Let the sparks fly!

Even after having an extreme case of jet lag, I still managed to wake up promptly at 8:00 am. I guess some things never change, despite being on a different continent. The morning was pretty relaxed until I tried to plug my hair straightener into the fantastic electrical outlets they have here. I did everything I was supposed to do (seriously I did) and when I went to turn it on, it popped and sparked. Seriously. But the best part is that after that happened, none of the outlets in the common room worked. Even more fabulous. But by the time we got back to the flat in the evening the maintenance chap had already come and fixed them for us. Thank you kind sir. :)

We had a meeting at the college at 12:45, in which we learned more about our classes and got our ID badges. My picture is slightly less than fabulous considering the whole hair straightener fiasco that happened a few hours earlier. I was also originally registered as “Rachel Shell” because n’s and h’s are very similar, but I assured them I was not a member of the Shell family.
After our meeting, a small group (probably around 8 to 10 students) walked around our area of London (which is in Maida Vale if you’re looking at a map of London) trying to find the best deal on cell phones. Along the way, we found some lovely shopping places, had delicious fish and chips at a random pub, and took a jaunt through Hyde Park, where we saw beautiful foundations and a Peter Pan statue.

I don’t exactly feel like I “fit in” yet, but I think that’s because it’s just a new environment. I definitely think after a week or two, I could see myself living as a “chic hippy” in the city. There’s even an organic grocery store near us and recycling bins not too far down the road, both of which make me very happy! We don’t have our tube passes yet, so I haven’t been able to travel anywhere too far away and I haven’t seen anything exceptionally touristy yet, so right now it just feels like a grand, old New York City… that is until you hear people talking in their charming accents.

Some of the most amazing things to me so far are the tiny, little differences between Britain and America. Just the small things, such as when they write the date, they write day/month/year and we write month/day/year. Also, they name the floors of their buildings differently – what we would call the first floor is called the ground floor and what we would call the second floor is the first floor. And seriously, why is America NOT on the metric system? It’s almost impossible to read nutrition information for food because everything is in 100 ml servings, even though the package contains 247 ml of something. Really, what is that?!

Oh and on a side note, I bought diet apple and black currant juice today. I am DEFINITELY living on the edge. ;D

Until next time,
Rachel