Londoners must have pruny feet

Anyone who is reading this already knows I'm in London for a study abroad program. It is still University of Chicago, but in conjunction with IES (Institute for the International Education of Students), so we have three classes taught by University profs, and one taught by one of their guys, and we live in their international student dorm. The classes are Arthurian Legends, Windrush Generation, Canterbury Tales, and History of Britain.

I left on Wednesday. Left for the airport at noon, got there by one, checked in and got to my gate pretty quickly. The flight was scheduled for 3:45pm, and at 3:15ish they started boarding. Halfway through, they stopped us and said they still needed to check the planes for security measures. Of course, they were already prohibiting liquids and gels. About 30 min go by, and they start taking people who boarded off the plane, and said the pilot was requesting a mechanic. We wait another 30-45 min, and then they tell us that the flight is cancelled and they are rerouting us all to an American Airlines flight. (btw, I was booked on Air Canada - DO NOT ever use this airline). So, we all get in a line, get a little print out with the flight info, and get sent across the airport to another terminal, to wait in line again to check in. At 6:30pm we finally get on the plane and go to Montreal, were I had originally been scheduled to making a connecting flight. I was rescheduled to another, later flight. When I got off the plane in Montreal, I was pulled aside and told that I would have to pick up my bags at the baggage claim before heading to my connecting flight. After all the bags came out and I didn't see mine, nor a few others from my flight theirs, we waited about 30 min before coming to terms that they weren't going to come out. We talked to an Air Canada rep, and he was like, you're going to miss your flight, we'll send you the bags tomorrow. So, I run to my flight, which requires me to go through customs and back through security (where even the security guards were like, better run or you'll miss your flight), where I check in and discover I and two other girls from my flight fiasco, all born in 1985, were put into the computer as being born on January 27th, 1919, and all carrying small live animals. But the important thing is that we made it, and it was a pretty empty flight, so I had two seats by the window to myself. 5 sleepless hours later, we get to London, where after all that mess, it takes all of 10 min to go through customs and get my bags (which it turns out, were automatically transferred), where it is 10:30, three hours after I was supposed to get there and meet three other students from my program. I call them, and they've already left and gone to the dorm without me. Understandable, since I was so late and they really didn't know when I'd get in, but especially irksome because I was the one who organized us all meeting. So, I have to take a £50 cab to the dorm by myself.

Surprisingly, London is blazing hot (well, ok, maybe upper 70s/low 80s). Such a shock after the brisk, jacket weather in Chicago. I get to the dorm, and am immediately bombarded with information, things to sign, packets to read. Once I finally get to my room, I see that my roomate is someone I vaguely know through our correspondence trying to meet at the airport, which is comforting. But the rooms are SO SMALL. Like, smaller than my single in the dorm in Chicago. And what looks like a closet is the bathroom, which is closet-sized. I'm terrified of having to share a room, especially one that small. I haven't had to with anyone but my sister, but even then, the majority of my life I've had my own room. The shower is a box, and it took a while to understand the faucet. The water is automatically lukewarm, and you adjust the flow with the left knob. Then, if you want hot water, you push the red button while turning it and adjust it to the temperature marked in Celsius. Of course, even at 42 degrees, you get pleasantly warm water but with sudden bursts of scalding water that you can't avoid because the shower is too small to move out of the way. Good fun.

We have really narrow, uncomfortable beds with only a fitted sheet (no top sheet, which has all us Americans quite scandalised) and a comforter that is rather shabby. But at the same time, we're all too cheap to buy the ones they sell in the dorm. It also hasn't mattered much because after our orientation yesterday and brief walking tour of the neighbourhood (very posh and expensive; Hugh Grant lives around the corner and down the street is Johnny Depp's favorite pub), we were so tired we barely made it across the bridge to a pub for dinner without falling asleep at our tables. The river is two blocks away, and the pub we ate at was ok. I had bangers and mash for dinner, and we all felt so silly because we got a giant pitch of water instead of beer. We decided that we'd all go back to the same one when we weren't jetlagged just to prove we could drink.

After a pretty good sleep (I woke up randomly at 3 am and was wide awake for about an hour, and fell just as quickly asleep, lulled by the drunken singing of German students outside my window), we got up and downstairs by 10am for a trip down to the center where our classes are held, an old 18th century house converted into classrooms and such. We were given lunch and then had about an hour to walk around. Despite the fact that it was pouring, I and several others went and walked a bit. Shockingly enough, rain actually falls down in London, rather than sideways as it does in Chicago as a result of the wind. Nevertheless, the streets are paved with flagstones on the sidewalks, and cobblestones on many of the roads, so puddles are many. My feet were soon soaked through, and stayed that way all day. Hence the title of this post. Afterwards, we all met back at the center and went on a two hour tour, where we saw the highlights of London by bus, and got out to see Buckingham Palace, which closes to the public on the 24th, so we are trying to get tickets for a tour inside soon. Then we had tea at the British Museum, which is only a block from where our classes are, and walked through part of it briefly with our lovely tour guide, Brit. We were then left on our own, so a few of us made it to Leicester Square to check out tickets for plays. After finding out that tickets to Mary Poppins, which is a musical our guide highly recommended, were £48 for students, half of the group went to get Indian food. There is a whole street of Indian restaurants in the theater area, and one of them offered us an additional 10% off, so we went there. I only at half of my dinner, and asked for the rest to go, whereupon the waiter laughed at me. Apparently Londoners don't believe in leftovers. But I got a bag of chicken tandoori and nan for lunch tomorrow, regardless. After dinner we wandered around and sat on the monument in Trafalgar Square and watched the cars go around the circle and took pictures of Big Ben in the distance. On our way home, there were fireworks on the river, which three of us ran to try and catch (since we could only see glimpses down the street and over the buildings), but missed all but the last couple of seconds.

The pictures of the dorm room are the only that I have, since I forgot my camera today, but more should come soon, once I have my brain about me. Parting shot of the night view from my room...