adventures on the tube

Hello loves!

Today started out bright and early with a work-study meeting at Faraday. There are only about 7 of us doing work-study, which is good because we'll be able to get more hours in, although we max out at 12 hours a week... and we also are getting the shaft and are being paid about $7 an hour, but at least its an income, even in a small amount. Every little bit helps here! I made a bunch of new friends with the other students and the faculty as well... everyone is very friendly here, contrary to what I've heard about Brits before coming to the UK. They bought us pizza as well which we were held hostage in Faraday for, as the meeting ended around 11:45 and the pizza was supposed to come at 12:30. But it gave me a chance to talk to some people, so I can't complain. The pizza here is equally as delicious as it is at home, although that could have something to with the level of hunger I've been surviving at...

One of the girls I met at the meeting gave me exact directions to Woolworth's, which I've been trying to find since I got here. Another girl I met named Alli shares a mutual friend with me so we hit it off right away and she came along with me on my mini adventure for the day. This was my first time taking the tube so I bought an Oyster card, which is equivalent to something like a Metro card in the States. The tube is actually quite expensive... about 5 pounds for a round trip, but with the Oyster card I guess it is a little cheaper. We are supposed to be getting student Oyster cards soon enough, so we will save about 1/3 off of the regular cost which will be extremely helpful. SU has been very good with trying to do anything to help students save money. Anyway, we took the Piccadilly Line from Russell Square to King's Cross, transferred to the Northern Line and took that to Angel. Relatively qulick ride, but probably not walkable with a load of purchases. The store was located in a pretty busy part of town, and as luck would have it there was a market going on right in the street next to the store. I believe it was called Chancey Market, but I could be wrong... it had almost anything you could think of: produce, clothes, shoes, toiletries, linens, toys, etc. all SO insanely cheap we thought we had struck gold. I will definitely be heading down there on Saturdays to buy some stuff to make dinner with for the week. We also found a store called Utopia which sold very discounted clothing, about 5 pounds for most of the items in there... Woolworth's was equally as delightful as I finally found HANGERS which I've been searching for for a week!! I also sampled a good amount of British candy and bought a few things for the flat... afterwards we went to a little strip mall thing across the street where there was a more fancy open air market going on, selling things like olive oil and breads and ITALIAN PASTRIES which of course I sampled. I have no idea what I ate but it was delicious!! After the excitement of the markets we jumped back on the tube and headed back.

Once back at the flat, it was too nice to stay inside so we went to the park down the street to sit outside and read for a bit. There was a little wedding party going on so I had a good time watching them pose for pictures and such. I'm such a people watcher and this is probably the best place to do it. There are so many diverse people around!

Also, on a random side note, I've noticed that since coming here I'm starting to pick up on the accent a bit. Usually if I'm walking by myself and if someone bumps into me, I'll mutter "sorry" in my best British accent so as not to stick out as a rude American... it seems to work quite well, actually... the response has been generally more friendly than if I speak in my American accent. Also, I'm wondering if people here are able to pick out Americans based on the way they carry themselves or dress or something. The other day I was walking to Faraday and on the side street approaching the building there is a bunch of construction going on. There were about 15 construction men lifting boards and such off of a truck and they saw me walking toward them and they all hollared "HOLD IT! LET THE LADY THROUGH!" and all tipped their hats to me as I walked by. Most likely that had to do with the fact that I was just a girl walking by but I had to wonder... if nothing else, it was kind of an ego booster to get all of those men to stop their work to let me through, hah!

Anywho, the roommate is making some dinner tonight (I cooked last night, believe it or not) so am off to eat that and make some plans for the evening. Keep in touch, everyone. I miss you all!

Cheers!