Welcome home.

Friday, August 22, 2008

I’m amazed at my lack of amazement for being in London. These past two days, I find myself continually saying, “Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m here!” But the truth is, it hasn’t hit me yet. There’s no sense of wonder, no glee when I see a landmark or tourist attraction. Appreciation, yes, but none of that customary tourist awe. At first I wondered if it was because I was too tired to truly understand the gravity of my situation. I’m living in London! Today, though, I woke up and spent the day walking all over the city, and I was still never hit with a powerful sense of “I’m here!” Maybe it’s because I don’t feel like a tourist. I think it’s because I’ve been here before. Visiting Bonnie two summers ago has helped me a lot. I know how to navigate the Tube, and I can point out landmarks. And at least a year’s worth of watching the Travel Channel, reading books, and just accumulating general knowledge about London and the UK in general has really prepared me for being here. I’m constantly spewing knowledge about the best Tube routes to various places, all the good sites to visit, pointing out obscure buildings that have some significance (today I pointed out MI-6…not everyone understood). I was afraid I would be sorely under prepared for this experience, but at times I feel like a walking tour book. I’m sure this is quite annoying for my fellow students, but it’s making my time here easier.
Lauren, Leah, and I woke, went to breakfast, and joined some other students on the way to the Embankment Tube station, then walked over to Westminster Pier for our boat tour of the Thames down to Greenwich. It was our first view of Big Ben, Westminster Palace, and the London Eye, so there was much touristy picture-taking and general merriment. Maybe I’m not awe-struck at being in London, but I will say this: I couldn’t help but notice the beauty of standing at Westminster Pier. With Big Ben behind me and the Thames, City Hall, the London Eye, and the eastern view of the Thames in front, it really was wonderful.
The boat tour was also wonderful. Unfortunately, there were two very small, very noisy children on board, so I couldn’t hear all of what the tour guide was saying, but he often mentioned things that were very interesting or very strange to hear as an American. I’ve been noticing a general sense of relaxed censorship here. The tour guide would said a few things that were a bit racy and/or morbid, like a detailed description of how prisoners were tied to posts beneath Execution Pier as the tide came in, and the judge would go across the Thames to a pub and watch you drown. Or how tourists are able to climb up the towers of Tower Bridge, get a great view, take pictures, or even jump to their deaths, if they like. I also noted a disability insurance advertisement in the Goodge Street tube station that shows a bunny in a wheelchair and reads, “It’s not the wheelchair that keeps me from sex. It’s other people’s narrow minds.” Or something to that effect. I’ll know it by heart sooner or later. It’s hilarious, but I doubt that kind of humor would fly in America. It wouldn’t be P.C.
We got off the boat tour in Greenwich, right in front of Greenwich University, which is in the old Royal Naval Hospital. We walked around for a bit, saw the Painted Hall, which was interesting on many levels. First off, this gorgeous building is the University’s dining hall. I think I need to write a request to President Durden. There’s not even a mural on our Caf. ceiling. I enjoyed “reading” the mural, which featured King William and Queen Mary, surrounded by angels, crushing a man who looks suspiciously like Louis XIV and whose crown has fallen off, lying next to a fallen papal crown. This particular part of the painting was symbolizes Protestantism’s triumph over Catholicism following the Glorious Revolution and flight of James II, the two religions personified by William and Mary and Louis XIV, respectively. But, beyond this main focus of the painting, there was the running theme of water and the navy (of course, seeing as we were in the old Naval Hospital), and, more specifically, the navies of England and France, it seemed. On one end of the ceiling was painted the stern of a British boat, flying the Union Jack, and on the opposite end was the stern of a ship flying a flag of fleurs-de-lis. I suppose this could have been another British flag, but it seemed more likely that it was French, since the fleur-de-lis has been the symbol of the French monarchy since the twelfth century. Prof. Rudalevige mentioned that the English have a strange obsession with the French, and I’m seeing it more and more.
We ate at the Admiral Hardy Pub. I had fish and chips, which was surprisingly filling and not too terrible. I think I might actually be able to adapt to chips with salt and vinegar. Give up ketchup? Gasp, I know, but it can be done.
On our way up the hill to the Royal Observatory, we walked through Greenwich market, which was nice, but I’m more excited for the Sunday markets at Covent Garden and Camden.
We climbed the hill to the observatory, which was arduous but provided a lovely view of the eastern part of the city, including the Millennium Dome (now called the O2 Dome). This domed building was built to celebrate the millennium and provide a showcase for modern Britain to show how it was going to enter into the new era. It was considered a failure, and I couldn’t agree more. It’s hideous. Eventually O2 (a phone company) bought it and turned it into a concert venue, which is currently pretty popular. But it’s still ugly.
We went quickly through the observatory, because the main attraction was in the courtyard outside. Yes, the Prime Meridian, 0° longitude, the namesake of Greenwich Meantime, off which every other time zone in the world is based. We took pictures, acted touristy. Then it started to rain, our first British rain. It wasn’t particularly exciting. I’m just glad that my umbrella is small enough to fit in my purse.
Then we visited the Maritime Museum, which was not the most exciting thing for me. Maritime history just doesn’t really lie within my interests. What I did find interesting, both within the exhibits and just as around Greenwich in general, was a sense of global community. There was an exhibit in the Maritime Museum which detailed the history of trade and travel across the Atlantic, between American and Britain. But this, along with a few smaller exhibits on global trade, plus the multitude of foreign tourists that had come to Greenwich, really drove home the point that London is very much a global city, and seems very proud to take on that role, celebrating the connection it’s had to the world for so long.
We took the train back to Goodge. Chad and I decided it would be cool to get dinner in Piccadilly Circus. Unfortunately, there aren’t many restaurants over there, so we kept wandering down various streets, trying to find the cheapest restaurant we could. We ended up in St. James’s Park, considered eating pigeon, and continued up to Buckingham Palace, where we saw the closing up of the Visa 2012 Party, a promotional party for the 2012 Olympics. It’s four years away, but there are posters and banners everywhere, and several of these promotional parties have been held throughout the summer.
We wandered almost all over Westminster, eventually coming to the Abbey and finally deciding to stop at Pizza Express, which is like a high-end Pizza Hut. It was pretty nice, actually. Perhaps more expensive than I would have liked, but we were starving and quite tired by that point. After dinner we made our way back to the Arran House. Long day.

So I don’t feel crazy excited to be here, not in the touristy sense, I suppose. I am very happy to be here. Very excited and grateful to be given the chance to live in London, which has always been my dream. But my excitement is more of a comfort, an ease with the city and myself in it. Walking back from dinner, I just had to smile to myself, knowing that I was in London. I got this sort of warm, fuzzy feeling, like I belong here, that this is where I’m supposed to be. I don’t get that feeling often, and certainly not in cities. Maybe this really is the place for me, then.
On the boat tour, when we passed by the burial place of the Mayflower’s captain, the boat guide explained about the history of how the Puritans left for America on the Mayflower, and said, “So, to all you Americans on board, welcome home.” My family didn’t come over on the Mayflower, but what he said really meant something to me. Right now, at least, this does feel like home. I could certainly live here.

P.S.
If there seems to be an unnecessary amount of academic reflection in these entries, it is because this blog is also doubling as my trip journal, which will be graded.