school | Study Abroad: London

Here is my Cambridge post! It’s about a week late – sorry! I’ve been really bad at keeping up with the posts, but I have been taking pictures, so I do have things to post once I get around to it! Last Saturday we took the train to Cambridge for a day trip. It was 8 pounds per person for a return ticket when bought in a group of four. To clarify, a return ticket means there and back, or round trip, not just your ticket for coming back.

The city was cute, but there really wasn’t much to do there. It was definitely not as cool as Brighton. It was sort of like the older area of London, but smaller. It was aesthetically pleasing, but not necessarily entertaining.

We left from King’s Cross station.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?”

Breakfast from a stand at Market Square, in the centre of the city. There was sooo much bread!

King’s College

Some pretty building that is probably important, but I don’t remember what it is…

An incredibly distasteful board game from a store that was basically entirely devoted to weaponry. Looks like American’s aren’t the only ones stupid about guns and violence.

Pretty streets of Cambridge! The last one of the doors is photo of the day 25.1.14!

Helloooooo world! I’m sorry I haven’t written in so long! There’s been a lot going on, but also I was just being sort of lazy. On the bright side that means that I have lots of things to say! I’ll actually probably post several times today because all of my thoughts aren’t cohesive and it would just be silly to put them all together. So get pumped to hear about Oxford, English food, and trip planning later on! However right now I’m just going to do one of my random string of thoughts posts, because I haven’t done one of those in awhile and because I have a lot of thoughts. 🙂

TRAFFIC. Holy smokes the traffic here is terrifying. There are no rules. None at all. Well, clearly there are some but no one follows them. It’s every person for themselves; try not to die. I have been almost hit by literally everything that moves here: cars, taxis, buses, bikes, mopeds, people, pigeons, scooters. I kid you not. Everyone jaywalks, but everyone almost dies on the daily while jaywalking. I have physically had to be held back from stepping in front of moving vehicles before because I didn’t see them coming. They go really fast and will not stop for you. They won’t. They will hit you. However, if you get hit I’ve heard you get a large sum of money as compensation, so I guess it all depends on how you look at things. There’s even chaos on the pavement (sidewalks). You know how I said before that you go to the left every time? Well, that’s not true. Not at all. You just go to whatever side is closest to you, regardless of where the other people walking in the same direction as you go. I was told that British people are always organising themselves, but my experience is that that is a complete lie. Navigating yourself down the block is anarchy. Plus, if you go too close to the edge of the pavement cars will start beeping at you because there is absolutely no curb. You could easily be standing on the pavement and still get bludgeoned by a bus. Its completely ridiculous. Exist at your own risk.
On a related, but lighter note, scooters are really big here. Children will just roll with their homies down the street or the grocery aisle on some pretty fly scooters.
The architecture here is really interesting and sort of weird. There will be a very modern building made entirely of glass right next to one that resembles a mini medieval castle. It’s a smorgasbord, but the smash of the old and the new is one of the things that makes London so interesting.
You have to pay for things like maps and brochures when you go to tourist attractions here. The only pamphlets that are free are the ones asking for money, but they have pictures on them and the name of the site so I’ve been taking those and putting them on my bulletin board, covering up the part that says “Donate now!” or “Become a member!” I just want to be able to remember all the places I’ve been, and also to make my room look less like an insane asylum. I can’t stand blank walls.
I’ve started saying silly British words! Like rubbish bin! And no one even looks at me weird! (I partially expect them to look at me and say “Hah! You’re an American! What right do you have to use our words?” but that is yet to happen.)
There is so much club music all the time. They play nothing else anywhere. On the radio, in coffee shops, in actual clubs (okay, that one makes sense) it’s just constantly mm tx mm tx mm tx. (That’s me trying to type out the sound of beat boxing if you didn’t get it.) It’s very strange. Every song is a remix. The one exception that I have found is a coffee shop nearby that plays classy jazzy music, but that’s also pretty silly because it’s all classic rock songs that have been covered on Glee (not that I would know that…also I think that’s just a coincidence, not an artistic choice) being redone in the style of Billie Holiday.
BEWARE. CLICHE STUDY ABROAD FEELS AHEAD: Yesterday I was doing some studying in the student union cafe and I suddenly just looked around and thought “Jesus Christ, I’m really privileged.” It’s astonishing how privileged I am to be here in London, going to school, not working, like what am I doing with it? What do I do with this much opportunity? Why did I win the lottery of the right place and the right time? Not that it couldn’t be better or that I don’t have anything more to work toward, but it could be so so much worse. Not that I didn’t always know that, but the other day it just hit me like a train on a track. Just the fact that I had this realisation at all, or not realisation, I’ve always known it, I guess train of thought is a better word, just proves it so much more. This entire experience is unreal.