Digest #2: The first couple of days, or: Indian curry in one's eyes is perhaps the worst feeling ever

We (Katie Jones, Rebecca Griffiths, and myself) flew out on Wednesday afternoon at about 6:00 PM and arrived sometime before 7:00 AM at Heathrow. It was an easy flight for the most part, barring some small incidents that needn't be mentioned here. Going through customs wasn't a big deal even if it was a little nerve wracking at the time. Though I can't say the same for some on the program, one in particular was actually threatened to never be allowed into the UK again if he didn't leave within the six month time period (and apparently a notice went out against Earlham). It probably didn't help that he had to give the customs official his entire London Program folder when he saw it, and it didn't help further that one of the items in the folder told the student to tell customs that we were not taking part in an internship. Oh well, hopefully things ended up being alright in the long run for future Earlham programs. Though, that would be silly if they weren't. I think Katie, Rebecca and I were all amused though a how easy it was to get through the second batch of customs since we didn't have anything to declare nor were we randomly searched thankfully... we just all kind of walked through. By kind of, I mean we did only just walk through.

After the flight we faced the seemingly daunting task of catching the tube which ended up being about another hour of traveling on the Picadilly Line. I actually really enjoy the tube, and the bus. I guess because I come from the land of Elkhart, Indiana and the concept of public transportation is seemingly beyond most. Then again, it must seem as though I'm saying I like public transportation in order to criticize Indiana. I'm not, I just like it and I always have. I remember when my dad would take me around in California and we'd take the BART train and I would think it was so cool (then again, I was little and easily amused apparently). Anyway, atually getting on with my story: Sarah, our host mother (kind of, she and her husbnd own and used to live in the house until they decided to live in the country with their boys for awhile) picked us up at the Bounds Green station which was very nice that we didn't have to pay for a taxi and because it gave us an opportunity to talk to her and have a bit of a tour of Muswell Hill (the borrough that we currently live in). We actually live with Marlene, Gustavo, and their seven year old son Esteban: They are our actual host family. I do not have pictures of them as of right now, but they are really lovely people. Esteban is adorable and apparently wants to be a professional football/soccer player. He also likes math. It's pretty great. Our house is very large all things considered. So far there are seven of us (Marlene, Gustavo, Esteban, Katie, Katherine, Rebecca, and myself) but apparently two other girls from St. Andrews University in New York will be staying on the third floor bringing the total number of people in the house to nine. I'm hoping that this isn't going to create a problem, but I won't ignore the fact that it is a real possibility.

Anyway, Rebecca and I share the "map room" which features a large map of London on the wall. It isn't just tacked onto the wall, but actually a part of the decoration. It's a neat addition. Katie and Katherine share the Turkish/Other Non-Western-but-Ethnic style room (which I do not have pictures of). We have a good deal of space here and full access to the kitchen, the latter of which being the biggest thing for me as I don't plan on eating out much at all as it is insanely expensive (well, eveything is insanely expensive with the weakness of the dollar and whatnot... good job America). We did eat out this evening after going grocery shopping. We went to an Indian restaurant on Broadway, making it only the second time I've had Indian food in my life. This time was much better than the first, though significantly more expensive. I want to try to find a co-op or a strictly vegan/vegetarian shop in London as Sainsbury's (the grocery store) isn't, albeit their items are marked with a 'V' but at the same time it has still been some what difficult to shop for food. Then again, this is not an important fact to relay as it really isn't pertinent to anyone but myself.

I'll write more later once things actually happen, my apologies if this entry is disjointed (it is never intentional). I begin my internship at The Jewish Museum in London beginning Monday. It seems like an exciting volunteer placement to have as I will be doing some databasing, but will also be doing some educational activities with children and other museum work (hopefully doing some tour leading).

Until then,

jenny


PS: Hello family, I hope you're enjoying this.