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Welcome to London - The first installment of The Shorthorn's Study Abroad blog

Written by Andrea Silvers, The Shorthorn staff

Monday, 01 February 2010 09:09 PM

Trip Breakdown Date of Arrival: Dec. 26, 2009 Current Date: Jan. 2 The Thames and the London Eye. (The Shorthorn: Andrea Silvers) “Are you excited about school starting?” This is the third time I’ve heard that question in 30 minutes. I’m currently standing in a flat (they have flats here, not apartments) in one of London’s trendier districts called Brick Lane. I picked London to study in for three main reasons. First, the program I applied for with the American Institute for Foreign Study offers a three-month internship in my chosen field while I’m here, so I can get a chance to work in a foreign country. Second, there’s not a language barrier and since I’m currently enrolled in Spanish II, that was very appealing. Third, several of my friends have recently gotten jobs in London, so I already know people to hang out with. I smile and give my standard answer about being really excited but mostly nervous — which is true — while trying to make eye contact with my friend Josh to alert him it’s time to go. It’s a little after 4 a.m., the ice in my rum and Coke has long since melted leaving it unpalatable, my heels are killing my feet and my jet lag is threatening to render me useless. People You Need To Know Josh: American, my best friend, currently working in London Yuta: Japanese, living and working in Germany with his girlfriend Eva: (pronounced Epha) German, in her last semester of college in Germany Josh catches my eye and immediately goes to collect two of our friends, Yuta and Eva who are visiting from Germany, from their position on the small patch of wood floor being used as a dance floor. After we’ve made our way out of the party and hailed a cab, I collapse in the backseat exhausted. I’m just about to close my eyes and surely pass out when I see it just up ahead, lit in all its yellow and red glory — a McDonald’s. “Oh my god, can you pull in there right now?” I say leaning forward toward the cabbie and pointing in that direction. The driver throws me back an odd stare and gingerly pulls the cab into the parking lot. “Through the drive-through?” I say as I start searching my pockets for pounds. To this the driver utters something unintelligible through the security plastic separating us and stops the cab rather abruptly. “There’s no way he’s going to take us through the drive though, he will probably wait though. Let’s just go in.” Josh says tugging at the sleeve of my coat. Slightly dumbfounded I crawl out of the cab while he takes orders from Yuta and Eva and follows me inside. The O2 Center. (The Shorthorn: Andrea Silvers) Right when the doors open I’m greeted with a familiar smell. I rush up to the counter and the man standing behind it has barely asked if he can take my order before I’m speaking. “I want two hamburgers, a large order of fries an—“ “Miss, you need to order off the menu.” I blink a few times. I take a step back and try to orient myself. Did I have more to drink than I thought? Have I wandered into a Taco Bell or a Kentucky Fried Chicken without realizing it? Seeing the golden arches in front of me I try again. “I just want a couple of hamburgers.” “We have a late-night menu, you have to order from that,” he said pointing behind him at a small board that contains four items. A quarter-pounder meal, a six-piece nugget meal, a fish sandwich, and some sort of curry wrap I’ve never heard of before. The tour bus we took had plugs for all these different languages. I just thought was amazing, that they know they have tourists from everywhere. (The Shorthorn: Andrea Silvers) “Ok, I guess I’ll get the quarter-pounder meal but without cheese.” He turns to look back at the kitchen and then at the four or five other people standing scattered behind me looking at the menu (to which I want to inform they’re looking at the wrong one). “Yeah, we have the ability to do that, but it’s busy so I’m not going to ask them to, so it’s going to come with cheese.” “What the he—“ At this he turns and starts collecting the food as the cooks set it up on the shiny metal counter. I turn to Josh, utterly helpless. He shrugs. “Welcome to London.” Views: 574 | E-mail   Comments (1)  1  snarky Written by jose, on 02-02-2010 18:09 Can't wait to read more stories like this! Report Abuse Only registered users can write comments. Please login or register. Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6 AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com All right reserved

Last Updated ( Monday, 01 February 2010 11:09 PM )

 

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