Just Touched Down In London Town

I sit here in the library on the fourth floor looking out a window to the grayest of all worlds.  That’s right, I’ve finally arrived in London and have been here for a week and a half.  While much of the culture over here seems to have diffused across the pond, I feel quite mystified quite often.
The amount of times I have stared dumbfounded as a Manchester native tries to explain the simplest of directions to me is absolutely incredible.  Words, phrasings, all completely and utterly different than to what I was used.  And the funny thing is…I’ve started speaking this way too.  Calling friends at home has released mockery on me for being too “affected.”  “Quites” and “rathers” flow from my lips as though I had lived in London my whole life as opposed to just for the past ten days or so.  Sitting with a Georgetown student last evening, I noticed a distinct change in my intonations.  All of a sudden (as our American joke about how to gain a british accent goes) I seem to make statements in the form of a question; the pitch of my voice rising slightly as I reach the end of my sentences.  Proudly, I have dropped the evil word soccer from my lexicon.  As was so impolitely phrased to me, “Saaaaaaaaccer is not a sport.  You must mean football.  The crap that you call football is American Football.  Stop watching it.  Immediately!!”
There is an interesting dichotomy in reaction to my American accent.  Considering our standing on the world stage at the moment (including our plunging stock market taking the UK financial markets right with it) I do not begrudge those turned off by my American upbringing.  But, there are those who genuinely are interested in engaging some cultural discourse.  I’ve had conversations ranging from, “Do people in America actually do…” to, “What is the most popular type of music in America right now?”  My favorite had to be the comment, as I explained that I was from New York, “New York, then what the hell are you doing in London?  Don’t you know how much London sucks?”
Additionally, I have almost been run over at least 100 times.  The driving on the left still makes my mind boggle.  On the sidewalks, it even says to look left, and I still look the wrong way.  The next thing I know, a horn is bleating, and I’m sprinting!
Outside of those few cultural differences, it’s the similarities that really stand out.  As I had assumed, living in a big city is living in a big city.  In terms of day to day life, there is not much that makes New York tick that London is without.  Other than the fact that the Tube closes at midnight while New York’s never stops running, the two cities have seemed so similar in terms of nightlife and even lack of personal interaction on the street.
My living situation is perfect.  I have a flat with 3 other Americans, a German, and a Frenchman.  We are situated near Tower Bridge in a very nice area called Butler’s Wharf.  The entire neighborhood used to be tea warehouses that were renovated into chic flats, nice bars, and fantastic restaurants.
School has just begun so I have no real academic remarks as of yet.  But, I did join the RUGBY TEAM.  Yes, I will be getting the snot kicked out of me once a week in the name of experiencing something completely alien.
Till next time, I will leave you with some of the pictures of my first week.  There was the hotel at Westminster, the walks around the city, Trafalgar Square, and St. Paul’s Cathedral.  Cheers!!!!!

Note: As always, more pictures readily available on my facebook page.  It’s open for all to see.