Hello, everyone! I'm here in London, and everything is going reasonably well so far. The plane ride over here wasn't as bad as I had feared. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep much, so I was quite tired when I arrived. The plane was pretty nice, though. We got free headsets, plus a travel kit that contained socks and a nifty toothbrush and toothpaste set. The food wasn't bad, either, and there were movies playing the entire flight on individual screens on the seatback in front of us.
On approach to London, the city looked pretty much like any other city. It was hard to believe that I was in another country. However, as we got closer to the ground, I could see that the streets were lined with tall houses all run together. And the ride through London was definitely eye-opening. People drive on the left here, of course, and the driver's seat is on the right. Riding on the left side of the road actually felt somewhat natural. Must be the left-handed thing. The other weird thing was that the street signs look very different here, and apparently whoever was laying out the roads was unfamiliar with the concept of a straight line.
The scenery actually reminded me of Oregon a bit, minus all the evergreen trees. London is very green, and the houses in the less dense part of the city were surrounded by plenty of trees and grass. Even in the more crowded part of the city where we are (Kensington), there are trees lining the walkways, and most of the houses have a great variety of plants in their yards; many of the windows have planters. It's a beautiful city. Downtown had some very interesting architecture. Some of the buildings look very modern, though in this area, most of the buildings are brick or plaster and look like they were built a long time ago.
Our accommodations are less than stellar. Better than camping, worse than my dorm. The bathroom is across the hall and lacked toilet paper. The room is tiny, though it is equipped with a mini-fridge and TV. I'm on the 4th floor and there is no lift, as they call it here. I'm going to be so very in shape by the time we leave. The basement has some computers, a TV and a decent kitchen.
After an orientation where we all discovered where our classrooms will be, a few of us went looking for food. We got money out of an ATM. It was very weird seeing pounds come out instead of dollars. We went to a pub, and all had fish and chips. After all, what else could I have on my first night in London? Anyhow, it was quite good, which is amazing considering that I don't really like fish. Following dinner, we went to the local supermarket to pick up some food. I really like the labelling on the food; the nutrition information is displayed prominently on the packaging. On the whole, it wasn't much different from a typical upscale American supermarket, although I didn't recognize most of the brand names I saw.
Well, that's about it for my adventures so far in London. Not much of interest yet, although we'll be going on a tour of London later this afternoon. I have my first classes tomorrow.
Check out http://flickr.com/photos/shigosei/sets/72057594137397010/ for pictures of my trip!
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