My first 56 hours of life in London have passed me by, so it felt like a good time to get some reflections out of the way. Since I’ve never lived anywhere but Grinnell, I thought I’d be a little more culture shocked than I was. To be honest, London feels a lot like Grinnell so far. Or at least, London feels a lot like Grinnell during NSO. 1 I don’t recognize most of the people, and everyone is rushing somewhere. It might help that I’m in a part of London that’s fairly old, so the buildings aren’t towering over me.
Some big takeaways from my first 56 hours:
1. Apparently when I don’t have a 24/7 access to Google Maps and the internet, I actually have pretty good navigation.
2. It takes around 30 minutes to walk around King’s Cross Station if you find yourself in that situation.
3. Apparently bagpipes aren’t all that common here. In Grinnell I’m surprised if a week goes by where I don’t hear bagpipes, but so far I’ve heard and seen none.
4. London weather is much nicer than Grinnell’s.2 When I walk out in the morning it’s almost, but not quite, too cold for my shirt and slacks. By 1700 3, it’s heated up to what feels like the peak of the day, and it’s only slightly uncomfortable to powerwalk through the streets.
5. It’s a lot harder to find a Catholic church in London than in America. I’ve so far seen a few Church of England churches, a Baptist church, an Ethiopian Reformed Church, and a Christian Scientist gathering place. Looking at Google Maps, however, I think I should be able to find one.
6. The underground is really simple to navigate. I’m still not sure how the busses work though.
Thanks for reading!
Jonathan