Day 2 in London: Orientations and such

Day 2

I woke up and took a shower at about 8:30. The shower is an enigma. It has two shower-heads, but only one seems to work. The one that works is the massaging wand sort on a flexible hose, but the other is fixed and in normal shower-head position. It also has its own faucet handle that does nothing. No amount of turning, twisting, pushing, pulling, hitting, or cursing at will force water out of it at all.

We then took the Tube, my first time on it, to the Euston station. It was incredibly busy and cramped. Half the group didn’t even get on at first. And if you leave your arm in the door, as I did on my way in, it will not re-open. It just closes more. And harder. Anyway, the orientation meeting wasn’t completely terrible. The usually drivel about being aware and not getting thieved was anticipated, but the visit from the members of Parliament and a member of the House of Lords was truly interesting. For our asking about 8 questions, they spoke for an hour without notes or pausing. Their quick wit and answers were very impressive. I got to shake their hands before hand and have a brief word too. What was truly surprising, though, happened on the way out. The MPs were on the same Tube as our small group of 5 Swansea students on our way into downtown London. I stood immediately next to them both. Remember that they are the equivalent of a congressman/woman. Last time I saw Dan Burton on the Indianapolis bus was absolutely never.

We went to the London Eye, a 30 minute humongous Ferris Wheel directly across the River Thames from Parliament and Big Ben. We then walked around London trying to develop an appetite, since Arcadia was paying through our program representative, Allison Dudley. She is knowledgeable, having lived in London for 2 years and 3 months, as we found out over dinner. She took us to see Buckingham Palace and where the Prime Minister lives, and Westminster Abbey. Though we didn’t actually go in or really close to these things, we will have time on our free day, Thursday to do just that. And we have the Tube pass to do it.

There was some sort of huge delay that prevented our taking the Tube back, despite our waiting for about 20 minutes outside the station. We took the bus back, and yes it was red double-decker. After checking the e-mail at the internet café, here I am. Watching British TV, bereft with cursing and environmental Nathan Rutz-esque rhetoric, is an interesting change. This evening, a program about a man’s campaign to get a town to go all free range in terms of its chicken consumption was really interesting. More tomorrow.