Wherever I am,..

So today was Thursday, and I’m only saying that because my timing is so confused I can’t keep it straight. I feel pretty adjusted to the time though...for now, I hear it hits you day 4 or 5. Today was our Orientation day. We had to be an AngloAmerican (education service) at 10 for orientation about “Living in London” with some of their staff. Then we were free to go until 5. So I went with some girls to lunch at Apostrope, a café nearby. I am almost over eating out already-it’s so expensive!! After that we went to Waitrose to buy some food. It was a little pricey & a tube ride away so after we dropped our stuff back at the flat a few of us went to Tesco Metro-another grocery store. Okay so here’s the think about Tescos…Tesco express is smaller, more limited, and pricey. Tesco metro is bigger, more options, and pretty cheap. There is another Tesco that is even bigger and even cheaper-but for now I’ll stick with Tesco Metro. I got some fruit, vegetables, and pasta to cook. I’m going to have to learn how to cook more to save some serious money! On the money topic-I’m done trying to convert it in my head, it’s just way too brutal.

            So after Tesco we crashed in the flat a bit and then took the tube back to AngloAmerican. That whole commute is about 40 minutes. I love the tube! I may not say that in a few weeks, but right now it’s so easy I already feel very comfortable on it! It reminds me of the T in Boston. Lots of lines, easy to figure it out. Wherever I am I can find my way back to Warwick Avenue!!! Back at AngloAmerican the teaching fellows had a brief meeting to find out our school placements. I will be at St. Marleybone Girl Secondary School with another English TLC. Next Friday I go for my orientation, and then I’ll go every Monday starting February 20^th. We will also have class Monday nights to talk about the differences between the London education system and ours. I’m excited about it, and I’ll have to let you know how it goes!! After our meeting, we had pizza with the AngloAmerican staff- yay free food!!

            So after that a few of us walked to Paper Chase to find some school supplies, but it was too expensive so we’re going to try PoundLand (like the dollar tree—get it?) tomorrow morning. Okay a quick thing about walking to London….1. I love it! 2. Londoners underestimate how far it takes to get somewhere. “Go down this street, take a right, and it’ll be by the stores with the flashy lights” really means “Go down this street, walk probably 4 or 5 blocks, turn left and walk 3 or 4 more blocks.” I’m okay with the walking, but it always makes us think we’ve gone the wrong way or too far when we really haven’t gone far enough.

            So after our Paper Chase excursion we came back to the flats, and a bunch of us just hung out. Then we decided to go to Warrington pub because we loved it last night, and the guys wanted to try it. We even had the same server Jenny who we’re basically best friends with now. Ha but she’s adorable and says “lovely” a lot. It’s a fancy place, but Elon has put us in a really “posh” area of London.

Sorry this is so long…I’m just trying to keep everything straight in my head too! I’m sure the blogs will get shorter the longer I’m here.

So more fun facts about London- there really are double decker buses & the stereotypical phone booths everywhere! I haven’t seen the booths in use yet, but they’re everywhere. And Brits really do have bad teeth…either crooked or not hygienic. Granted not everyone is that way but enough to verify the stereotype.

Fun words: posh, lovely, cheers, “lifts” means elevators…that’s it so far.

Fun fact…when the Brits are all in line to use a lift in an underground station, follow their lead. We did and managed to avoid a 175 staircase, but not everyone did!

I love it here :) It’s so fun to test out being a city girl.