Living Like a Londoner

The Tower Bridge; View from London Bridge. 30 July 2016.

Hey guys – been a while, there’s so much to do here, I haven’t had a lot of time to write.

First – Britain is amazing as usual, my interest has not deteriorated in the slightest! No matter how long you’re in London, there’s always more to do and each tiny region within each borough has its own flavor and feel, which makes it marvelous to just walk around exploring.

Second – I visited Edinburgh! The group of Americans that was here has sadly left, they went to Glasmere (in the Lake District, up north) two weeks ago and then continued on to Edinburgh. So, some of us here (shoutout to Jas, Clarisse, Adrienne, and Mathieu!) decided to journey up to Scotland and hang out for a weekend! We all caught night buses up there (about eight hours each way), and essentially spent two of three nights “sleeping” and “resting” on the bus, which as you might imagine was uncomfortable, but cheap, and this is college, so that’s how it goes. I stayed at an Airbnb in Edinburgh which was relatively inexpensive but still pretty nice, and we had two days and one night there. How can I describe it?!?! Scotland is a wonderful place. There are kilted bagpipers on the street corners, beautiful, old stone buildings lining the streets, ancient castles and churches composing the skyline – it’s quite idyllic, something everyone should see if they get the chance. Just outside of the city center is Arthur’s Seat, which is either a gargantuan hill or a miniature mountain, and it is of course hikeable and offers hands-down the best view of the city and so worth the energy of climbing. One thing I’ve gotten used to is lots and lots of walking – it’s really the best way to experience any city. Best moments? Wading in the North Sea from the Water of Leith, climbing Arthur’s Seat, seeing Edinburgh Castle, and then of course doing a Harry Potter walking tour of the city (you bet they’ve got them! JK Rowling wrote the books while living there!) and seeing the cemetery where JK borrowed character names from, the real-life Hogwarts, and of course the café where she wrote the first few stories. Edinburgh was incredible, the castle and mountains were beautiful, the company was awesome, and it was pretty rad trip to have taken.

The Castle of Edinburgh; Scotland, UK. 24 July, 2016.

Other than that, I’ve been finally getting into the rhythm of life here – I’m doing research at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital (part of Imperial College London) and it’s been in burns treatment as well as intensive care medicine. It’s a little unusual in that it’s super clinical, so lots of meeting with doctors and nurses and therapists and reading background papers as opposed to bench research with pipettes. But I’m enjoying it, and I’ve gotten some pretty awesome experiences in the Intensive Care Unit (and am learning the British lingo for American terms – for example: anaesthetist = anesthesiologist, theatre = operating room, registrar = resident, A-levels = AP classes), and there’s a handful of words pronounced differently such as respiratory being pronounced “res-peer-a-tree” and burns being pronounced somewhat like “benns.” Plus the variety of British slang such as “quid” (informal for pounds, like “bucks” is for dollars), “pissed” (meaning drunk, not angry), “keen” and “fancy” (ubiquitously present instead of “would like”), “loo” (meaning bathroom), “anticlockwise” (yeah this is actually a thing and everyone laughs when I say “counterclockwise”), and of course the bizarre fact that people actually pronounce “tomatoes” as “toh-mah-toes.” Not quite the learning curve I had in France or in Spain, but a little to get used to nonetheless (not to mention writing with British English when I’m contributing to publications – I’m getting weirdly used to writing harbour, colour, parlour, aluminium, emphasise, specialise, paediatrics, anaesthetics, and aetiology, and the like).

British slang aside, some of the cooler things I’ve done while living in London for a month:

-         Walked everywhere. The best part about living here is walking through places. I’m beginning to know Notting Hill, Kensington, and Chelsea extremely well, and since it’s both the poshest and most expensive area in London, it’s overwhelmingly nice to wander through (even if it’s absurdly expensive).

-         Explored the museums – most of the museums here are free, and I live fairly close to the British, Victoria & Albert, Natural History, and Science museums, so if I have a free couple of hours I just hop in and explore a collection. Victoria & Albert so far has been my favorite, although I’m visiting the Surgery Museum this weekend so we’ll see how long that holds.

-         Seen the famous monuments. Yes, it’s a touristy thing to do, but it’s impossible to visit London without seeing Buckingham Palace, the Big Ben, the Palace of Westminster, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, the Eye, the Tower of London, and all the rest. I try to avoid it because it’s so expensive, but I’ll think I’ll be doing the Tower, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham. And they really are that beautiful :)

-         Had a spectacular evening picnic in Hyde Park right off the Serpentine. Cheers to Thanat, Mathieu, Clarisse, and Adrienne for that wonderful evening.

The Prime Meridian; Greenwich, London, UK.
30 July, 2016.

-         Had drinks at The Shard (the super-tall skyscraper in London with a bar on the 32^nd floor). Expensive but worth it – the view was spectacular.

-         Stood on both hemispheres at once at the Prime Meridian (yeah – the one and only!) in Greenwich! Cool experience to be sure, and a particularly meaningful one for me given my crazy journey around the globe.

-         Read the new Harry Potter book in London. Disappointed with it but doesn’t change how cool it is to buy and read (in British English and everything) a new Harry Potter book in this city.

-         Discovered how to make food in a stove-less dorm kitchen. Answer: boil pasta in an electric tea kettle (not even kidding).

-         Drew (and continuing to draw) this beautiful city in my sketchbook, of course!

-         Meeting distant family members that by chance happen to live super near to me!

-         Going to pubs and listening to live music – I went with some people from work to an awesome pub in Putney and listened to a (very-skilled) guitarist play Mumford & Sons and Coldplay.

-         Watching Notting Hill in Notting Hill. Pretty meta experience!

-         And finally, of course, just being here and waking up in Notting Hill every day, and being able to casually discuss the absurd EU politics with a group of actual Europeans, and being able to get exposed to different new perspectives all the time in such an international city.

Anyway – I’m off to Oxford this weekend! But I’ll be sure to post something soon! :)

London, England, United Kingdom; 5 August, 2016.