Orientation, Views, and Food

This week was International Student Orientation at King's College, which consisted of mostly various workshops/seminars on topics regarding studying here as an international student. It did begin with a lovely dinner in a very elegant ballroom somewhere near Covent Garden. Free Salmon dinner, wine, and apple crumble dessert was a great start!

We had one talk about safety at which a few police officers quite thoroughly frightened everyone, and if I don't have my handbag or mobile stolen at some point this year I will count myself extremely lucky. I'm not in University Park anymore, that's for sure. 

There was also a "culture shock" talk, which ended up being more of a vocabulary lesson. I'm still working on saying "trousers" instead of "pants," which is the name for underwear here. The other night I was out in Soho with a friend and a man walked by with insanely bright colored pants (trousers), and I said "wow! did you see that guy's pants!?" to which she replied, "I should hope not!" ...But I'll catch on to the lingo one of these days :)

However, I must say the best part of the orientation was getting off at Embankment tube and walking across the Waterloo bridge in the morning, and back in the evening. Big Ben and Parliament don't even look real to me yet. They look more real when you're a tourist standing in front of the London Eye looking across to take some touristy pictures. But as the background of my commute...I just couldn't believe my eyes. It looks more like a backdrop on a stage. It may also be that there is nothing in Dallas that isn't brand new and modern, so to see such architecture and history, with Westminster Abbey just behind it, is just unbelievable. I nearly started to cry, happy cry, as I walked across, looking all around me, and blasting the new Glee version of New York State of Mind, with Lea Michele singing her heart out about a city that is not only a place to live, but a whole way of life, a part of one's heart, a state of mind.

The great thing about the orientation was the nobody knew each other, and everybody was so open to getting to know everyone else. There was a group of us who all had no plans for the night on Friday, and so all just decided to go out to eat together. As I've mentioned before I think, London has SUCH a huge selection of interesting and authentic foods from all over the world. I don't know how I'm going to try them all, especially with the prices here, but I would so love to! It's so nice to walk into an Italian restaurant to find all Italian cooks/waiters, and the same with all the other restaurants and their ethnicities. Anyway, the group of us came upon this WONDERFUL Mexican restaurant (which the Texan in me was SO happy with). I had Chipotle Chicken Quesadillas, and Grilled British Steak Tacos. It was very well priced, authentic and insanely delicious! Fellow Londoners, check it out! http://www.wahaca.co.uk/flash/main.html

 I've got to start getting creative with ways to live cheaply. I finally got the time (and serious craving!) to have something home-cooked last night, which always helps a bit with saving money as well. I'm lucky to live in a flat that is already quite well stocked with most crockery and cutlery-- if I may be so British-- that I'm able to cook quite a bit. Finding the incredients I'm used to having at home can be a challenge, especially since the closest store, Tesco, is about the size of the bakery section at Walmart or Kroger. However, I managed to find some great veggies and chicken, and created a spectacular pasta! ....more to come :)