One Lady in London: Bars and Bridges and Boats, oh my!

The past few days have each been so different, yet the blur together as I feel like I've been here for so much longer than I actually have. I already feel much more acclimated to the city even though its only been a few days. I'm confident using the tube, walking around by myself day or night, and am starting to develop a sense of orientation in respect to my dorm. The jet-lag is still present though. I normally think of jet lag as being really tired really early, like it is in California, but its the opposite here. I can't fall asleep even though I'm in bed trying until like 3 or so here which would be around 11 US time. Going to bed isn't the bad part, it's waking up. I've been trying to wake up earlier and earlier to get used to it, but so far 10.30 is the earliest I've been able to, I suppose because my body thinks 10 here is 5 at home. Luckily this week is really relaxed with nothing to do early in the mornings, so I pray by my 10am class Monday I'll have fully converted to London time. The whole 24 hour clock thing I need to work on too, as silly as it is, it's really throwing me off.

Monday was quite a busy day. We had orientation in the early afternoon and I met two girls there that I have hung out with since. Most of orientation was pretty generic information that I already know, or that was supplied to us in a massive packet they handed out, however it did have some good information in it. For example, you can't just hail a taxi from the street here. It's actually illegal. You must call a cab company and they will direct their closest driver to your location. That being said, along with wanting to keep in contact with the new friends I was meeting I went to get my UK mobile, did some grocery shopping and a bunch or errands immediately after orientation ended. Later that night, a girl on my floor and I attended a "social outing" our student event coordinator put on. There were about 20 of us, mostly Americans with our British coordinator who headed out to Mahiki- a really neat Polynesian themed club. Eliot- the British student knew a manager at the club so we were able to get in for free and got a few free drinks, so the entire night of meeting lots of people ended up costing only a one way tube ticket.

Tuesday was a little more relaxed. I went to breakfast with a few girls I met the previous night at the club, and then went to my adviser meeting at the Education Abroad Center where I ran into a lot of people I had met the night before which was really nice. I was able to change my schedule around so I have Fridays off (hello Thursday through Sunday trips) and learned that I actually only have one final exam. The way the system works is we have 10 weeks of class, then essentially the entire month of April off to "study" and then the month of May is reserved for final exams. Each of my classes only has two assignments, most of them papers, but in three of my four the last assignment is due before our month off, great news so hopefully I'll be able to extend my April traveling month into May a bit, and since my return ticket is before the finals period ends, its looking good that I'll actually be able to come home when planned. Later that night Lara and I met up to go to an orientation event for independent students like ourselves. We got to meet a fair amount of others like us, some from the states, but a lot from other places which was really neat. The bar had a "pub quiz" so we spend an hour and a half or so attempting to test our knowledge of British pop culture. Fun fact: don't put three Americans, 1 Colombian, 1 German, and 1 Swiss student in a group and expect them to do well. We proudly took last place.

Today was a great day, probably the best yet. I met up with Liz and Anna, the two girls from orientation this morning and we explored the famous Regent's Park. I was a little underimpressed though, especially after already being to Hyde Park. While the park was nice, well maintained, popular with joggers, it just seemed kind of blah, nothing exciting- no gardens, no sculptures, just a green space really. Tonight we had our "boat party disco" as the last orientation event. Liz and I headed over together since we live in the same dorm, and due to unforeseen tube traffic were a bit late. The invitation said they were leaving promptly at 5.20, and at 5.30 we were still on the tube. Luckily, they did send a person out to catch the stragglers like us, and we headed to the Thames to get on the ferry. The cruise was pretty neat- we got to see the Tower Bridge, London Bridge, The Eye, Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament all lit up and from the water. The sights were amazing, and I met up with a lot of the people I had met at the international bar the night before. We ended up forming a group of ten- mostly American with some Swiss, German, Danish, French and Colombian additions. The cruise didn't end til 9 though, and as we boarded around 5, none of us had eaten dinner and we starving so our group of misfits headed to a pub just across from the boat dock. The pub was great, and apparently a chain with out of their pubs being directly across the street from my room. My grilled chicken sandwich came with fries and any pub drink I wanted for only 5 pounds. Can't beat that, so needless to say our group absolutely plans on headed back there often. It was really nice to meet people who were from other countries to learn about their backgrounds and even nicer to finally meet a group of people I feel really similar to. All of us seemed to be very much on the same page in regards to why we are here- to travel, to explore and to see the culture- not just to go to bars and clubs like some of the other Americans here. We all exchanged numbers, and I absolutely plan to see them all again in the next few free days we have before classes on Monday, and hopefully we wind up traveling places together. Especially after being with the group today, London's finally starting to feel a bit like home.