Streets of London
Our first day of orientation was canceled because we got about 4 inches of snow Sunday night, and according to my host family and my friend Craig, even 1 cm of snow is enough to shut down the entire country. No buses or trains were running, and the snow continued on and off throughout the day, so we were pretty much stuck in whatever towns we all live in. Thankfully, I have an awesome housemate (Jessica) and two girls from the program who live around the corner (Jenny and Nicole), so we decided to brave the weather and go explore Harrow. It was already fairly icy, and it took us probably close to an hour or more to make it into Harrow town from North Harrow (although we did stop in a cemetery on the way, which accounts for some of that time). We wound up at St. George’s Mall where we found a Carphone Warehouse to get pay-as-you-go mobiles to use for local calls (I found out very quickly that using phone cards to call out to the U.S. is incredibly expensive, and probably won’t be doing it much at all). Then we had lunch and just sat in the food court talking for a long time to avoid going back out into the snow as long as possible. On the way back to North Harrow we stopped into a produce market to pick up some fruit to keep at the house, and were very glad to make it back to the house and get out of our wet clothes and into the warmth. Our host mom Linda made a great dinner, and then Jessica and I hung out in my room watching Knocked Up and random stuff online. We were getting ready to go to bed for the night when we found out that orientation had been postponed again until Wednesday because they weren’t sure if the weather would get worse and whether any trains or buses would be back up and running in the morning.
However, all the trains and buses WERE running normally, so my housemate Jessica told me that our friends Jenny and Nicole, who live around the corner, Jenny’s boyfriend, Rolly, and some other people they knew from Puget Sound were meeting at one of the Underground stations to go into the city. We walked probably between 30-40 minutes to one of the nearby stations (not so nearby as the ones in Harrow, but anyway…), Rayner’s Lane, and took a train to Baker Street. We decided to go to Hyde Park, but actually wound up in Regent’s Park first, which was beautiful despite all the mud and slush that’s still around. Then we walked a bit to find a place to eat, and I had my first fish & chips and my first Guinness (also my first legal drink if you don’t count the one I had on my flight over). I wound up not liking the Guinness much so Jessica finished it off for me (it would be a shame to waste perfectly good beer, after all). After lunch we walked a looong way down to Hyde Park, played in the snow for a few minutes, and walked the path toward Buckingham Palace. We passed through the Wellington Monument first, then finally made it to Buckingham Palace and the Queen Victoria Memorial. After a lot of picture taking, we decided to find a coffee shop to warm up and wind down for a bit, and wound up finding a Caffè Nero in a nearby shopping center. After that we took a train from Victoria Station back to Baker Street, then split up to catch the train back to our nearest local stations.
I was really happy to find that I absolutely LOVE London so far. It is definitely huge and a bit difficult to figure out if you don’t know where you are or have a map, but is otherwise very walkable and surprisingly quiet. It’s fairly busy, but so much quieter than I ever would’ve thought, especially after having just gone to New York City last week. We were pretty much the only ones talking on the Tube, and the Tube stations themselves are pretty much dead silent. It’s kind of weird, but I kind of like it. My only complaint is that the boots I’ve worn the past two days are either not as comfortable as I thought they would be or just not properly broken in yet, because my feet are awfully blistered and feel like they’re going to fall off. I might sacrifice the extra insulation for comfort tomorrow and wear normal walking shoes, because I think we’re going exploring tomorrow as part of the orientation.
Thursday, we’re supposed to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Globe, and Friday we’re supposed to go either to Hampstead Heath or Hampton Court Palace (which I believe was one of King Henry VIII’s palaces), unless they decide to change the plans due to the disruption already caused by the weather and impending weather disruptions, as another storm is supposed to move in toward the weekend. If my legs are still attached by the weekend, I might try to venture over to the British Museum!
Here are some pictures from the past two days:
Jessica and I at our house (only the right side is ours, it’s a semi-detached home):
Across the street:
Pinner Park, right next to our house:
I think this is the name of our neighborhood, or the one right next to it:
Walking along North Harrow:
Part of the cemetery we stopped in:
In Regent’s Park, in London:
Gate at Regent’s Park:
Random buildings:
Nicole, Me, Jessica, and Nick at lunch:
My first fish & chips in London, and my first ever Guinness:
Cute places in London:
Hyde Park:
Wellington Monument:
Buckingham Palace:
The London Eye and Big Ben in the distance:
One of my favorite pictures of the day:
(this title courtesy of The Sex Pistols)
