Uh oh. It’s really getting down to the wire now. I have one week- ok, as of this sentence, one week and 3 hours- until I leave for London. At this point I’ll be sitting in O’Hare, hopefully, anyways, flipping out about A) the flight B) what I’m going to do on the plane with my short attention span and inability to sleep outside of a bed and C) huh, I don’t know, maybe about LIVING IN AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT NATION FOR SIX MONTHS.
But, you know, that third one’s not important.
I really have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve never been out of the continental US. I mean, I’ve traveled all over it, like to California, Florida, Colorado, you name it. I’ve seen both oceans, multiple mountain ranges, the southernmost point (thanks Key West). I’ve been to the three largest cities in the country multiple times, all the DC landmarks, and had the privilege of living in New York City for the past 5 semesters. Plus I’ve been to a lot of other places, like this nation’s official Mall and even the randomness of Buffalo Bill’s grave on Pike’s Peak (twice). But go on a spring vacation to Cancun? Nope. We just always alternated between the family friendly places of Aspen or Vail in Colorado and Sanibel Island, Florida. Stayed in Canada? Never, it’s cold enough in Wisconsin, thankyouverymuch. I’ve never been to Hawaii or Alaska, either. My family’s boring, we just go to those same old places.
But now’s my chance. A semester in London, where there’s no language barrier, better music, and a lot more people who like Michael Jackson. I mean, ok, I’m not looking forward to the food (I hate anything that once swam in it’s own, well, you know). But I’m excited to live in the same place people like Elizabeth I, Shakespeare, and Freddie Mercury called home (all on the same level, really). So, how have I been busily preparing for my trip?
By doing, um, not a whole lot.
Like, I have the books and the maps- I have more tourist guides than Barnes and Noble, mostly because I come from a family that really, really likes maps (I’m not kidding, we have huge ones installed in our basement that I find myself staring at for hours). From all different companies too- Not For Tourists (cause I LOVE my NYC one), Rick Steve’s, Frommer’s, and a random book from about 2006 from when we planned on taking a Eurotrip of our own until my half-sister was born. Plus at least four stand alone maps of all over the place, and for some unknown reason 4 books on Italy in case I decide to visit. I think I’m covered with the maps.
And I do have a little money. I think it’s pretty, and almost felt like tacking it on my wall instead of bringing it as currency. Green’s my fave color, so I can’t fault the US Treasury for choosing it, but it might be cool if we were a little less monochromatic. Plus on the 10 pound note (I get really sick of having to go to the character palate to use £ all the time) they have Charles Darwin and a hummingbird on it (though wasn’t he really more into the finches?) and that’s kinda cool. But while we have some dead presidents (and good ole Benji) on ours, along with some monuments celebrating their achievements, sometimes theirs can be even more boring. Like, the Queen’s picture has been dated for about 50 years (I can only imagine Prince William’s portrait will make British currency pinup worthy, as long as they kinda fill in the parts of his scalp where he’s prematurely balding) and on the back of one features Adam Smith. Not exactly a marquee name, like Darwin or our own Lincoln and Washington, but if IB Econ taught us anything it was at least that Adam Smith was a Name To Know. Apparently only one of Smith's achievements was worth including on the 20 pound note. Turn it over and you see a bunch of guys working in an old timey factory that you could just imagine was powered by water mill, and the caption reads, no joke, "The division of labour in pin manufacturing (and the great increase in the quantity of work that results)."
Yep, their currency celebrates pins making. I'm never thinking American currency is boring again. After all the amazing accomplishments wrought by Britian over millenia of history, they go with pin manufacture. If that's not an example of the stereotypical British drollness, I don't know what is. I mean, seriously, PINS. Not over it.
Other than that well... I haven’t packed, or even unpacked from New York, and I know I’m going to have to do some rearranging. I don’t even have a new camera yet (apparently Christmas is not a time for gifts at my dad’s house, who knew?) and I’m still flipping out just over the flight. I hate flying. Every break I curse myself for picking a school 1000 miles away because there’s literally no way I can justify the 22 hour train ride (I checked). Every single flight I think is going to be my last. Takeoff’s the worst, especially since I read somewhere that if you survive the first three minutes, terrorists aside, you’re pretty likely to survive the rest, since those first three minutes are the most dangerous of any flight, followed closely by the last three minutes. I’m a nervous wreck getting on the plane, sitting in the taxi line, and taking off, but then I’m cool for the rest of it, until we get to the last three minutes of landing where I start thinking that smooth takeoff was just luck and I’m really going to die now.
Flying isn’t pleasant for me.
But right now, I’m also planning what I’m going to do while in London. I mean, obviously I’ll have school, and I have a list of touristy stuff I want to see (the O2 arena, where This Is It was supposed to be, and the Tower of London easily at the top, closely followed by Westminster and all that other good stuff). But since I have no original ideas of my own I decided to go with a blog.
I’m not good with keeping up with blogs. I could never keep a journal for more than a month at a time. My last blog ended in disaster, where I decided to make a political statement, was honest and allowed people inside my personal beliefs, and was made to cry from disrespectful comments. So please, no snarky remarks, k? Then I decided to start it up again, but Michael Jackson died and I decided to end it on that note cause everything else would just sound stupid. Like, I can’t just write this heartfelt thing on MJ on June 26th and then have June 27th be something dumb like “Here are some musings on Twilight.” So the last blog? Failure.
I mean, I don’t even respond to facebook messages in a timely fashion, and that’s an actual conversation.
I don’t even know who, if anyone, would read this. BUT I feel like having some record of my time in London and it’s just fun to break down the fourth wall or whatever and address the readers, even if they are nonexistent, so there you go.
The name was difficult. I’m not good with names. My mom used to write greeting cards and name calendars and other tchotchkes, so she can come up with a creative name or short phrase at the drop of a hat. But me? Not so much. So for now I’m just going to call it An American Werewolf in London, for multiple reasons:
- I’m American, going to London, and you don’t know EVERYTHING about me...
- I might never have seen the movie, but it’s a classic and looks really good. I’ll see it soon, I swear.
- The film was directed by John Landis, who directed Thriller. Shut up. This is my blog and I’ll do what I want.
- It just sounds cool. Come on, think about it, it’s an American werewolf, in London. Whenever I think about how much trouble I may have adjusting, I can always end it with “Well, at least I’m not a WEREWOLF.”
- The only other names I could think of were London Calling (even more cliched than my title), London Skies (a Jamie Cullum song, fyi, too obscure), or London Town (which just sounds weird). Like I said, not good with titles.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll change it. Maybe this will be my only blog post. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But here goes. Wish me luck.
