Hello, all! For those of you who've not yet met Eleanor, she is a beanie-elephant who hails from the St. Louis zoo. She protected me from the bug exhibit, and we bonded. So I figured I could take her to London and she could be my unofficial mascot! We are having a fabulous time in beautiful London! Pictures are up on FB, however there aren't any particularly fun/goofy ones as of yet, as I have forgotten to take Eleanor traveling around with me. But never fear, she'll go out soon, I promise.
We took our first walking tour the second day we were here, which was quite exciting, but also a bit exhausting, and last night we went bowling which was quite fun. The Brits are all typically a very quiet bunch--when they're not bowling. While pizza and bowling seems so iconically American to us, the Brits enjoy it as well, apparently. According to Mark, our programme director, it's actually a very "British" thing to do here. Go figure!
Another "British" thing to do is the pubs, let's be honest. I've been to two, Eleanor has been to none. We shall have to change that, I reckon. A popular drink is Strongbow cider, which is interesting. I also tried Foster's beer, which was kind of exciting. I felt very British, even if it is an Australian beer. Close enough.
THE TUBE. The Tube is crazy and very extensive and hot and crowded. It's ridiculous! There are lines under other lines and before you get on some you feel as though you've journeyed to the center of the earth! There's one line--the Jubilee line--that goes pretty far down there and you shouldn't be surprised if your ears pop. I get to take the Jubilee to my internship, and then I switch to the DLR, or the Dockland Lights Railroad or some such thing. Which is a driverless train. Nifty. Mark told me to get a seat in the front sometime. My internship is clear over in Greenwich, and it's about a 45 minute journey with three train changes. Hopefully I don't mess it up too bad. We did a trial run yesterday, and Lindsey and I can travel together for a little bit, but my internship's a little further than hers. She'll get off and take the overground, whereas I'll stay on the Jubilee line one stop farther, then switch to the DLR. It will be interesting for sure, but I must say, I'm kind of excited to take the train today!
For those of you who aren't familiar with Vandon House, it's a hotel-type thing in Victoria, which is a "posh" or upscale part of London. One interesting thing about London is there are no ghettos--Mark told us that because of social housing that was implemented earlier, very rich people live next to very poor people in the same neighbourhoods, so there really aren't any slums or particularly dodgy areas.
We also had a brief culture seminar yesterday, and something that the facilitator said was that we should embrace things that are different or outside our comfort zonese (unless our instincts tell us to cut and run, haha). She stressed the importance of saying things in the UK aren't wrong, just different. Particularly driving on the left side of the road. Who'd have thought crossing the street could throw you for such a loop! I'm quite proud, though. I've just about got myself trained to look right first, then left. It's not something you even think about until you have to do it differently. Anyway, the point I was getting to, Ms. Butters, a Scottish woman who spoke to us about culture and such, told us to stretch at the end of our exercise. She had us lock our hands together, palms out/facing away and bring our arms above our head. Then we brought our hands back to our center, still clasped together, and she told us to check which thumb was on top, and then switch and do the stretch again. At first it felt really awkward and uncomfortable, but when I did the stretch again, my back cracked and it felt a lot better. So just because something feels strange at first, eventually it will begin to feel "right." That's my goal whilst here in London--to make the different the new norm. And I shall leave you lovely readers with that to stew on for a bit. I'll try and upload some photos of Eleanor so you can meet her within the next few days!

Cheers,

Anna :)