Day 3

Today was much more encouraging than the days before. First, I met up with Kat, another risd kid going to Central Saint Martins for the semester. It was very good to see a familiar face. This is Kat's first time in London and she somehow managed to come to without a map so we spent most of the day finding her a map that included enough of London to show both of our dorms. I showed her an A to Z, but we both agreed it was very hard to read, but eventually we found something. We had gone to Oxford Circus to go to Marks and Spencer to get her some room stuff, and the whole experience was just really funny.

It was really funny to hear her first impressions of London. Kat is from California, but spent this summer in New York City. I met her today in the Underground Station near my dorm, and she was so excited about how small the subway here is. She said she understood why it is called the tube. It's true, compared to the NY Subway, the cars are small and the doors curve in at about 5ft so the top of the train cars are domes. I never really thought about it, but it is definitely small compared to New York. It's also ridiculously clean, not only of rubbish, but it just doesn't have the gross NY Subway feel that I don't know how to describe. Also, when we were walking around, Kat was like "Where are all the tall buildings? I thought there would be tall buildings like in New York." It's true, in general, the skyline is much shorter and there are rows of much older buildings. I was trying to explain how there are some taller buildings across the river like the Gherkin, which I now realize is not across the river, but it was just another thing I hadn't really noticed.

I went and got groceries at a local Sainsbury's which was fun. My dorm has a really great kitchen setup. The kitchen is down the hall from my room and I only share it with 6 other kids. We each have a locked section of a pantry and there are 2 full-size sinks, 2 stoves with 4 burners, and 2 ovens. Considering food and eating out a lot is expensive, I know I'll be making food here. Also, there just isn't anywhere around here that I would want to get breakfast at. Anyways, the stuff at the supermarket made me laugh. Mostly, the selection was more interesting than what I would normally find at a store of it's size (think 1/2 the CVS on Thayer) but I found the cereals to be slightly hilarious. They had about 5 different brands of shredded wheat, each with multiple flavors. Oh, and one box of Coco Puffs. Anyways, I found enough stuff to make dinner tonight.

Also, I found out today that my Grandparents are off on another adventure in October, to Uganda this time. The best part is, they are going to visit me for a couple of days on their way over.