After seven straight weeks of overly zealous swooping hand gestures and colloquial French of varying quality, I decided it was time to hop across the pond to the Motherland. I cannot describe how nice it was to hear English again. It was like I forgot that people interacted with each other in the public sphere! When you can't understand what's going on, everything just gets blurred out, sfumato style (shoutout to Claudine for teaching me that art vocab). They don't speak any old English in England, though. No, they speak proper English. It was so lovely and so fancy. Just thinking about it makes me want to sip tea and eat biscuits or whatever.
Short Dialogue:
Hey dude, have you seen these London trains yet? They're pretty sick.
Nah man, I've never heard of 'em. Are they luxurious?
Eh, no. But they're pretty fast. And they're big in Europe.
Ahhhh...well, I'm not as hip as you, so I don't feel that bad about not knowing this earlier.
Yeah, I guess they're pretty underground.
Hey dude, have you seen these London trains yet? They're pretty sick.
Nah man, I've never heard of 'em. Are they luxurious?
Eh, no. But they're pretty fast. And they're big in Europe.
Ahhhh...well, I'm not as hip as you, so I don't feel that bad about not knowing this earlier.
Yeah, I guess they're pretty underground.
I'm going to go out on a whim and say that London was the best thing that has ever happened to me. Even though my stay was something less than 48 hours, I still managed to leave my heart buried somewhere between Borough Market and Hyde Park.
Some fun things about Great Britain that make it so much better than any other English-speaking place:
1. Not only are British accents cute and nice, but they just sound naturally more cheerful than any American accent. Definitely an improvement over my Chicago-style "a's" that everybody in Ohio seems to love so much!!!! You know who you are, punks!
2. In addition to the basic intonation of the words spoken by true brits, their slang and everyday vocab is much more endearing than anything I have ever heard in America. Some highlights include: "cheeky", "chilled", "takeaway" and "have a go".
My first activity after hopping on over into the UK (shoutout to the kind conversationalist at Terminal 3 border patrol, u da man) was taking the underground. I am not highlighting this fact because it was a challenge; on the contrary, taking the London Underground was quite possibly the simplest thing I have done all semester. Why? Because everything is in English. Oh, how I have missed you, native language!
Post-tube, I ventured to Borough Street Market, which has been a dream of mine ever since I became aware of its existence. Something you should know about me is, although I had never been to London before this trip, I have wanted to live there for quite some time (for no reason) and thus have accumulated a wealth of knowledge about everyday life in London, in the hopes of one day becoming a local. Anyway.
Some fun things about Great Britain that make it so much better than any other English-speaking place:
1. Not only are British accents cute and nice, but they just sound naturally more cheerful than any American accent. Definitely an improvement over my Chicago-style "a's" that everybody in Ohio seems to love so much!!!! You know who you are, punks!
2. In addition to the basic intonation of the words spoken by true brits, their slang and everyday vocab is much more endearing than anything I have ever heard in America. Some highlights include: "cheeky", "chilled", "takeaway" and "have a go".
My first activity after hopping on over into the UK (shoutout to the kind conversationalist at Terminal 3 border patrol, u da man) was taking the underground. I am not highlighting this fact because it was a challenge; on the contrary, taking the London Underground was quite possibly the simplest thing I have done all semester. Why? Because everything is in English. Oh, how I have missed you, native language!
Post-tube, I ventured to Borough Street Market, which has been a dream of mine ever since I became aware of its existence. Something you should know about me is, although I had never been to London before this trip, I have wanted to live there for quite some time (for no reason) and thus have accumulated a wealth of knowledge about everyday life in London, in the hopes of one day becoming a local. Anyway.
Borough Market is massive. There are food tents galore, and the people rush through the spaces between them like schools of fish. This is a very accurate metaphor, because you cannot swim upstream. Believe me, I tried this, and the result was not pleasant. The food tents were a dream and a half. There were all varieties of foods to choose from, from salty steak sandwiches to sweet potato veggie burgers, and one could also purchase raw meats etc. for cooking at a later time. We were tryna eat though, so we left the meat purchasing to other individuals better suited for the task.
Whilst in line for my curry (great choice, self), I made the acquaintance of a British man who asked me what I was doing in London. At this point, I am very used to being recognized as an American, so this question did not bother me as much as it would have three weeks ago. We had a nice conversation about Europe and traveling and curry and he complimented my ability to comprehend fast-paced French. I said, merci.
It was also in this line that I spotted what could be the best article of clothing yet. A young gentlemen wearing a denim vest had a screen print of Marilyn Monroe that seemed to have been morphed with the album cover of a rapper. She had full body tats, including a tear drop under her eye, and had her arms up in the common position that is seen when a rapper is dancing. You know, when they are held up like they're about to box somebody but then they just lean back with half-closed eyes and you realize that they're just feelin' it. So that was great in itself. At the bottom of the vest, however, the true treasure was found, in the form of yellow vampire lettering that read "Deez Nutz". It doesn't get much better than that, my friends.
Whilst in line for my curry (great choice, self), I made the acquaintance of a British man who asked me what I was doing in London. At this point, I am very used to being recognized as an American, so this question did not bother me as much as it would have three weeks ago. We had a nice conversation about Europe and traveling and curry and he complimented my ability to comprehend fast-paced French. I said, merci.
It was also in this line that I spotted what could be the best article of clothing yet. A young gentlemen wearing a denim vest had a screen print of Marilyn Monroe that seemed to have been morphed with the album cover of a rapper. She had full body tats, including a tear drop under her eye, and had her arms up in the common position that is seen when a rapper is dancing. You know, when they are held up like they're about to box somebody but then they just lean back with half-closed eyes and you realize that they're just feelin' it. So that was great in itself. At the bottom of the vest, however, the true treasure was found, in the form of yellow vampire lettering that read "Deez Nutz". It doesn't get much better than that, my friends.
I had the pleasure of meeting up with my good friend Will (hi Agnes!!!!), a REAL LIVE LONDON NATIVE who showed my friend Lucia and I around London. Lucia is currently studying abroad in Kensington (pinkies up amirite ladies?), but she is still just a humble American like you and I, so we were more than happy to allow Will to show us around the real London. We saw all the things: the bridges, the parks, the horses, the guys with the red coats, the guys with the black hats, the fancy buildings, the cool shops, the city squares and the little markets. It was beautiful. Just thinking about it makes my heart all tight and pang-y as it does when something is missed terribly.
The area under the bridge at Waterloo was one of the best. It reminded me a little bit of the Riverwalk in Chicago, but it also didn't at all. Don't you hate it when that happens? There were some young punk skater boys doing their tricks etcetera in a little underground skate park, complete with graffiti, which I loved. A fun fact about me is that I am an avid watcher of skateboarding documentaries, so I really feel a connection to skateboarders even though I really have nothing in common with them at all. Also, most of my crushes in elementary and middle school were on sk8r bois. I don't know what that reveals about my character, if anything, but whatever. I'll just leave that there for you to think about.
Besides the punkass skaters, there was a large secondhand book market that held some very interesting things, including collectible items wrapped in plastic! I love that crap. So fun. Sci-Fi, nice!! Bring it on! There was also a section on birds, which I did not particularly like but I'm willing to move past it for the sake of the rest of the available selection, which was a hit.
Besides the punkass skaters, there was a large secondhand book market that held some very interesting things, including collectible items wrapped in plastic! I love that crap. So fun. Sci-Fi, nice!! Bring it on! There was also a section on birds, which I did not particularly like but I'm willing to move past it for the sake of the rest of the available selection, which was a hit.
After a day of galavanting about the city, as one does, we ate dinner at Nando's. This, in itself, is a very British thing to do. Will informed Lucia and I that Londoners will refer to it as getting a "cheeky Nando's", implying that you shouldn't go get it, but you did anyway. I like that so much. That kills me. I am even further slain over the fact that I have gotten a cheeky Nando's. I believe the kids would say I am "2 Legit 2 Quit" at this point in time. I won't argue.
On Sunday Lucia and I found ourselves exploring London on our own, as Will had to return to his real life activities. We ate brunch like the millennial women that we are, and perused the shops as well as the parks and the neighborhoods. It was everything a Sunday should be; the sun was shining, the flowers blooming...life was good.
On the list of fun things that happened on Sunday:
1. A sticker on Lucia's deodorant set of the alarm when we entered and left Herrod's. This was hilarious because a) it was deodorant and b) the lady at the exit helped us find the sticker, saying that the same thing had happened to her with a makeup compact. What's the deal, beauty product industry??? Tryna make us look like criminals? You're better than that.
2. There was a half-marathon run through Hyde Park that took place in the morning. We were not told this directly, but we used our powerful deductive reasoning skills to determine that that is what had happened. There were people all throughout Knightsbridge wearing medals and sporty clothing. I'm sure they all did wonderfully.
3. We went to the London Whole Foods Market to get food for takeaway (!!) and let me just tell; you that it was the single best establishment I have ever set foot in. I am a personal fan of Whole Foods, but this just took it to a whole (no pun intended, ha ha) new level. It was insane. There were sample stations and salad bars and the entire second floor is DELICIOUS AND HEALTHY PREPARED FOOD and honestly it was the best thing ever. I have slightly forgotten what health is like, being here, and I feel as though I was reunited with a piece of my soul in the hallowed halls of that grocery.
1. A sticker on Lucia's deodorant set of the alarm when we entered and left Herrod's. This was hilarious because a) it was deodorant and b) the lady at the exit helped us find the sticker, saying that the same thing had happened to her with a makeup compact. What's the deal, beauty product industry??? Tryna make us look like criminals? You're better than that.
2. There was a half-marathon run through Hyde Park that took place in the morning. We were not told this directly, but we used our powerful deductive reasoning skills to determine that that is what had happened. There were people all throughout Knightsbridge wearing medals and sporty clothing. I'm sure they all did wonderfully.
3. We went to the London Whole Foods Market to get food for takeaway (!!) and let me just tell; you that it was the single best establishment I have ever set foot in. I am a personal fan of Whole Foods, but this just took it to a whole (no pun intended, ha ha) new level. It was insane. There were sample stations and salad bars and the entire second floor is DELICIOUS AND HEALTHY PREPARED FOOD and honestly it was the best thing ever. I have slightly forgotten what health is like, being here, and I feel as though I was reunited with a piece of my soul in the hallowed halls of that grocery.
It is impossible for me to sum up my love for London in words, so I will leave you with this note that I wrote in my phone while observing families in the park behind Kensington Palace:
"I wish I was here forever. I wish I lived here. I want to move here and marry a British man and have little British children with endearing accents and take them for romps in the park with our well-trained dogs, that would also have accents if they could speak."
"I wish I was here forever. I wish I lived here. I want to move here and marry a British man and have little British children with endearing accents and take them for romps in the park with our well-trained dogs, that would also have accents if they could speak."