Yesterday--a walking tour of London

First we had a “meeting” with the profs in the Highbury Centre conference room. The director of the HC came and told us the rules. No going to breakfast in your pjs—which I’d done that morning, and planned to do quite often in the future. No sitting on the floor in the hallway—which I’d also done that morning, so I could get internet, and which I also thought was a good idea for the future. “This is not a dormitory,” the woman kept saying in her British accent. So there’s also nothing allowed on the outside of room doors, which is sad. This place is too strict!

We saw famous stuff. Most of it I’ve seen before—St. Paul’s, Big Ben, the Tower Bridge. Some new stuff too—Buckingham Palace, the Globe, lots of things I don’t know the names of. Everywhere you look there’s something cool to see, mostly in the form of architecture.

We rode the tube a few times. It was packed. Some streets were crowded too. Crossing the street is interesting; at certain ones (“zebra crossings,” with black and white striped poles marking them) pedestrians have the right of way, but at others there’s the normal walk or don’t walk signal, and some have neither. It’s confusing sorting them out and deciding/remembering whether to cross or wait.

We rode a double-decker bus once; we had to wait a while for the right one. Even thought you get to see stuff on the bus, I think I’ll mainly stick to the tube, since it’s faster.

I bought my lunch at a grocery store for about a pound—a delicious roll, an apple, and juice. We ate in a pretty green park with lots of pigeons pecking around.

It was cold on and off; at first it was sunny, but then it got cloudy and windy. Walking warmed me up, but if we stopped I got cold again.

By the end my feet hurt. When we got back I flopped on my bed and stayed there for a while. Dinner wasn’t as good that night—watery tomato-colored but not exactly –tasting soup, strange lasagna with lots of kinds of veggies in it (like peas and green beans) and liquidy yogurt for dessert.

That day we had the profs and TAs to tell us what to do and where to go, but soon we’re going to have to navigate for ourselves. It will be hard and confusing at first. Sometimes I think going places alone would be fun, but other times I think it will be absolutely necessary to have someone else with me at all times.