So I got lost in the tube (subway) for the first time yesterday! It was not the best experience but overall adjusting to London has not been terribly hard. Navigating the city took some time getting acclimated to but I think I got it down now. I went into this experience knowing that almost everything is going to be different than home and not to expect a lot of similarities. There are some similar things compared to home that I have picked up on. London has a good amount of food places that we have at home such as, Chipotle, Pizza Hut, McDonalds and Burger King. A few new things is that they drive on the left hand side over here and adjusting to looking the other direction has been somewhat of a challenge. I have been doing the classic “triple check” as my other American friends say over here, just to make sure I don’t get cleaned out by a car, bike or bus. Another new thing that is completely different is that instead of asking ‘hows it going’ they say ‘are you alright’ which kind of caught me off guard at first. Additionally, something that is new and exciting is being so close to so much; from all the things to do in the city to all of Europe being in reaching distance. I love that this city has so much to offer. There is every kind of food you could name, giving me endless options of where to eat.
Being a new comber in a different country can but tough, but also entertaining. There is a lot I do not understand but it is entertaining to see how different some methods of doing things are. Everything is done in a certain way, for a certain reason. For example, taxi’s are allowed to drive in the bus lanes because they need to get around fast and need to be able to pick up anybody calling for one. Being a new comer in a different country has made me realize that each place has their own way of doing things efficiently. It has also made me realize how many of the methods used here would not work at home.