First thing's first -- I'm keeping all my pictures worth sharing on my Picasa (http://picasaweb.google.com/107203954419147686908/), and it's a public site so you can look at them any time you want, and I'll keep a slideshow running on the side of this page. When applicable, and particularly on my travels, I'll include some important pics within the body of these posts. I probably won't do that in this one because it's going to be enough just to recap the last week without being long-winded and boring.
London has struck me in a different way every day since my arrival. At times it feels like an entirely different world, at times it feels like just another city (a less crowded, smelly, congested, and noisy NYC), and at times I feel the weight of its history pressing down on my shoulders. But often the latter occasions are mixed in some combination with a sense of surrealism. When I see the site when Charles Dickens lived and wrote some of his novels and it's on a modern street with a Starbucks just down the way, or when I stand next to the Globe Theater and look across the river and see a vibrant skyline, it just seems like an exhibit almost. The past and the present in Rome coexist, but the present is often filtered in the terms that the past dictates, and nods to its cultural and historical heritage. In London, the present dominates but makes space to honor its past. It's very atypical as far as European cities are concerned, and I was slightly disillusioned with it on Saturday, but I'm settling into it nicely and coming to appreciate it for what it is, not for what I wanted it to be, or for what it was 100-200 years ago.
That said, I've really enjoyed exploring the city. Adjusting my expectations has really been the biggest thing, as the city is so different from my only previous major European city experience (Rome - the other Italian cities I was in were much smaller and I wasn't really expecting anything like them anyway). The other big one was having to look right then left when crossing the street. There's a ton to see and do here, and the numerous parks located in the city squares will be lovely in a couple months.
The currency exchange is horrible, and prices in London are high enough to begin with. There's no such thing as a cheap meal unless you want to eat McDonalds or Subway, and in those cases, what's the point of traveling? Mostly we've been buying groceries at the store and making food in the flat. Brendan (and his brother, when he was here that first weekend) are very adept at making food (which I am not) and we've had some great meals for comparatively cheap. Speaking of food, the stereotype of British food as being awful couldn't be more wrong. I have not seen A SINGLE meat pie in the time I've been here. Sure there's fish & chips, but how can you go wrong there? No, but London has one of the most diverse range of cuisine and enticing-looking restaurants I've seen. Indian food, Italian food, Mexican food, Chinese food, burgers, pizza, seafood, French food -- you name it, it's here, and it's probably good. The only reason for not eating at more of these places so far is the prices. As an example, I was looking around the other night for a cheap dinner, since I'd already spent £7.50 at lunch (approx $11.50) and I don't want to blow all my money at the beginning of the trip. I hoped to find a 2 or 3 pound piece of pizza or a 4-5 pound sandwich maybe. However, those restaurants that were still open (everything closes down way earlier than in the States here, and the idea of a 24/7 establishment is uncommon outside tiny and somewhat sketchy grocery stores) had similar price ranges: £4-6 for an appetizer, £8-10 for a light dinner, £11-15 for a full entree. So for a small dinner, or even for fish and chips, I'd end up paying anywhere from $12-20 at every meal. So for a Quiznos-level sandwich, I'm paying TGI Fridays or Olive Garden prices, and that's if I'm lucky. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but that's been my biggest complaint so far.
For those of you interested in landmarks, I've managed to get around to a number of them so far, even if I just have seen them from the outside. The first day we walked down Oxford Street (big shopping street) and surrounding streets before crossing through the park to Buckingham Palace, heading onward to Trafalgar Square (briefly), walking down Whitehall (stopping for a car emerging from Downing Place), and arriving at Parliament. We then walked along the Thames, passed the London Eye, saw parts of the theater district, and returned up the Strand. On my own, I made a trip to see St. Paul's at night, as well as Fleet Street (not even a plaque to Sweeney, I'm afraid) and the Old Bailey. Monday night we crossed the Millennium Bridge (one of the coolest things of the trip so far) and saw the Globe Theater from the outside (we'll be seeing Hamlet there later this year). But there's still so much to do, as I haven't even got inside St. Paul's yet, or seen Westminster Abbey or Westminster Cathedral. We haven't been to a single museum yet, despite the British Museum being a 3 minute walk away.
Which is another point. Our location is fantastic. Bedford Place is a rather short walk from a great many desirable locations. Russell Square is the largest such square in London, Bloomsbury Square (which also connects to Bedford Pl) was the home of the Bloomsbury Group, which included notables like Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, and Vanessa Bell. We're 3-5 minutes from the University of London, and UCL is right beyond that. Tottenham Court Rd, Oxford Street, Kingsway, Southampton Row, etc are all large roads nearby with almost anything one would need on them, so we don't have to go more than 5-10 minutes walk from the flat if we need something. Our flat is reasonably good, and certainly better than Colgate housing, and my flatmates are great too.
I don't have much to report on classes yet, as I've had only one apiece, but they seem like they will be very interesting. Being in the archives on Tuesday was amazing too. Handling real documents from 1945 bring home the fact that what we're doing is real history, not just regurgitating some other author's thoughts. My project is exciting me more every day, I just don't know how I can do it justice, given the amount of sources I still need to locate, and the fact that two of my classes also want me to write a short paper.
Not all is fun and games here though. From walking all day for 4 straight days in brand new shoes, I managed to do something to one of my tendons/joints/ligaments (no idea which) in my left knee which has rendered it very painful to do much walking at all. I've got a brace on it now and am hitting it with ibuprofen to bring down any inflammation. I'm also going to transition back into my old shoes until the pain goes away and then break into the new shoes more slowly. Hopefully this won't be too debilitating, as I want to plan a day trip this weekend. I feel like any weekend where we don't already have some trip scheduled should be a ripe opportunity for a longer trip, but I don't have the time or energy to make those kinds of plans on short notice, and I feel like I should at least use two of the three days to see some of the major things in this city and to immerse myself more in the culture. As my classes are not with British students, I am still rather at a loss at how to break the Colgate Bubble™ since British students reportedly will not randomly interact with an American in a pub.
Nevertheless my brain is overwhelmed with plans as I try to figure out what to do each day. The days are busy, which makes things harder to do, but I still want to try to figure out how to get to more shows and concerts here, and to see more museums and galleries. My travel plans also include (though I will likely not get to all of them) trips to France (Paris, Normandy, miscellaneous chateaux, Aix-en-Provence, and locations in the Riviera); Spain (Barcelona, Andalucia, Seville); Germany (Munich, Berlin, somewhere in Bavaria); Vienna, Prague, Norway, Moscow, and Istanbul. With 8 open weekends (some of which I'll want to spend actually getting to know the city I'm in) and a total of about 14 days dedicated to extensive trips between spring break and post-term, we'll see how much of this I can do, especially after London steals all my money.
Well, that's all for now; future posts will deal with more specific things rather than general impressions. I'll keep the pictures updated on an even more regular basis. Till then, Cheers!
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