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Published: September 9th 2010
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The first two weeks have been a busy introduction to London. Let me go back to the beginning briefly. The trip started with a short flight to Charlotte, where I had a 10 hour layover to save a few bucks. When I walked out of the tunnel from my airplane into the main terminal, the first thing I saw was a NASCAR shop, and I knew I had arrived in Charlotte. The airport was a great place to spend the day thanks to the long row of white rocking chairs in the shade of leafy trees which lined the main strip of shops and restaurants, encased in glass which let in most of the sunshine. I had never seen anything like it in an airport but I was glad for the opportunity to sit, rock and people watch. There were three main groups of people: happy people excited for their trip; panicked people rushing to get to their plane; and distressed parents with kids. The parents never fell into the first group. I guess it's stressful to travel with kids.
After a day filled with naps and reading 5 magazines cover to cover, it was time to head to my
plane. On my way I passed a map of the greater Charlotte area and right below Charlotte on the map was Mecklenburgh, my exact location in London: Mecklenburgh Square. Quite a coincidence.
I didn't quite know what to think walking down the tunnel to the plane. It was my first time traveling across the pond, or to any country outside North America, and it was the first time I got to explore a new city on my own. I was excited, and I got the butterfly feeling in my stomach I used to get before competing in tennis matches. I always played well when I got that feeling, so I took it as a good omen.
The flight went smoothly. They served a chicken stir fry, tv dinner style, which was surprisingly tasty, and compared to Jet Blue's chips and a stale cookie routine, it seemed gourmet. There were 20 movies and a bunch of television series to choose from, and I went for 500 Days of Summer. I wanted to see it when it came out but never got around to it. It's kind of a chick movie but Joseph Gordon-Levitt did a pretty good job so
Mecklenburgh Square
View out of my window I was pleased with the decision. I fell asleep and was only disturbed by the Indian guy sitting next to me who must have had some bad curry because he made me get up more than 50 times to use the bathroom. At first I was really annoyed but then I started to think about how terrible his situation must be and I was a little less angry. Someone said if we could see the pain in an enemy's heart, we wouldn't see them as an enemy anymore. This guy's pain wasn't in his heart but I thought of that quote. I still managed to get four hours of sleep and woke up to the pleasant aroma of a cheese danish sitting on my tray with a cup of tea. We were technically in UK airspace but I don't know if it counts as my first cup of British tea.
I got off the plane and made my way to customs. The lady was gruff and clearly did not enjoy her job, although it seemed like everyone else was getting grilled by an equally miserable person, so maybe they were trained to be grumpy. After gathering my bag, I boarded the train to London. I changed from train to subway at Victoria Station, one of the largest train stations in London. It was surprisingly simple and after jumping on the Piccadilly Circus line, I was at my destination, Russel Square, in a few minutes. I came out of the station eager to discover what my section of London looked like. The first thing I saw was an open air mall, a small park, and a children's park (the sign informed me adults could only enter if they were supervising a child). No skyscrapers, no high rise apartments. I felt like I was in the suburbs, but my map insisted I was in central London. I would soon discover that this is what most of London is like-they are fond of their squares and its illegal to build anything that obstructs the view of St. Paul's in the skyline.
My residence, Goodenough College Club, was a red brick building overlooking its own square, Mecklenburgh Square, which included a tennis court. My room was a basic dorm room, but luckily they gave me a fridge which has been key.
As I got settled those first two weeks, one of the first tasks was to get some cooking gear. The staff at Goodenough directed me to Argos, London's department store. I walked in to a room the size of a living room and was confused. Eventually I made my way to one of the phone-book sized manuals sitting on the counter along the wall. The way Argos works is you find your item in the catalog, write down the number, give it to the staff, and they go into a back room and come back with what you ordered. It is an efficient way for them to stock the store and conserve space, and it is much faster than having to walk through a warehouse like Walmart. In the city it's probably the only way they can make money, but I also found it was a more pleasant way to shop.
The grocery stores are pretty comparable, except that it was July so the fruit aisle was taken over by strawberries. Food is a bit expensive thanks to London being the most expensive city in the world and the weak dollar, but luckily Greece's meltdown helped drag down the pound to a tolerable $1.50.
In the first week I made my way over to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where I am working with Dr. Gorsky. Dr. Gorsky is a warm, outgoing, extremely pleasant professor who was exactly what I was hoping for. He was interested to hear what I thought of Obama's healthcare laws, and what America thought in general. He seemed to be in favor of universal healthcare, although it's not easy to read British minds.
My residence, the Goodenough College Club, turned out to be a great place to stay in the beginning. It houses about 600 students from all over the world who are doing graduate school work in London. Many are musicians and artists, although there are plenty of science geeks like me as well. The staff tries to make sure that no more than 5 or 6 people come from each country, so there are a lot of countries represented in the student population. I've met people from countries I hadn't heard of before, and I had to google the country when I got back to my room.
It also has been a great place to live as it is located in the center of the city, a few minutes walk from my school and the archives and libraries where I do my research. On the weekends, it is easy to get to any part of the city, which made it easy to explore the city and learn my way around. The first two weeks I got to know the city by every day walking one hour in a new direction, not keeping track of my turns, and then finding my way home. Getting lost is the best way to memorize the layout. Sometimes it can be tricky navigating London's streets as they do not lie in a regular grid; the windy streets are beautiful but it can be confusing gathering which direction you are facing.
Walking around London I was surprised at how green the city is. Instead of one huge park, they have several large parks and many smaller parks throughout the city. Every few blocks they have a square, which also breaks the concrete monotony of large cities. Overall central London is clean, although it is a prime location for tourists and not all parts of London are as well maintained.
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