An American Student in London

(Part 1 of 5 detailing my vacation to London)

Last week I woke up at 6:30 in the morning to catch my flight to London. It was not enjoyable to say the least. I had to make sure that everything I would need for the next six days was crammed into my backpack and then I left for the airport. I didn't have any hassle checking in or going through security, but unfortunately my flight was delayed for half an hour because they did not have enough room in the cabin for everyone's bags to fit in the overhead compartments, so they had to put them below (why this took 30 minutes is beyond me.)

I arrived late, and missed my bus, but was fortunately able to catch the next one out. After a short while on the bus, I realized that it was driving on the opposite side of the road. I knew that that would happen, but it was still surreal to experience. I tried to imagine myself as the driver and how everything would be backwards from what I was used to.

When I reached my stop, I had to walk through Hyde Park to reach my hostel. Even though I got *slightly* lost, it was worth it because I got to see more of the park, which was absolutely gorgeous. At the hostel, I was able to meet two girls from Canada who just began a five month backpacking trip around Europe, and had a nice conversation with them.

Before long I was off to meet Laurel, my friend who is studying abroad in London, and I headed to the tube station to catch the train. I already knew that my trip was going to be costly because the conversion rate from dollars to pounds is awful, but MAN is the underground expensive. It costs nearly two pounds (around $3.20) for a single ride, and honestly, it isn't worth it. In my opinion the tube is much too slow and has too many random closures for that price.

I met up with Laurel and she brought me to a pub where I had my first taste of real English food: fish and chips with a pint of ale. It was much better than what I was expecting, considering the stereotype that British food is flavorless. It was also nice to have REAL ketchup compared to the weird imitation that they have in Spain. We talked for awhile at the pub, catching up on what has been going on and commenting on the culture shock. Then we walked around the area to look at the Christmas lights (yes, they were already lit, I think because they don't have Thanksgiving as a buffer-holiday between Halloween and Christmas.) The lights were very pretty and some of them shimmered in a way that WASN'T irritating.

After walking around for a bit and making plans for tomorrow, we said goodbye and I returned to my hostel. I decided to hang out in the lounge where I joined two girls from Australia and two guys from Germany in a card game before eventually going to bed. I was exhausted and sleep that night was much appreciated.