Knackered

Today was my first full day in London! Well, kind of. I suppose yesterday was technically a full day in London as well since I arrived at 8:30AM-ish, but it wasn't very eventful. Yesterday included buying necessities from Marks & Spencer (kind of like Target), walking around Angel station, getting adjusted to my new dorm room (cozy single room), and meeting a lot of new people. It felt like freshman year all over again - new people, new city, new building. Everything is new to me, which is both a source of excitement and anxiety (or, as I like to call it, exciety).

I woke up with my eyes being greeted by a steady flow of light, leading me to believe it was at least 8:00AM. It was actually 5:30AM. I went back to sleep and woke up around 8:00AM and decided to start my day. I don't really remember what I did anymore during that time beside dip my bread in my glass jar of peanut butter (the joys of living alone), but whatever I was doing it kept me busy until 9:30AM.  Everyone from my building gathered and we departed for City University. The walk there was confusing, but I hope to get a hang of it since I'll be studying there for the next two months. A couple of orientation meetings later (and a nice lunch at Cafe Coco), I walked away with some tidbits of information:

1) You should never make eye contact on the tube (equivalent to the New York subway). Eye contact is considered rude. The best options are to stare at your feet or at people's knees, especially when it gets crowded and people's faces are literally pushed up against one another. Being short means I stare at people's knees all the time anyway, so that wasn't too much of a change. Joking! Kind of.

2) Don't start up random conversation on the tube (or just in general).  It's just weird and you just shouldn't. This totally killed my plan of making British friends on the tube, but I suppose I'll just have to get creative with it.    

3) The British are more reserved and timid. I have yet to come across a loud British person.  Everyone seems to mind their tone and pitch quite well in public. I should learn how to do this.

4) The British apologize a lot. Which leads to...

5) The British are very polite. Any small offense or social blunder will cause a waterfall of apologies.

6) Jellied Eel is a thing here. Must try!

7) When the British are exhausted, they say they are knackered. Other fun things to know are: dosh means money, water closet means toilet, peckish means hungry, queue means line, etc.  Acclimating to these words is a little like adapting a whole new vocabulary.

8) "Cheers, thanks!"

After orientation, I traveled back to Angel station with some of my friends and shopped around. We stopped by H&M and I discovered that it is definitely less exciting to go there now that one has opened up in Dallas. Oh well. Following shopping was a trip to South Kensington to meet our academic supervisors who will be working with us on a 5,000 word paper of our choice. South Kensington is a very modern and aesthetic area, overflowing with cafes and museums. I plan to go back tomorrow and soak it all in.

Overall, today was quite nice. Now that I have gotten more familiar with the tube, I can't wait to go see more things!