For the love of U.S. geography

Last night, we did not go to Piccadilly Circus. Instead, we went back to Betsey Trotwood. We've decided that's "our bar," since the bartender now recognizes us. The group consisted of me, my three other room mates, and some other CAPA students who live in the Gazzano building with us.

At some point when we walked in, we emitted American phermones. Within seconds, a group of British men were chatting us up (except me and another room mate - were casually trying to avoid them). It turns out that they were from about an hour northwest of London. They were here for a cricket match. So G.B. (That's not a real slang phrase, I just made that up.)

I talked politics and how people form political views with one guy. He was under the impression that London was bigger than New York City. He was desperately wrong. According to City Mayors statistics at www.citymayors.com:

-New York City is second behind Tokyo in terms of raw urban area population, at 17.8 million
-London is ranked No. 25 on the list, at 8.3 million
-In terms of core cities, NYC is No. 11 at 8 million (hence the One in Eight Million New York Times feature)
-London is No. 15, with 7 million

I'm glad I can win arguments about which cities are bigger. And also, he was about to tell me that the Globe Theatre was built in the 17th century, but I knew that the current one was only built recently, and by an American actor.

After Betsy's we went to Al's down the street with two of the cricket guys, who paid for our drinks (I protested - I felt that 178 pounds was not worth it). Al's is a lot less "authentic" than Betsy's. It's very modern.

I talked to one (Ross) extensively about U.S. geography. He sells safaris to ridiculously wealthy Brits, Canadians and Americans. I told him if he ever comes to the U.S. to go out west, because in my opinion, there is no where else like the American west in the entire world. We also talked about stereotypes. He said all the Americans he encountered were smart and educated, not uninformed. He was fairly informed himself. He named all 50 states in alphabetical order.

Not too bad. So far, many of the British people I met are reserved only in public and en route to work. Once you talk to them, they are very helpful, or very funny, or very nice.

Orientations, Princess Diana, and ale

Kensington Palace

Yesterday we attended some CAPA orientations about London basics. Lingo (such as saying "queue" instead of "line," etc.), our residences, and how to travel were some of the topics included in discussion. My room mates and I got Piccell phones for $20, not including pay-as-you-go rates. I'm planning on not using my phone very often - just to coordinate with my room mates and my internship supervisor. I'm a little suspicious of the rates.

After we got phones, Lindsey, Jane, Lana and me looked for food. A Persian brasserie failed to impress us, so we went next door to the Goat Tavern. I think this is a good pub. We felt slightly embarrassed not knowing pub protocol. We had to ask the bartender how to order. I got a "cheese on toast" sandwich with "chips." I also am irritated that Europeans generally serve bottled mineral water instead of free tap water.

Next we went to Kensington Gardens. We thought we also went to Hyde Park, but apparently the gardens are bigger than we thought. Interesting items of note:

-Couples unabashedly make out in public... although unobservant me did not notice. Lana clued me in.
-No Brits that I saw had their dogs on leashes. The dogs are that well-trained. And most of the dogs are healthy and fit, as opposed to the fat dogs I often see in the States.
-Kensington Palace is not that impressive, although people still place shrines to Princess Diana on the gate. The gardens are pretty, though.

After Kensington Gardens, we came back and fell asleep at the apartment. Everyone seems to get into a slump around late afternoon/early evening. Later that night we met up with some other girls that are staying in this building through CAPA and tried a pub.

This was quite an experience for me. As I'm 20, I'm unable to drink in the States. Thus, I had my first real British ale. It was a recommendation from the bartender - Spitfire. I tried to like it. Not successful. I was sort of proud that I drank half of it.

Note: Beers in Britain have much more alcohol in them than American beers, according to the police constable that talked to us today at the CAPA safety orientation. It's about 5 or 6 percent versus 3 percent.

CORRECTION: As Erik has informed me, it's appears to be true that this is a rumor. Budweiser, for instance, also has 5 percent alcohol content. According to a (probably unreliable) Web site, Spitfire has 4.8 percent. Rumor debunked. I must inform my European acquaintances.

I tried to tip the bartender. After making $2.85 an hour waitressing, I'm a tipping-freak. But apparently in London (and elsewhere in Europe), tipping bar staff is not necessary. Some people tip at their last round of drinks if they've had many. Even tipping waitstaff at restaurants is minimal, although more frequent than at pubs. Often, they charge a service fee. Still, I'm nervous about stiffing someone.

After we went to the pub, I felt a little hyper, because my body clock is so confused. I forced myself to sleep. This morning we went to our internship orientation, then the police safety orientation (hilarious and informative -- more on this later in an upcoming column), then an afternoon "arrival tea." For those of you who are not aware, I'm a bit of a tea freak. Yet I still don't fit in here. Although apparently most English people drink tea (it's 40 percent of their fluid intake, according to the CAPA academic director), 98 percent of them drink it with milk. That's because it's black tea, and not green or white tea, which are my favorites. It seems my beverages don't fit in with any country in the West. I must go to China some day.

Then we went shopping on High Street in Kensington. H&M was a hit - I got a dress and a much-needed large purple bag. I spent 35 pounds - not too bad. We also went to a posh store called Topshop, one of M.I.A.'s favorite stores.

Tonight - perhaps Piccadilly Circus. We don't know.

A sign that I've acclamated

Today as I was boarding the tube to go to the CAPA center, a group of American high school students boarded the carriage. You would have thought they were parachuting off a crashing plane. A leader of the group kept yelling, "Everyone can fit on the train, keep moving!" It's British tube protocol to stay silent, or at most whisper, when riding. These kids were extremely loud and chatty, and we were afraid we wouldn't be able to get off at our stop. We felt embarrassed they were Americans.

The arrival

Last night my dad dropped me off at Philly International. I was nervous to leave without the constant advice my travel-expert father. I coped by getting fruit at Au Bon Pain and calling people while I waited to board.

On the plane, I sat next to a nice poetry professor from UNC-Asheville. He was on his way to vacation in London and Paris with his family. Luckily, he was a fairly experienced traveler and able to comfort me when the television shut off as the engines were starting.

I slept for most of the night, but it was an uncomfortable and fearful sleep. I'd wake up every so often and think about crashing into the Atlantic Ocean. Because we were flying towards the sunrise, I had no clue what time it was, which I'm finding drives me crazy. I also kept thinking we were flying over Ireland, which happened two or three times, so it must have been creative cloud formations.

Just before we landed, I got a packaged mystery-fruit-jam-croissant and a cup of tea for my U.S. Airways meal. The first thing I noticed when the plane touched ground was that all of the signs were weird. When I got into the terminal, I realized that the U.K. loves this one particular font. All of my study abroad material, as well as many of the advertisements and government and tube signs are in the same font.

The second thing I noticed was a poster in the terminal advertising for a bank. It had three pieces of chocolate on it and said, "energy - integrity - sex." Hmm, clearly. American advertisements probably wouldn't be that frank.

Getting through the U.K. Border Agency was mostly painless, except that I was nervous. I'm relieved that the procedures seem safe. But getting on the tube was an adventure. It's easy to get to Central London from Heathrow Airport using the Piccadilly Line, but the first train I was on was terminating its service, so I had to switch. Then, the second train I was on got delayed because the signals at a stop ahead stopped working. Although this was a little nerveracking, I really appreciated that the operators kept us up-to-speed with everything that was happening on the line.

I figured out how to make the necessary connections and got to Farringdon around 12:30 pm (7:30am eastern time). The flat is a ten-minute walk from the tube station. A guide from the study abroad program (CAPA) was there to meet me. I met up with my room mates and felt exhausted from jet lag. I fell asleep for awhile (in the wrong bed).

The flat is very nice. We went on a walking tour of the area - saw the post office, learned to use the tube (I'd figured it out before out of necessity), talked about withdrawing money, etc. Then my room mates and some of the other CAPA students living in the building went out for dinner at the Pizza Express, which was good but expensive (to me - an 8 pound meal is about 14 or 15 USD). I had a mushroom-avocado-mozzarella salad.

The four of my room mates who are here (we are awaiting a fifth) went to the Sainsbury grocery afterwards. I got some weird custard creme things, bread, apples, bananas, 0.1% fat milk ("skimmed" milk). There was no peanut butter to make sandwiches, and I felt sad.

We were all exhausted from traveling. We figured out how to connect to the Internet. We attempted to turn on the television - no success there. We lamented the strange outlets and the washer/dryer being a single appliance. But I'm so excited about being here - it hasn't yet sunk in.

Getting ready

Thanks so much for looking at this blog. I'm getting ready to drive to Philly with my dad in four hours. I've been slightly nervous for the past couple of days, because:

this is my first overseas flight,
my first trip to another country (even Canada)
and my first time out of the state of Pennsylvania for more than two weeks.

I'm leaving at 10:40 and arriving at Heathrow airport in London around 6:00am our time -- there's a five hour difference. Hopefully I won't be too busy to write when I arrive. We'll see what happens...