Monday, July 5, 2010

Welcome to London

After an exceptionally long and sleepless flight, I arrived in London Friday morning and was greeted by a pleasant man with a thick southern accent. "Welcome to London!"

And so it begins.

Friday is a bit of a blur to me. The sleep depirvation made me feel light-headed and bit loopy. I do remember going on a quick tour of the neighborhood, purchasing an oyster card for the London tubes, and then, for my first meal in England, eating at a TexMex style restaurant. Bizarre.

Saturday was my first full day in London. I woke up still feeling tired, as well as dizzy and nauseous. Terrific! I blame jet lag. I managed to get through a quick class meeting and orientation without falling asleep or throwing up, which I count as a personal triumph. A nap between orientation and our first walking tour helped me feel a bit better--I was able to walk around and follow a conversation without too much difficulty. The Leaky Cauldron walk was somewhat overshadowed by the revelry of the London Pride Festival, however, we did manage to go into some great antique bookstores. After the walk disbanded, I spent some time people watching and enjoying the festivities.

Sunday I finally felt myself again. No more jet lag (thank God). The walking tour for Sunday was called London Calling and it made me very happy. When the professor guiding the tour showed up in Converse and a Gogol Bordello t-shirt, I knew I was in the right place. We went up to Camden Town and saw a number of old punk venues/places of interest. We also popped into Stables Market, where I easily could have spent the remainder of the day (but didn't).

Sunday evening was spent with my classmates, walking along the river and trying to find an open restaurant to abate our hunger. This took much longer than expected and forced us to wander further than anticipated. We eventually found a small Italian restuarant that fit the bill (read: it was still open). After, we were all sufficiently exhausted and made our way back to the dorms.

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