Over the past couple of days, I have taken many a picture and acquired many a blister. Sunday was our NYU organized bus tour of London. I learned quite a few facts about London. For example, "Big Ben" isn't really the name of the clock tower--it's only the name of the bell inside the tower. If only I could remember what the tower is actually called. Also, London Bridge is often confused with the more memorable-looking Tower Bridge. And a store called Primark is the shopping hotspot where all Londoners find cheap clothing. We drove down Fleet Street in the bus and I fortunately did not run into the demon barber Sweeney Todd.
I ate my first full English breakfast at a place in my road (that's British for "on my road") called the Euston Flyer, which serves breakfast all day. I chose 5:00PM as my ideal breakfast time. The meal consists of sausages, eggs, rashers of bacon (which look more like Canadian bacon than anything else), baked beans, grilled or sauteed tomatoes, and toast. Twas delicious.
Monday was my first day of classes. I had one class called Intro to Pan-Africanism. It's very small--only eight people--and I think it'll be a good way for me to transition from Classics into African Studies. Later that day I had Thai food in Britain for the first time. It was a great experience. I ate coconut soup (pictured at left) and pork pad thai. (By the way, expect this blog to turn into a gastronomical tour of Europe on occasion.) After that my friends Anuja, Brenda, Sam and I decided make our maiden voyage on the tube. It's a lot like the subway in New York but smaller and with luxurious padded seating. Well, luxurious compared to New York. We went to Piccadilly Circus (sort of the English equivalent of Times Square) and walked from there all the way down the shopping thoroughfare of Oxford Street. Hence the blisters and the new addendum to the Bible called "The Prodigal Kate."
On our way we grabbed coffee at an Italian cafe to energize ourselves and took advantage of some telephone booths that were standing nearby so innocently. To finish off our day of excitement we made a pot luck dinner in one of the kitchens in our dorm.
After exploring London a bit, I am only just now starting to realize how diverse a city this is. I see people of various backgrounds when walking down the street and hear different languages every day--even more so than in New York. And I must be blending in to a degree; I've been asked for directions by British people at least three times already.