London Calling

Week 1, Entry 1

Experiencing this city for the first three days has been a surreal experience, and somewhat of an emotional roller coaster. When I first arrived in London, I was essentially dead to the world due to jet lag. The first thing I noticed was that every airport seemed to be exactly the same. Going from airport to airport and seeing the odd similarities sometimes made me forget I was actually traveling to a different country. I ended up taking to the tube into Greenwich, which was in itself an exhausting experience. The diversity of the city struck me; I found myself pondering, "where are all the British people?" I was wearing an Ohio State T-shirt at the time, and actually ended up standing next to a girl who had just graduated from OSU. I couldn't believe that even though I traveled all the way to a foreign country, OSU students were still everywhere!

When I got off the tube, a giant, glowing McDonald's sign was there to greet me. I was surprised to see such an American sight right at the beginning of my stay in London. Despite this familiar image, I still felt very much like I was in a foreign country and very cut off from the rest of the world. At this point I had no internet connection, no cell phone, and did not know anyone in the group of students all that well. I also felt very, very far away from everyone I cared about. At this point I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to grow up in a place like London or stay there for an extended period of time. The idea just seemed completely unfathomable to me; how can someone live so far from the people they love? How could I ever call this place home when everything I hold dear is in Ohio?