London Day 1!

Hello everyone,

I finally finished up my week in Rome, and will begin trying to catch up with the last couple days I've been spending in London. I've been trying to find a way to add photos from my camera to my PC. I just went out and bought a SD card adaptor but I haven't gotten it to work. I'll see if I can borrow someone elses later, but for now I'll live with google images.

Early last Thursday, we woke up, caught the train, and I entered the Fiumincio Airport. Compared to the airports back home, this was kind of bare, but I worked my way over to the terminal to catch my flight.

The airplane was filled with small Italian children, who enjoyed screaming at every movement of the plane and filled the time in between each of these moments by kicking my seat. I was thrilled to spot the British countryside after three hours of this. After going through customs, I somehow managed to find my way onto a train to Paddington Station. The train was fantastic, providing free stable Wifi. In Rome, Wifi was pretty rare, never free, and never ever reliable. So I enjoyed being able to use my laptop on the brief 15 minute ride to the station. After arriving, I flagged down a quaint taxi, and took in the sights of my new temporary home as he whisked me through London.

A typical British taxi. You'll find these all over the place.

Being an inexperienced traveler, my mind quickly began to compare Rome and London as my sleep addled, starving brain processed what I saw. Despite being only a few hours apart, these two cities were worlds apart. The roads on Rome were hectic and volatile; London was much more civilized, despite driving in the wrong side of the road. The roads were well paved, and the buildings lining the road were tidy and kept in a strict line, with one never rising above the other. Each were made of brick,s ranging from a white or pale yellow to a dirty black, and tiny red chimneys in neat little columns dotted each small roof. For whatever reason, this seemed like a very British way to build houses.

Example of houses near where I am staying.

The taxi drivers were fantastic as well; after my experience with the rip-off driver in Rome, this chauffeur whisked me through the streets while chatting to me. From what he told me, I learned that being a taxi driver here is no laughing matter. Apparently it takes a few years to get licensed, after memorizing every region, road, street, and pub of this vast city. A native of London, he dropped me off with a slip of paper with the name of a local pub with good traditional meat pies.

I entered the main reception and received a key to my new flat. Our apartments included several buildings, which had been refitted to hold students. To increase transportation and floor space, our college had built underground tunnels and rooms. These were connected awkwardly to the buildings above, creating almost a labyrinth of tunnels running among several floors and buildings. It was easy to take a wrong turn or staircase and find yourself lost. one could almost expect to turn and run face to face with a Minotaur. However, this did allow the development of a small lecture hall, a library, classrooms, and several computer labs.The property was placed in a prime location in central London; normally, buildings around this area would go for millions of pounds. We were very fortunate to have this space. Behind this row of buildings was a small courtyard, with a set of stairs leading to a small conservatory and laundry room. Entering each building usually lead to a steep, winding staircase. Climbing up a few flights lead to my flat on one of the upper levels. This flat was one of largest, consisting of three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a living room connected to a kitchen. Overall, it held 10 people, and as we learned later, no A/C. This was not a problem early on, as the weather required jackets, but it took no time for the heat to rise, and for us to begin to bake.

Outside view of the reception to our building. This doesn't do a good job of showing the tunnels below though.

Immediately after depositing my luggage, I went in search of food. A tiny restaurant advertising fish and chips was in eyesight, so I entered and was promptly seated. The plane had been in flight during lunch time, and I had avoided eating any airport food, so it was a few hours past noon before I had gotten the chance to get food. During this entire time, I had decided that fish and chips would be the "proper" way to have my first meal in Britain. As I sat with my meal, I noticed the irony that most of the locals were actually eating hamburgers, as I ate my fried cod. Perhaps the only people who really eat these traditional British meals are mostly tourists now. Again, stark differences from Rome persisted. Italians believe that meals should be eaten with as little interruption as possible. While this idea is nice, it results in a high level of difficulty of flagging down a waiter, even when you wish to do something simple like order or pay the check. This could be slightly frustrating, so it was a relief to have quick and efficient service that was always close at hand.

Surprisingly, Google had a picture of where I ate.

The rest of the day consisted of a brief orientation with our Program Head. A quirky British woman, she shared her experiences of traveling to America to the first time, and went through some basic information. Afterwards, most of the students and I unpacked, we went to a local grocery store and picked up some cheap sandwhiches, and had dinner. The rest of the night we wandered the nearby streets before returning back, but I'll add more about the neighborhoods in another post.

On a side note, someone asked me about the height of the Christian crypts. There was plenty of headroom to comfortably walk, but those who have difficulty dealing with small spaces might have found it unnerving. Still, this comfort is a fairly noteworthy accomplishment, as the average Roman at this time was only around 5 feet tall, so they definitely did not have to build such large tunnels. This also explains the seeminly small size of each alcove, if you had noticed that in the picture.