And so, almost a week ago, we departed from the fabulous folks at YHA and went on to meet our host family. It is not really a host family in the sense of the word, because I had to find my own accommodations, but nevertheless they have been extremely gracious in dealing with our unique way of doing things.
This journey would require a trip across town, and when I was looking up the options, the least convoluted and easiest thing seemed to be a journey on the Underground- the Tube-- why not? And since our host had looked up the directions for step free access, we decided to give it a try! We now know just how very wrong we were. Granted, it would have been simple enough if we were not packing 4 bags around… or so we thought.
You see, despite the incredibly detailed and confusing labeling system that the Tube has for different levels of accessibility, you never actually know how big the fabled “gap” is, or which part of the journey itself is, in fact, accessible. It varies from stop to stop, and I feel like someone should just go through with a pencil and mark each one. Sometimes, the gap is a foot tall, and sometimes there is not one at all. In our case, it was where it said there was a lift (elevator) out of the station itself, when there was not. So, about 6 trains and switching directions later, we finally decided that we had to take an alternative route on the District line. A staff member was gracious enough to help me onto the inaccessible (of course!) older trains. When we got there, we went the wrong direction to the next stop, and then also went the wrong direction on the next form of transportation. The problem is, when they marked the routes, they actually give you the name of some random stop on that line, not the end of the line, not even the next stop or the middle of the line. If somebody could enlighten me as to the naming of the directional system, that would be greatly appreciated! So, about 4 hours later, we arrived here at the B&B, but not before someone yelled at us for fare evasion because we didn't realize that the cards actually timed out after 2 hours, while our journey ended up taking twice as long. This whole experience made us both want to buy a certain souvenir T-shirt and replace it with something a little more accurate!
Needless to say, the struggle has not only been physical, but metaphorical as well. One of my instructors kept talking about the fact that there would be cultural overload within the 1st week. Having to plan for many situations, I knew that there were a lot of things that I would be thinking about during this time, including but not limited to money, energy, accessibility, geographical location (I'm horrible with directions) and getting used to the notion of constantly being around other people. Now, granted, you'd think that since at any given time, I might have no less than 4 people trying to hover over me, that this would not be a problem. But usually, in this case, I would pack a pair of headphones and turn the volume up so loud that I couldn't even hear myself think. But, alas, my wireless headphones died before the trip and I elected not to bring them. Having dealt with so many different types of people, you would think I would have learned a thing or two by now about how to do it. Sadly, that is not the case. as in this situation, when all involved have no idea what the hell they're doing, the difficulty lies in many facets, from my traveling narcolepsy (yes, it's back) to the different foods, to the way my friend asked me to do things. Throw in some sign language and some sometimes comical interpretation fails, and you have a little bit of an idea. Sure, I thought, going with someone I knew would be easy, no problem! How about no. In a situation like this, I didn't realize I was stressed about things that I didn't even know I could be stressed about, such as my doing things almost entirely separately from the rest of the group for the 1st week. I didn't realize how upsetting that was to me, as it is something I usually deal with on a daily basis. So if you think that you can go with just about any situation, think again, you don't realize how many factors are influencing you at any one moment.
As far as the courses were concerned, I finally got a chance to meet the other 2 professors, both of whom are very considerate and very hilarious. This week focused mostly on our class about art and architecture, where, as one of the professors said, ““If the Victorians didn't like it , they took it and shoved a bunch of crap on the front of it.” This pretty much sums up most of the buildings in London. I have probably been able to see more sights in the 1st week than many people would get to see in their entire stay, complete with authentic Brit commentary. We have been to most of Central London already. For me, the highlights included going into some of the most incredible churches and learning about the history behind them. We visited Temple Church, the church of St. Bartholomew the Great, and I even attended an evening service at Westminster Abbey. My great grandma would be so proud right now. Honestly, there are too many things that I have seen to list them all here, but I will try to go back and get pictures of some of them as time allows. I hope to be able to post a more extensive list here.
Until next time!
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