The London Life

London is known for its shopping and I discovered why firsthand this past week. There are shops everywhere in this city. Anything anyone could possibly want can be found here. On Thursday I went with two other girls to Oxford Street, a very well known shopping area. This is where most people shop for their fashionable clothing. Some of the stores on this street were 4 stories high while others were a block long. They have some very nice department stores here that sell a lot of what we would see in America, but maybe a little bit more classy. Also on Oxford Street it was common to see 3 of the same stores just a little ways from each other. Although the street is about 2 miles long, I couldn't believe why there would be three of the same store on 1 street! They have a huge Nike Town store here with what seems like millions of shoes inside. A very popular place for young people to get fashionable clothing here is H & M and Top Shop. The clothes in these stores had some similarities to where I would shop in America, but also seemed to be more casual and aimed toward the club atmosphere. They definitely don't sell sweatshirts. I was amazed at how busy this street was. It was packed on a Thursday afternoon! I also visited Hamley's, the famous toy store in London. This is basically a huge 5 level store with every toy imaginable. I found it to be quite pricey though, as a small teddy bear was about 25 pounds. Harrod's is the famous department store here known for the high prices. Our program director told us we should all go in and buy a roll from the cafe just to get a Harrod's shopping bag to have as a souvenir. There are some stores here that you would find in American malls, such as, the Gap, Aldo, Adidas and Foot Locker also. The more expensive and higher class stores are located on Bond Street. I haven't visited this street yet, but I did see a Tiffany & Co. car driving around (picture above)!

They also have a lot of the same fast food places that we have. I have seen McDonalds, Burger King, KFC and Pizza Hut. I haven't tried any of these to compare tastes, but I have noticed the different atmosphere. The Pizza Huts here are very nice looking. You can get reservations and there are cute little tables inside with a flower on each of them. There are so many different mixtures of people and a lot of different kinds of foods as well. I am extremely surprised how tidy and clean this city is. I think London is much cleaner than when I went to New York. There are sidewalk cleaners all over and people picking up trash on the streets and tube. I have noticed that the tube appears a lot cleaner and safer than the Subway in New York City as well.

On Thursday night we went to see the Lion King, a West End Show. I have seen this show before in Chicago, but it had been a while. The theatre was fabulous and I thought the show was great too. Our program director mentioned to us the next day that he was a little disappointed in the singing and acting. This surprised me, but I guess they have high standards here. I plan on going to see another show to compare my experience later on. Students get great discounts here, especially on show tickets.

Tonight we went out to eat! We were told a good place was Wagamamas, a Japanese noodle bar. Although this was a fun time, it was definitely not my favorite. The menu was pretty confusing, but I ended up getting fried noodles and chicken. This entree also contained leeks (I have no idea what these were), peppers, and onions that made the dish quite spicy. The real trouble came after the food was served. We were given chopsticks to eat with. I don't have much experience with these tools, but I managed to eat my meal with them. My hand did cramp up a few times though! They also do not give free refills and you have to ask for your bill when you are ready for it. After asking for the bill, I asked our waiter if he could split the bill separately for my friends and I. He then informed me, "No, you have to pay all together and do that yourselves." So we did the math. We later figured that they do not split the bills so they can get a tip. Our program director specifically told us that the British do not tip like the Americans. He told us that we never should tip at a bar or pub and only tip about 10% at a restaurant if the bill is over 10 pounds. All together, for 3 entrees) our bill was only 20 pounds so we are assuming that is the reason. Overall a pretty cheap meal out and an experience to go along with it! This was the first time I had meat since I have been over here. As some of you know I am not particularly fond of meat, especially if I have to handle cooking it myself. However, the chicken in my meal tasted normal so I might make some chicken breasts one of these night. On our walking tour the other day the guide pointed out the best place to get a hamburger in London, so I will have to try that out sometime too. Another interesting fact about food here is that they do not refrigerate their eggs. When you see them in the super market they are on a shelf and our hotel manager told us we were not to put them in the fridge! I find this unbelievable, but they taste the same.

After Wagamamas, my friends Carissa, Allison, and I went to the Texas Embassy. Carissa goes to Central and Allison attends Drake. The Texas Embassy is a Mexican restaurant, but we heard they have good margaritas. The strawberry margaritas were pretty good, but strong. Our program director warned us that drinks will be stronger here. It still feels so weird being able to order a drink here. After that we walked home through St. James Park. It is so nice to be able to walk everywhere or take the tube. I like walking to see everything above ground, but the Tube can be faster sometimes. Yesterday I bought a tube pass for the next month for 69 pounds. At first we thought this was pretty expensive, but over a whole month it should pay off considering I use the tube at least twice everyday!

Exploring

The last few days I have had a chance to explore this huge city. On Tuesday our whole group went on a walking tour. We saw more fabulous sites! It was nice to have a tour guide to give us information as we walked through history. We started at the Tower of London, then saw the Tower bridge, London bridge, where the great fire started 1966, and so much more. I also had my orientation at the London Metropolitan University, as I will be taking classes there. This University is huge. There are 2 campuses with multiple, large buildings at each location. Going to an University is definitley different here than in the States. There are only a few assignments through out the semester, instead of multiple like I am used to. We hand our work in to an office, not the professor. The class hours are different as well. I will only have class one day a week. I will be in a large group lecture for an hour, listening to the professor. Then I will have an hour or two of discussion with smaller groups of students. I dont start my classes here until February 8th. I haven't decided if I will like this learning style yet, but it will be a good experience. I also may be able to join a Volleyball club through the University. They do not take sports as seriously as we do, therefore, they do not have a Volleyball team. However, my program director said they would probably be delighted to have me, as students form clubs where they get together and play. This should be interesting, but I am excited to find out more about it. I have had a great deal of time to explore. I decided to go wondering around and found the most amazing open air market. The markets here are incredible. They beat any Iowa farmer's market that I have ever been to! The markets are all outside and have a variety of fresh foods, similar to a farmers market. There is a market really close to my house that has the best fruit salads for only one pound and fifty pence. The fruit is great. I usually have this fruit salad every day for lunch. Although this market is close to my house, it only has fruits and vegetables. The other market I ran into is huge and has so much stuff. It is called the Borough Street Market and I have read about it in many books. At this market there are fresh bread stands, fish and meat stands, huge fruit and vegetable stands, and baked goods stands. The bread smells, looks and tastes like Panera Bread. I can't stand fish and am not a huge fan of meat, but even these stands were impressive. The fruit and veggie stands had so much stuff. Every fruit and vegetable I could think of, from mangos to artichokes and squash. I got some green beans, apples (they had my favorite pink lady apples), kiwis, clementines, a head of lettuce, and some bread for 4 pounds! Tonight I tried the green beans and they tasted fresh out of the garden. This food really spices up my noodle suppers. I have posted a picture of the veggies above. Below is a picture of a fruit stand (left) and fresh flower stand (right).

On Tuesday it was Austrilia Day here; there are quite a few Aussies in the city. It is basically just a day to celebrate Australians and I mainly saw the celebrating taking place in clubs/bars. Someone from last semester had told us that it was really fun to go out and celebrate. So most of the group decided to go to a club called Walk About. This was an experience to say the least. It was very easy to get to the club by Tube. However, there was a line to get in due to the popularity. There was also a high cover charge and coat check charge. This palce was nuts and crawling with people every where. The people here may be reserved and unfriendly on the streets, but they are definitely the opposite in the clubs and bars. I was surprised to find at least 5 police officers in this fairly small club. There was a band playing and people dancing and chatting it up (a term I learned here) every where. The band was very good and played some great songs. The music that I listen to at home is pretty much exactly what they listen to here. It is interesting to me that Londoners know so much about us Americans, but we know hardly anything about them. They listen to our same music, watch our same movies with our actors and actresses (for the most part), and they know all about our politics. The people here are huge fans of Obama. I had no idea what kind of music was listened to here and I really didn't know much of anything about their politics besides that they have a representitive queen and a parliment. Anyway back to the club experience. I would say drinking and partying is a big deal here and along with drinking comes a lot of touchy-feely behavior. We left early enough to catch the tube back to our house, as it shuts down around midnight. Another bit of information about the tube that I have learned is that it is a very popular way to commit suicide. I suppose people just jump right in front of the train as it buzzes past. Our director warned us about this as he said it happens all the time and causes delays. He hopes that we don't personally see any of these acts but almost gurantees that during our stay here we will hear the message over the intercom, "There is a body under the train, expect delays on the Northern line." I personally couldn't believe this, but yesterday some girls in the program told me they heard the intercom message on their ride. wow. The tube is a great place to observe others (in other words, people watch, on of my favorite things to do). The other day while on the Tube, I overheard an interesting fact. I was riding on the tube when we stopped at a station. A few people got off and a few got on, it was not very busy during this time. After the people got off I overheard a lady, clearly from London, say to her friend, "Did you see that ring on the woman sitting next to me? It was so large; it was definitley an American ring." So ever since then I have been checking out all the British women's rings on their left hands. There is such a difference in rings. Almost all of the women's rings here are just a band. Some of the bands have diamonds inside of them, but hardly any of the rings have diamonds that are set upon the band. Definitely different from the American dream of a big rock for a wedding ring! The only bad thing about people watching on the tube is that you have to be sure not to make eye contact; people catch me all the time!

Learning about London

The day after I arrived; I had orientation. This was very helpful. I learned a ton of stuff such as: the different words used in the U.K., how to protect your self from theft in London, and how to use the tube (this is also called the underground, just like an underground train station). Some of the interesting words I learned about for instance: the word pants means underwear here and what we think of as pants are trousers to them; a diaper is called a nappy; garbage is called rubbish (they also use rubbish a lot to explain something they dislike); tennis shoes are called trainers; a line that one would stand in is called a queue; a flashlight is a torch here; ground beef is mince; and they refer to cookies as biscuits. It is actually quite funny to hear them say these words. Londoner's talk very proper and have a great vocabulary. They also dress extremely well. I have not seen one pair of sweatpants on the street yet, unless the people are running/exercising in the park. Everyone wears dark, casual clothing. As one of the other students in my program said,"Wow, these people always look like they are going some where nice; they really got their shit together." Everyone found this hilarious, but very true. Also at orientation, a police officer spoke to us about safety. He explained that theft is the biggest issue in London, however, we shouldn't have a problem with this if we use common sense. For example, never set any belongings down or leave them unattended. Always carry your hand bag on your shoulder and have a frim grip. We are not to flash our cell phones or electronics as that attracts attention. He also taught us some tricks people will use to try to distract you at the ATM machine and steal your card. However, don't worry, these were all just warnings. I have not had any problems so far and feel perfectly safe. It is just big city precautions really! In the afternoon we learned how to use the tube! Our director, Mark, gave us some rules before our experience: he told us that people do not talk to other people they don't know on the tube, people are not to make eye contact or smile at others either, and he told us to be sure to stand out of the way of people, especially if we do not know where we are going! He explained that the people here are very reserved compared to the States, which is why no one interacts on the tube. Everyone just keeps to themselves and goes about their day. Everything he told us about was so true. People really do keep to themselves and do not speak to each other at all, even though they are sitting and standing so close that they are touching. At first I thought that I wasn't going to like the tube at all, however, i really do enjoy it. After using it a few times, I am starting to understand routes and stops. It really is easy to use and convenient. I like it a lot more than the Subway in New York. It seems like everyone here uses the Tube and it can get quite crowded during rush hours. I don't want people to get the wrong impression and think the people here are rude. Actually they are extremely polite. Twice I have been looking at my map in the tube station because it does take a little bit of figuring out, and ladies have asked me if I am lost or need help. I feel like I fit in very well here as I am more reserved and like to keep to myself pretty much. This night was the first time that I had to cook for myself. Food is quite expensive over here, compared to the States, but it was an interesting trip to the grocery store. There are stores all over the place here so I only had to walk a few blocks. I ended up getting a huge pack of shell noodles and a container of butter (because I don't like sauce) for around 2 pounds. This was a very good deal, considering most meals at restraunts are well over 10 pounds (not to mention the dollar is very weak). The pasta tasted good too! I have heard from some of the other studentes here that the pasta sauce and peanut butter is not very good. I have tried the yogurt at breakfast and can tell you that it just isn't the same. However, there are plenty of choices for things to eat here; it is just a lot more inexpensive to cook than go out. Later this night I went for a walk with some girls. The sites were just as impressive to see at night as during the day!

Arriving in London!

I landed in London after a 7 1/2 hour flight from Chicago. The flight was quite long and I only slept about an hour of it, but I did watch 3 good movies. It was fairly easy to claim our luggage and go through customs. Then we (my friend Chelsea and I) withdrew money. I got 100 pounds of UK money and it cost me $170 US dollars. Then we found our shuttle. I was surprised at all the different people in the air port; there are so many different ethnic groups living in London. I was also surprised to see and smell all the smoke. It seems like everyone smokes here, however it is typically only allowed outside. As soon as we stepped outside we could see that the cars really were driving on the oppostie side of the road and the steering wheel in the shuttle was on the opposite side too. The people here will tell you that they drive on the "correct" side of the road. ha ha. Then I arrived at Vandon House Hotel, my residence for the next 4 months. It is in the middele of the Victoria district. The shuttle driver told us that a 2 bedroom flat (which is what they call an apartment)in this neighborhood costs around 1 million pounds! wow. Our house is nice, but on the inside it is basically like a dorm only we have a kitchen and a lobby with a receptionist. I live on the 1st floor, which here actually is the 2nd because of the ground floor. My room is pretty spacious for a dorm room. I have a full bath in the room, but it only has a tub, however there are public showering places right down the hall. My roomate arrived shortly after me and we got things settled. Afterwards I went for a walking adventure with some of the girls. I soon found out that I live only a few blocks from Buckingham Palace, which of course is where the queen lives. So you could say I live in the queen's neighborhood! I find this to be fantastic. We even saw the guards outside the palace. We walked through St. James Park, across River Thames, and by the Houses of Parliment. All of this was so impressive. The buildings are so unique and intricate. There is so much to see here. I don't think I will ever get bored! However, just by walking around and glancing at a few restaraunts and shops, we quickly understood how expensive everything is. Later that day we had our meeting with our Program Director and all the students. There are 54 of us studying over here. There is a lot of diversity between us as well, although most of us are from the midwest. We had Domino's Pizza for supper. It was interesting to see that all the supreme pizzas had corn on them. I was not very fond of this in particular. After pizza the director, Mark, showed us around our neighborhood a bit. Some interesting things I found out was that Health Care, even for me, is free. Prescriptions also. Indian food is very popular here right now. The difference between a bar and a pub here is what you go there for. Typically one would go to a pub to just have a drink after work and socialize, but one would go to a bar to dance and pick up a date. Then our director took us all to a local pub for a drink. By the way, there are pubs every where here, probably at least 1-2 on every block. He gave us some rules for the pub such as: no tipping, no being rowdy, and explained how to order. Although the legal drinking age is only 18, we all found it surprising that the bartender didn't ID us at all. So I ordered my first legal drink (they call it a pint). One pint cost about $7 and I was not particularly fond of the drink, but it was definitely an experience. After my pub adventure I returned back to the house as I was pretty tired from a long days travel.