We woke up this morning and barely made it to breakfast where I had a toffee muffin and a banana. Today was the first time we walked through the park. I really thought I was dreaming, and there wasn't even anything in bloom yet. Miles and miles of green fields and circle paths withe statues and benches everywhere. There were tones of ponds and waterfalls, with wooden bridges wrapped in vines. We walked through the rose garden which was surrounded by arches of intertwined flowers and plants with more seats. It was even more beautiful than that picture mom painted of our dream backyard. There were people playing football (aka soccer) and rugby on the fields everywhere, and there were kids riding their trikes and chasing swans.
When we finally go to the market we were all surprised on what it was. Most markets in London are antiques and fruit, but this one was more of a Goth/Punk/Hippie market. It was nuts. Krisiti would have been in heaven because they had thousands and thousands of earrings. There were the coolest London punk scene attire with checkered everything, studded belts everywhere and only the finest of British ska merchandise. The shops up both sides of the street in Camden. We were there for two hours before we headed back for lunch where I had a Pomegranate and Blueberry juice, chicken sandwich with cucumber, spinach, English mustard, and the most amazing salt and vinegar crisps I've ever had in my life.
We too short naps and started to research our traveling plans for the next few months. We did dinner later on where I had Chicken and Chick Peak Corma with rice and greens. It didn't look that good, and the curry took me by surprise this time, but it wasn't bad. I ate most of it... and then moved onto chocolate nut sponge with chocolate sauce. English desserts are not even as close as sweet as American dessert but at least it softened the burning curry taste. After that we went to Tesco, which is kind of like a nicer quick check I guess, because I needed to get laundry powder (not that I stand a chance of figuring out these machines) and the other kids wanted to pick up some perry. I tried to tell them that they can't wash their clothes with that so its of no real use... but they didn't wanna hear it.
There are a lot of things that are different about London that you wouldn't necessarily think about. For example which side of the street are you supposed to walk on in crowed areas? In America we walk on the right because we drive on the right, but here they drive on the left. After bumping into one too many people we figured that we just might be walking wrong. Also the water tastes different, as it has this smokey sweet taste to it. I don't like it, but I'm trying to adjust. The air has the same smokey sweet smell, especially in central London.
Its funny how un-internationl things that are common to us... people here would never use. For example, when we met some locals on the tube the other day one of the girls asked if they had AIM or AOL... and they were like what's that... and then we all felt like stupid as the words left our mouth.. "you know... American Online Instant Messenger? Another thing, There no warm water. There's a hot faucet and a cold faucet. Its up to you to mix it. If you pick just one you burn yourself or you start to get frost bite.
Traffic lights go from Green to Orange to Red and that back to Orange to Green. In NY everyone walks fast, but here everyone runs. I mean you have to run across the street because 1.) all the cars are really nice fast cars (mostly Porsches and Lamborghinis) and they don't stop for anything and 2.) their left turn is like our right turn so you can't see them coming around the corner... they just hit you. But even when they aren't crossing the street people are always running.
They all dress really nice too. If I didn't have the peacoat I'd look like such a foreigners. The only time the girls wear jeans is with expensive boots and the boys only wear jeans with a nice sweater. I have yet to see a Brit wear sweats.
Oh well. I'll get the hang of it eventually.
Classes start tomorrow. I have Media Ethics, then Shakespeare Romances and Comdies and then British and American Theater. Then Oxford street and Regent street for (window) shopping tomorrow.
I know I have a lot less money then everyone else here but I feel like I'm still being smart about it. I mean I left the club early to take the tube home for £1.50 that got us home in ten minutes and the rest of the kids spend hours and hours in all hours of the morning trying to hail at taxi for £7 and The girls I was hanging out with couldn't even get a real taxi so they eventually gave up and actually got in an unlicensed taxi (which is really just a minivan with a creepy guy that doesn't even speak English or know hes way around) which got lost and charged them £15. That's a $30 cab ride for about two miles!!!! Also I haven't had an open tab at any bars ... well I haven't had a tab at all... which has saved me a lot because these kids are spending 50-100 $ a night on drinks. Even so my bank is hurting from the flight tickets and the travelers checks and every withdrawal is double what you think its going to be so its painful.
We still dont' have Internet. They have to delete all the users from last semester or something because they forgot to do that. I don't' know, but if I don't get Internet soon I'm gonna by a phone. I am the the only one that doesn't have one... not even exaggerating. Just me. When I get lost, I'm toast.
Till Tomorrow and all that Rubbish,
£ove,
Future Queen Jenna
P.S. Today there was a huge bouquet of giant wild daisys at the front desk waiting for someone in our building (not implying anything haha) which reminds me ... If any of you wish to contact me my address as follows... I think....
Jenna Gaudio
Reid Hall Regent College
Regents Park Inner Circle
London, NW14 NS, UK
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