First Days in London

Day One:

If there was any way to start what is supposed to be one of the greatest adventures of my life, it would not be taking three flights over a a whole day while a painful case of strep throat slowly inflamed my tonsils until I couldn’t swallow. Descending into London after a six and a half hour light, where my ears refused to pop and continued to put pressure on my painful tonsils, is probably number 3 on my list of most painful moments in my life. I guess when you think about it though, my trip can really only go up from there.

Once we arrived at the hotel (St. Giles, Bedford Ave, London W1) I was able to take out some money, hail my first taxi, and experience England’s nationalized health care system. In my personal and professional opinion I have to agree with the Brits, it is much better than what we have at home. I was able to get the medicine for my throat along with every med I would need for the next month, for about 40 pounds, even with the conversion, that is less than it would cost me in the states.

Day Two:

During our orientation, I was able to meet a Pearly Queen. (Picture) There are Pearly Kings and Queens for every area of London, and it is there job to raise money for charities. All of their suits are covered in designs done in pearl buttons, in order to be recognizable and stand out. They are well known around England, and the one I met had met the Queen Mother, Elton John, Michael Caine, Ringo Star, and plenty of other famous people. Afterwards I was went to Carphone, and picked up a new cell. Now everyone says that London is excessively more expensive than the states, and they are completely right, except on one account, Mobil Phones. I paid five pounds for an LG phone, and ten pounds for a top up card. Even then, every minute only costs me 20p (p=cents), texts 10p, and if they guy knew what he was talking about 7p to call the states. Everything is completely free if someone else calls me.

The best part about Day Two however was attending Avenue Q at the Gielgud Theater. Bundled up in two sets of leggings, a skirt, a sweater, a jacket, a scarf, a hat, and fuzzy boots, we trekked five minutes away to the theater. Avenue Q was an interesting, and hilarious take on life after graduation from college. To top off a great evening, as we left the theatre it snowed, slow, soft flakes falling from the sky.

Days Three, Four, and Five:

These last three days have been spent mostly doing administration things. Paperwork, moving in, so on and so forth. I used my first public bus to go shopping for some food items. It seems like buses are going to be my new best friends while I’m here. There are plenty of things within walking distance, but the bigger stores (something comparable to Wal-mart) is a 15 minute bus ride away. From my window I can see just about all of the Queen Mary campus, which is just a tad larger and more spread out than Redlands.

Believe it or not, there is a cemetery on campus. I haven’t figure out who is buried there, but it looks quite odd. You can see from the picture there is snow in London. We’ve been told that last year was the first time it had snowed in London in 6 years, and this year was the worst as far as snow and cold as it has been in 32 years. Personally I’m loving it. It feels like a perfect skiing day in Tahoe to me.

I haven’t been able to do much sightseeing, but we are going on a bus tour on Sunday, and a boat tour of the Thames on Monday night, so hopefully I’ll have a lot more pictures then.

Fun and Interesting Facts

You can buy a 24oz. beer for 2 pounds out of a vending machine in the hotel. (Second shelf from the bottom).

On the 10 pound, is Charles Darwin on one side, and the queen on the other.

As the denomination of cash goes up, so does the size of the bill. The 5 is smaller than the 10, the 10 smaller than the 20.

Signing out from London,

L3 Shannon