Week 1: Wanting to curl into a ball in the corner but exploring instead

Hello friends and family!  Week 1 has come and gone, so here's what's been happening with me.

Class started on Monday last, but it still feels oddly like vacation because I have a grand total of ONE class a day.  Just to fill you all in, I go to a school of overachievers, AND I'm an absurdly busy music major.  Basically, I'm used to waking up at 7 and being constantly busy until 11pm (on good days), so WHAT DO I DO WITH ALL THIS TIME??? I'm trying desperately to make a list of all the stuff I want to see in London so I can get those done in my ridiculous amounts of free time.  I've also noticed a change in myself: every time I try to talk to a Londoner, I talk in my best British accent.  I have to think about it to talk like normal.  I'm also getting confused about which way cars go on the street because I'm used to both ways now.

Chelsea and Kensington look remarkably like Paris, with all the new (new for London, meaning 19th century) residences and ridiculously expensive stores like Tiffany and various clothing venues.

Here's a picture of my res hall: it's got 10 floors, I'm on the 6th.

Some random differences from the US:
1. We're speaking the same language technically, but we are SO NOT speaking the same language.  Cash registers are tills, the underground is the tube, cell phones are mobiles, strollers are push chairs, hard cider is cider (the bar tender was so confused when I asked for hard cider- he said, "What do you mean, most of it is liquid..."), trash bags are bin liners, and the list goes on.

2. Londoners have no concept of personal space.  Maybe it's because they've been squeezed into tiny apartments all their lives, but everywhere I have been bumped, slid past, squished, stepped on, and brushed up against without so much as a glance.

3.  The sheer SIZE of this city and the number of people here.  There are EIGHT POINT TWO MILLION people in London, and it's STILL GROWING!  There are over 1400 people per square mile!  All squeezed into a country that could fit into Texas eight times.

4.  British people are weird.  Part of it is that they have no real self identity- what does it mean to be British?  No one knows, so don't ask.  They ADORE their queen, they have naked women in their newspapers (seriously), they're very reserved but friendly, and they carry odd things on the tube (I saw someone carrying a mirror).

They're also very kind to all the foreign people here- I learned that a third of London's population wasn't born in the UK.  Also, over 300 different first languages are spoken in London.  Basically, THIS IS A BIG-ASS CITY!

I like the drinking attitude they have here- no getting smashed or getting killed, just drinking with friends.

Careful, the trees here are very slow.

 Just in case you missed them...

 ...Mr. Weasley?  Is that you?

Some good news: I'm getting good at navigating the tube!  That was accomplished mostly because on Sunday it felt like I was on the tube all day.  I had to go pick up my cello in Upmister (far north), then go to tea with my program at Christine's house in the far east, and I didn't get lost at all!  I was familiarized with the "tube stupor" as I'm calling it- the blurry-eyed look of boredom when you're on the tube for a long time- as well.  I also went with my roommate Jill to a play at her internship so she wouldn't get lost by herself (getting lost was inevitable, so I wanted to make sure we were lost together).  We took the tube without incident, but then couldn't find the theater.  We also went to the London aquarium yesterday- Jill calculated it, and we both walked 8.91 miles.  Just so everyone knows, the aquarium IS NOT EASY TO FIND.  

I was so happy that we found it that I took a picture of the damn sign.

 There were these weird fish statues that looked so grumpy that I couldn't resist...

Me and Jill

 The view from outside the aquarium was spectacular.

 Oh yeah, and we found the London Eye!

I forgot to explain the whole "wanting to curl into a ball in the corner" part.  Being in a different country by myself is HARD.  In fact, it kind of sucks, especially since I have very little to do with myself.  I've been trying to keep busy, but I feel the time ticking away while I'm struggling to make this the "best experience" I can have.  There's no guidebooks for that, unfortunately.  But anyways...it's only the first week.

So, I hope I have entertained you with my pictures and tales.  Until the next time!

Yours truly,

The Management