First Days

Hello everyone...er, Cheerio? ( for the record, I haven't heard anyone say that yet--and I am still not sure if it's 'hello' or 'goodbye' like 'aloha' is, but whatever),

I am finally here and finally taking a few minutes to update the blog. I have had a busy 48 hours or so in London and so far it is fantastic. Granted, there are no students here yet, I have a fabulous house in a terrific neighborhood all to myself, and most of my class prep is done. Talk to me in a couple more weeks and I probably won't be so glowing, but for now, it's ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!

So, I was hoping for some interesting stories from my trip over here (you know, like crazy drunk people on planes and such. One time I was on a flight from FL to Chicago with this old, very tan, and very drunk couple named Bill and Trish. They were completely hammered from the get-go and I watched as Bill had about four more vodka cranberries on the plane. I tried not to laugh as I watched as they--in all seriousness--tried to use their credit cards to order sex toys from the back of a Cosmo magazine (they didn't succeed). Hilarity also ensued when Bill went off on some woman in our row because she was a born-again Christian. Trust me, you can't pay for this type of entertainment) but alas, no interesting people on any of my flights (unless you count me, of course ;). I even had the double seat to myself on the long flight from ATL to London, and I almost slept the entire way. That was incredible, I almost never do that. I was actually kind of annoyed because only in the last hour of the flight did I see that the in-flight entertainment contained episodes of Nurse Jackie, that Showtime or HBO show I've never seen. It is awesome, but I missed out on the end of the third episode, dammit. Anyway, I flew through customs, my bags were on the conveyor belt when I walked up to it, and I took the train to London. The hardest part BY FAR was me schlepping my huge bags across Paddington Station to the taxi queue. But then when I got there the black taxis were so cute (just like the one Jo rides in, if you ever watch the show Supernanny) I didn't care anymore.

So I got to the house and Sylvia, the real house manager/cook was there to greet me. She was so cute and there was lots of 'oh you poor little thing, you carried all those big bags, you must get some rest' yadda yadda. I got the tour of the house, the lowdown from Sylvia, and a quick tour of the neighborhood. The house and area are amazing. The house is technically 6 stories if you count the quasi-basement (where my room is) and is quite nice, very charming. With just me, it's fantastic. We'll see how it is with 18 others arriving shortly. It is a row house in a lovely street that is just up the road from the British Museum, and one block off of Tottenham Court Road (I just love saying the word Tottenham) which has lots of stuff. There are two Tube stations nearby, but really, I can walk to the theater and shopping districts within 15-20 minutes so I wonder how often I'll really even use the subway. It's awesome. So I managed to unpack and get my computer set up, etc., do lots of walking around, lots of good eats (though it's so expensive to eat out here, but whatever, for now, it's good times) and some pub drinking too. My sleeping schedule is still pretty whack (I'm staying up to late and sleeping in WAY too late, but I suppose it's only a matter of time. This is the first time I've ever been in Europe where there hasn't been a rush to fit in a million activities ('We're in London for 3 days! We have to see everything!') so it's nice not to worry to much about sleeping a lot and taking naps. :) The bonus is that I was able to see one of my favorite students who is studying here on a different program, and today met up with Cristiane, one of my friends from grad school who lives here now. Cristiane--herself from Brazil--will be a GREAT contact to have here, as she's about two stops away on the tube and has a kid in school, so she has her days free. BONUS.

So anywho, my observations about London life thus far are pretty good. I have been here before but have been in so many better/more interesting areas now, it's great. I had forgotten about how international of a city it is, how big it is, how efficient the Tube is, and how polite people are, and how charming the British accent is. I find myself walking around a lot in places that sometimes remind me of NYC or Chicago (the commercial areas, for instance) but then I hear all the British accents and am like 'Oh, I'm in London!' Kind of like how now when I go home to Iowa and drive around, I'm constantly saying 'Oh look, an Iowa license plate' because I get so excited when I see one ! Both situations make me smile. :)

So obviously I knew that the TV situation here would be quite different than my digital cable/DVR back home, and we all know I'm in love with television, so I have gotten quite the kick out of British TV. There are two BBC stations that I swear mostly play the same thing, then a few others that seem to have lots of bad movies (think of Lifetime movies or after-school specials). The jarring thing is the almost complete lack of commercials (the BBC and ITV are both heavily subsidized by the gov't...I'll learn more about this through the BBC TOUR my students and I have for FEb 12th!) and just quick notes about particular sponsors. Things are on at weird times too. Like today I saw a show that ended at 11:26 am and one started right after it. Huh? But my fave is that today I ran into several shows that have been copied in the US on either TLC or HGTV, and one that was like Antique Roadshow on PBS. My favorite was the British edition of what we know as 'House Hunters' on HGTV. The premise is the same--a potential buyer looks at 3 houses, weighs the pros and cons, then picks one at the end. In the USA version, there is a lot of suspense...'which house will they choose?, then a review of the houses, then the final call. Then they will show an update of the buyer/family a few months later so you can see what they've done to the place. Here, the show progresses somewhat the same (look at three houses, talk about them) but the end is hilarious. No suspense whatsoever. Instead, the host and the buyer are sitting there, having tea, and simply discuss which house the buyer bought. No images of the 'winning' home, nothing. The woman just sits there drinking her tea and is like 'Yeah, I bought the 3 bedroom with the small kitchen' and the host sits and drinks his tea and is like 'So tell us about your grandchildren' and they talk for a few minutes til the show ends (randomly at 11:26am). It was cute I wanted to hug the TV. I mean, no drama, no suspense, no flash, no follow up. It's like they were too lazy to really finish the show, so they just went for tea instead. Or else, as we all know, it really just comes down to Americans being more competitive and flashy.

Anyway, I promise not to give you such a rundown of every TV show I encounter (though I was watching this really weird game show at about 2am that involved pulling letters out of a hat, and making as many words as possible out of the chosen letters--similar to Boggle. Then the contestants were like 'I made 7 words' and the next one would say something like 'I made 8 words'. Then the host would say, 'Ok, the guy with 8 words wins the round' but you NEVER SAW THE WORDS THEY MADE. Apparently, you don't need proof you can be a wordsmith on this show, they just took it for granted. I mean, what kind of game is that? Then again, maybe I was half asleep and missed a critical component of the game, I don't know) but as a media scholar, I get a total kick out of this stuff and it just cracks me up. We'll see, though..in a few weeks I'll probably be in the fetal position and throwing shoes at my TV begging for all my shows I'm missing.

And so, yeah, that's the rundown for now. I will say the weather is colder here than I expected, and it can change on a dime. Today Cristiane and I went to Indian for lunch and it was humid and almost warm, and by the time we left it was raining and really, really cold. Within an hour and a half, a big change. I love it, reminds me of Iowa. I did go to the British Museum yesterday and was basically overwhelmed with the artifacts and the HUGENESS of it all (galleries upon galleries of stuff from Ancient Egypt and Greece, mummies, Iron Age stuff...colonization and empire sure to get you a lot of cool souvenirs) and tonight my plan is to go the Tate Modern because it is open til 10pm and will serve as my Friday evening activity. More on those later, I need a nap first.

I have been taking some pics and will post them soon so you can see the Mary Poppins house I live in and what my tiny little flat looks like. Oh and my bathroom, too, is probably the best--I could literally sit on the toilet and take a shower at the same time, they are all in the same little room about the size of a phone booth. I say, seems like bathroom efficiency to me!

Hopefully the British 'charm' of all of the above won't wear off too soon.... :)