going to a pub for drinks and catching up and then dancing the night away with Lauren. It was definitely the highlight of my birthday celebration, and made me realize maybe 20 isn't anything to scoff at.
Other highlights of the last few days:
-Making friends with the Americans on the Arcadia trip who are all just as friendly as the Brits and eager to do all of the touristy things
-The introduction of Caroline, my flat-mate from Penn who I didn't know before the trip
-The realization that just maybe I'll be able to figure out all of the course scheduling before classes start next Monday (although they make everything as difficult as possible... we had an orientation meeting Monday and Joe Lewis, the coordinator for visiting students, made it clear that switching classes (and just about everything else as well) would be as inconvenient as possible for us)
-Figuring out skype-to-go. This is especially relevant to anyone who might be unable to skype with me, because in the last few days I purchased unlimited calls to the US via my skype to go number so I can actually call numbers in the US using only the cheap, locally-priced minutes that I have on my British phone.
-Getting to explain to my hilarious British flat-mates all the joys of American life, including the fact that, Yes, we do drink out of those silly red cups at parties, sororities are not in fact cults as one girl thought, and the sandwiches which I miss are gyros, not Giros, a British term which I've come to believe has something to do with checks and British money transfers. This was one of many times I hit an impasse when trying to explain some American (or in this case Greek) term to my Brits.
In all my 2 am delirium tonight (I was again at the Hobgoblin tonight with some Americans) I have lost some of my stilted eloquence- hopefully I'll be able to write again tomorrow or the day after about my soon-to-happen trips into Central London. I have the entire day free tomorrow and while I could head off with someone I'm quite excited about the prospect of trying to figure out the tube a little better on my own and find my bearings in Central London by myself. After such exploration hopefully I'll have a few more photos to post and some more touristy stories to share then.
Till then, enjoy the image of me trying to explain the concept of Beirut and Flip Cup to 6 British students (some with hilariously delightful Welsh accents) who think that America is "just like the movies." And, you know, I'm becoming increasingly convinced that it is.
When I got here the first few days I was amazingly unsettled. No phone, no internet, no way to reach anyone that I knew. On top of that the only people that I met the first few days were British freshman. And it was so fun, although the Brits seem to me just like those from the movies-- smoke a ton of "fags" in the flat, have hilarious accents, speak in slang that so exceeds my comprehension and are mature beyond what I could've dreamed at 18 moving into my dorms (although we do have cleaning people for the kitchen which is so bafflingly un-independent seeming to me).
I may have mentioned before, but I absolutely love the kids who are in my flat. The first night it was two other girls and I- no one else had showed up- so I went out with them. We met with the kids next door (who were, of course, more British freshers) and then went to the Hobgoblin, the bar right around the corner from my bar. I had a ridiculously fun night and loved being in New Cross that night. But the next day I woke up extremely anxious about making sure everything was set up alright.
On Saturday I woke up intending to head off and buy a phone and adapter. I headed to the Loring Management Center where I had checked in and gotten my keys. Luckily there were a group of student aids outside who pointed me in the right direction and, because I clearly seemed so uncertain, the head of the student center actually walked me to where I needed to go. I was pretty certain they were wrong when they told me that Sainsbury's, the supermarket, would have the phone and adapter I needed. After all, the idea of going to a Stop-N-Shop and getting a phone was pretty hilarious. But after I got to Sainsbury's and looked around I realized they have just about everything possible there. It's one of the things that Brits do way better than us because it's a one stop shop for everything you might need. My only complaint was this: who the hell keeps eggs unrefrigerated? I feel entirely uneasy about eating eggs that've been sitting in the aisle all day and became convinced that they were either a.) fake Easter egg type eggs or b.) some type of terrorist device designed to trick those of us who're accustomed to morning eggs. Right now I've a carton of 6 eggs just sitting in my fridge that I'm not sure I'll eat because all I can think of is little bugs and creepy crawlies growing in them...
But after I went to Sainsbury's and Curry's I got my adapters and phone figured out and were actually able to use my electronics (although I didn't manage to get my internet password for another day). I lucked out and that day another 4 people arrived in my flat, making 7 of the 8 of us present. Again, ridiculously nice people, but it was another 4 British freshers so I began to worry that I wouldn't meet another American the whole time I was there since clearly I was being forced into some sort of isolation camp where everyone would attempt to imitate my accent and make me the token American. Felt pretty foolish when the next day an American (one from Penn no less) showed up in my flat and turned out to be just as nice and twice as convenient to attend orientation events with as the Brits.
The night of the 26th was my birthday and I celebrated by going out with all of my new British friends and Jess, the girl who was also celebrating her 20th. Highlights included Jess wallowing on the floor of the pub about having missed out on her teenage years, only to bound back to life when I reminded her she had managed to evade teenage pregnancy. Then on the actually day of my birthday I kept it pretty low key, celebrating by buying a 5 pack (yes, 5 pack) of Red Stripe and streaming the Patriots game. I then drank some with the flat mates who later went on to a Noah's Ark party dressed as cats, butterflies and Oliver as a zebra [pronounced: Zehb-rah] who really looked more like a member of KISS than any sort of zoo animal. The real celebration came last night when I went out with another Chi O, Lauren, in central London. We went to Fabric which is one of the must go to clubs in London. It was AMAZING and I had such a good time celebrating by going to a pub for drinks and catching up and then dancing the night away with Lauren. It was definitely the highlight of my birthday celebration, and made me realize maybe 20 isn't anything to scoff at.
Other highlights of the last few days:
-Making friends with the Americans on the Arcadia trip who are all just as friendly as the Brits and eager to do all of the touristy things
-The introduction of Caroline, my flat-mate from Penn who I didn't know before the trip
-The realization that just maybe I'll be able to figure out all of the course scheduling before classes start next Monday (although they make everything as difficult as possible... we had an orientation meeting Monday and Joe Lewis, the coordinator for visiting students, made it clear that switching classes (and just about everything else as well) would be as inconvenient as possible for us)
-Figuring out skype-to-go. This is especially relevant to anyone who might be unable to skype with me, because in the last few days I purchased unlimited calls to the US via my skype to go number so I can actually call numbers in the US using only the cheap, locally-priced minutes that I have on my British phone.
-Getting to explain to my hilarious British flat-mates all the joys of American life, including the fact that, Yes, we do drink out of those silly red cups at parties, sororities are not in fact cults as one girl thought, and the sandwiches which I miss are gyros, not Giros, a British term which I've come to believe has something to do with checks and British money transfers. This was one of many times I hit an impasse when trying to explain some American (or in this case Greek) term to my Brits.
In all my 2 am delirium tonight (I was again at the Hobgoblin tonight with some Americans) I have lost some of my stilted eloquence- hopefully I'll be able to write again tomorrow or the day after about my soon-to-happen trips into Central London. I have the entire day free tomorrow and while I could head off with someone I'm quite excited about the prospect of trying to figure out the tube a little better on my own and find my bearings in Central London by myself. After such exploration hopefully I'll have a few more photos to post and some more touristy stories to share then.
Till then, enjoy the image of me trying to explain the concept of Beirut and Flip Cup to 6 British students (some with hilariously delightful Welsh accents) who think that America is "just like the movies." And, you know, I'm becoming increasingly convinced that it is.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Getting Here
I've finally arrived!
The travel was relatively easy and uneventful, aside from the inevitable screaming baby/guy kicking the back of my seat combo on the plane. Running on almost no sleep and rocking a killer headache I somehow managed to navigate the quagmire that is Heathrow. The only setback came right after I got my bags when my headache turned into a fever and cold sweats- lovely, I know. And because I'm so smart, I had obviously packed too much and had to carry my ridiculously oversized and overweight bags across the entire airport to get from terminal 5 to terminal 3 where I was to meet the university shuttle.
When I finally got to the meeting point all I had to do was wait. Unfortunately I got there at 9 a.m. and had to wait for the shuttle that was supposed to leave at 2. I found ibuprofen for the fever and then staked out a spot. It was a surprisingly short 4 hour wait, in part because of a 22 year old security office worker, Asif. He came over to where I was and as he was helping a woman lift bags (apparently she was an overpacker too) he started chatting with me. And thus began our hour and a half conversation. To be honest, all I wanted was to sit in peace and quiet and wallow until my headache went away, but he was my first Brit so I tried to be nice. Too nice I guess because he just would not take a hint and leave. At the end he gave me his number and told me to give him a ring at some point while I'm here. He was nice, but I most likely will not be ringing his mobile (I'm overwhelmingly charmed by all the British phrases. My favorite hands down is "D'ya reckon?")
Around 1:00 the Goldsmith's representative showed up and started corralling us international students into one area. Then right as we were ready to head out to our bus the fire alarm went off. I thought when I moved out of the Penn dorms I was done with unnecessary fire alarms, but they've followed me here. First Heathrow, which was madness since my entire terminal had to evacuate. Then this morning the fire alarm went off in our building because the genius who designed the fire alarms made them so that steam sets them off too. So every time you shower you have to close the door and turn on the fan and then when you get out you have to immediately shut the door again so that the steam doesn't activate the fire alarm. Idiotic.
Anyway, from Heathrow the bus was long but I slept and then we arrived!!
Now after 2 days being here I finally have adapters, internet, a phone and bedding, none of which I arrived with, so I'm feeling much more settled. I realize this post was largely about the travel, not so much about being here, but that'll come. For now I have to go ease my sore throat (my immune system has decided to take a vacation) and enjoy my birthday. I rang in my birthday last night with another girl who is also turning 20 and I had my very first crumpet. All in all I'd call that a successful start to a birthday.
The travel was relatively easy and uneventful, aside from the inevitable screaming baby/guy kicking the back of my seat combo on the plane. Running on almost no sleep and rocking a killer headache I somehow managed to navigate the quagmire that is Heathrow. The only setback came right after I got my bags when my headache turned into a fever and cold sweats- lovely, I know. And because I'm so smart, I had obviously packed too much and had to carry my ridiculously oversized and overweight bags across the entire airport to get from terminal 5 to terminal 3 where I was to meet the university shuttle.
When I finally got to the meeting point all I had to do was wait. Unfortunately I got there at 9 a.m. and had to wait for the shuttle that was supposed to leave at 2. I found ibuprofen for the fever and then staked out a spot. It was a surprisingly short 4 hour wait, in part because of a 22 year old security office worker, Asif. He came over to where I was and as he was helping a woman lift bags (apparently she was an overpacker too) he started chatting with me. And thus began our hour and a half conversation. To be honest, all I wanted was to sit in peace and quiet and wallow until my headache went away, but he was my first Brit so I tried to be nice. Too nice I guess because he just would not take a hint and leave. At the end he gave me his number and told me to give him a ring at some point while I'm here. He was nice, but I most likely will not be ringing his mobile (I'm overwhelmingly charmed by all the British phrases. My favorite hands down is "D'ya reckon?")
Around 1:00 the Goldsmith's representative showed up and started corralling us international students into one area. Then right as we were ready to head out to our bus the fire alarm went off. I thought when I moved out of the Penn dorms I was done with unnecessary fire alarms, but they've followed me here. First Heathrow, which was madness since my entire terminal had to evacuate. Then this morning the fire alarm went off in our building because the genius who designed the fire alarms made them so that steam sets them off too. So every time you shower you have to close the door and turn on the fan and then when you get out you have to immediately shut the door again so that the steam doesn't activate the fire alarm. Idiotic.
Anyway, from Heathrow the bus was long but I slept and then we arrived!!
Now after 2 days being here I finally have adapters, internet, a phone and bedding, none of which I arrived with, so I'm feeling much more settled. I realize this post was largely about the travel, not so much about being here, but that'll come. For now I have to go ease my sore throat (my immune system has decided to take a vacation) and enjoy my birthday. I rang in my birthday last night with another girl who is also turning 20 and I had my very first crumpet. All in all I'd call that a successful start to a birthday.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Football and Fears: Pre-Voyage Babbling
My freshly manicured toes and I are sitting nestled into my comfy couch watching the Patriots (Moss just made the most beautiful one-handed catch) and it just hit me-- no more Sunday football. No football at all. Or rather no American football and an excess of "football." Add that to the list of seemingly trivial concerns that I've begun filing away. So I figured it's as good a time as any to start writing the blog that will undoubtedly deteriorate into some jumble of unintelligible thoughts and rambling. Or maybe it already is that.
Topping my current list of concerns? As mentioned the Patriots have made me painfully aware of the lack of American sports I'm about to face. I wont pretend to be #1FaNgUrl for the Pats but I like to yell at the TV as much as the next person. I'm not exactly looking forward to watching the World Series at strange hours of the night. And, considering the last time I watched the Celtics play I wound up crying in a bar on the shoulders of a (shockingly) sympathetic Lakers fan, I'm also feeling a slight ache in my heart at not being able to check in on Rondo and the Grandpas (nickname courtesy of Will Otto).
(Fun side note: the next game I'll watch in America will be versus Philly's own 76ers)
Also high on my list is a totally illogical fear that helps explain the title of my blog: they spell everything funny. Pyjamas? Don't think so. Their slang? Strangest ever. Okay so I don't have to battle extreme culture shock (I'll leave that to Adrienne in Mali) and there's no language barrier (as I write this Allison is trying to navigate a call with a Spanish phone company) and really when it comes down to it I've got a peachy little situation lined up. But I don't quite know how I could ever hear "I'll knock you up in the morning" and not respond "Um... thanks but no?" [Knock up? Wake up.]
So assuming anyone has made it this far into this post and is still with me, I wont make you listen to the rest of my concerns. After all, that's what moms are for. Besides, some of them, such as the "Oh-shit-what-if-it-turns-out-I-have-hoof-and-mouth-and-they-wont-let-me-into-the-country," seem just a wee bit neurotic and are.. well, they're concerns that only I could dream up. I'm not sure when my mind turned Heathrow into Ellis Island...
Now it's time for excitement. The next time I write my bags will be packed (maybe), I'll be in London (hopefully), and all my fears will have faded away (fat chance). And if you bear with me and my strange use of punctuation, kudos to you. If not, I'll survive.
Topping my current list of concerns? As mentioned the Patriots have made me painfully aware of the lack of American sports I'm about to face. I wont pretend to be #1FaNgUrl for the Pats but I like to yell at the TV as much as the next person. I'm not exactly looking forward to watching the World Series at strange hours of the night. And, considering the last time I watched the Celtics play I wound up crying in a bar on the shoulders of a (shockingly) sympathetic Lakers fan, I'm also feeling a slight ache in my heart at not being able to check in on Rondo and the Grandpas (nickname courtesy of Will Otto).
(Fun side note: the next game I'll watch in America will be versus Philly's own 76ers)
Also high on my list is a totally illogical fear that helps explain the title of my blog: they spell everything funny. Pyjamas? Don't think so. Their slang? Strangest ever. Okay so I don't have to battle extreme culture shock (I'll leave that to Adrienne in Mali) and there's no language barrier (as I write this Allison is trying to navigate a call with a Spanish phone company) and really when it comes down to it I've got a peachy little situation lined up. But I don't quite know how I could ever hear "I'll knock you up in the morning" and not respond "Um... thanks but no?" [Knock up? Wake up.]
So assuming anyone has made it this far into this post and is still with me, I wont make you listen to the rest of my concerns. After all, that's what moms are for. Besides, some of them, such as the "Oh-shit-what-if-it-turns-out-I-have-hoof-and-mouth-and-they-wont-let-me-into-the-country," seem just a wee bit neurotic and are.. well, they're concerns that only I could dream up. I'm not sure when my mind turned Heathrow into Ellis Island...
Now it's time for excitement. The next time I write my bags will be packed (maybe), I'll be in London (hopefully), and all my fears will have faded away (fat chance). And if you bear with me and my strange use of punctuation, kudos to you. If not, I'll survive.
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