First Week in London

After arriving in England last Friday, I finally feel like I've adjusted to the lifestyle here. It's a lot different than I expected, and I still find myself having trouble understanding what an English person is saying. Also, while I don't see myself picking up an accent here, it'd be near impossible not to pick up all the 'slang' here. It's just the manner in which people talk here.

In terms of housing, I've lucked out in that the place I'm living is only a 15 minute walk to work. However, any good points about this place is quickly contrasted by two major problems: No heat and shitty showers. First, no heat. I am serious about this. I've lived in my place for over a week now and it's been freezing. It's not too bad during the day, but at nights it can get pretty chilly - to the point that I wear sweat pants and a hoody to bed. Also, after taking a shower in the morning, I've found myself shaking and having to retreat to my bed before I begin the day. Our landlord seems pretty active though and has been trying to get someone here to fix the stupid thing.

First off, English showers are generally known to have less water pressure than North American showers. But really.. To operate the shower, I have to pull a cord hanging in a closet outside the bathroom. Then, I go in and turn the dial to one of four options: off / cold / medium / hot. Obviously, I turn it to hot and am greeted with a soft dribble of water. My showers tend to take twice as long now, and it seems the process only gets me damp. I have to rub my skin to make sure the soap is not stuck on my body. Once I am able to get a gym membership, I plan on showering there everyday, just to avoid this brutal shower.

Work is going well and it seems like things should start picking up soon. It's quite a different atmosphere than what I am used to, but one that I should feel more comfortable in a few weeks. As well, I have confirmed that I am able to take 7.5 paid vacation days this term, which I will be using to explore as much of Europe as possible. The other night, a few of us put together a list of places we plan on going to each weekend. They are (with thanks to Richard):

January 11 - 13: London, shopping and sight-seeing
January 18 - 20: London, Stonehenge, Bath, etc.
January 25 - 27: Edinburgh, Scotland
February 1 - 3: Prague, Czech Republic
February 8 - 10: Amsterdam, Netherlands
February 15 - 17: Buffer
February 22 - 24: Barcelona, Spain
February 29 - March 2: Istanbul, Turkey
March 7 - 9: Buffer
March 14 - 16: Dublin, Ireland, St. Patrick's Day
March 21 - 24: Venice & Milan, Italy
March 28 - 30: Buffer
April 4 - 6: Munich, Germany
April 11 - 13: Marseille & Nice, France
April 18 - 20: Paris, France
April 25 - 27: Buffer
May 3: Leave for Canada

There is a lot packed in there, but it should make for quite a time this term. I think I'm most excited about Prague and Munich.

This past weekend, we hit up London to see the main touristy sights such as Big Ben, Parliament Houses, Westminster Abbey, London Bridge, The Eye, St. Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace. We did pretty well to walk to most of the places and only had to take the underground a few times. St. Paul's was so peaceful, as we sat in for the 5 o'clock session and listened to the choral. Westminster Abbey was gorgeous and far better than I had expected, as well as Big Ben which was nearby. I found Buckingham Palace to be a bit underwhelming. I'm not sure what I expected, but there wasn't much to it. The statue in front of it, and the gates to the side seemed more impressive to me. As well, I was able to cross another item of my list of things to do before I die: Eat Fish and Chips in England. So standard, but it was so delicious when I ate it.

I shall continue to write more about each trip as I go.

Cheers.