London Calling

Being in London was very surreal at first. Walking around and being able to read signs and understand what everyone was saying for the first time in five months made us realize how much we had forgotten. Both of us had gotten so used to just blocking everyone and everything out unless we absolutely needed to understand them/it that being able to walk into a sandwich shop and be able to read the entire menu felt like a luxury. In fact, it took us about twenty minutes to figure out what to order because we had so many more choices rather than just recognizing one or two words and hoping it was what we wanted.

We landed in London Stansted Airport around 8am London time (3am Boston time) and then got the next coach to Victoria Station. Because of all the traffic, and the multiple stops the bus had to take before the station, it took us almost two hours to get to Victoria Station. From there we hopped on the Northern Line to Borough Station and checked into our hostel. Originally we had hoped we would check in earlier to be able to go on the 11am free Sandeman’s New Europe Tour, but by the time we got there it was already after noon. The next free tour started at 4pm, so we went to get some lunch and then walked over to the Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. The Tate was really cool, got to stand in a room between Monet and Jackson Pollack, and it was free (with the exception of the special exhibits). The Globe Theater was not free, so we just looked into it rather than taking the tour.

By then it was almost 4pm, so we headed to the meeting point for the tour at Hyde Park Corner. When we got there two girls working for Sandeman’s were sitting down talking and smoking cigarettes, but neither was making any attempt to publicize the tour. Unlike every of city we have been to on these tours, there was no sign or anything. It was cold and a bit rainy, so we figured that they didn’t really want to give the tour. Then after a third person came, a guy, they started to act somewhat more interested in the few people that had gathered for the tour, but kept saying that they wouldn’t give the tour unless there was at least 6 people. Finally, a few more people showed up making a total of 8 so one of the girls had to give us the tour. Her name was Emma and she grew up in the England. The minute the tour started she changed from being bored and annoyed to way more peppy and happy, slightly too much making her annoying at times. Overall though she was a good tour guide, very funny and, being a drama major, very enthusiastic while telling all of the stories.

On the tour we saw all three of the royal palaces in London, governmental buildings, and the parliament house (it was the Royal Tour). It lasted until 6:30pm and then we rushed to King’s Cross Train Station to find Platform 9 ¾ (from Harry Potter). We had to rush there because at 7pm the Tube workers were going on strike until Friday morning, we have perfect timing don’t we? From the newspapers (ahh, it was so nice to be able to read a newspaper) I learned that the strike was because the workers want a 5% pay increase and because two workers were recently fired. One was fired because he opened the doors on the wrong side of the train one time and he hadn’t completed his safety checks. The other was accused of theft. Anyway, we made it to Platform 9 ¾ and back to our hostel just in time. By the way, Platform 9 ¾ is a tourist trap, they don’t even let you go to the actual platform, but instead to this random wall that they put a sign on and stuck half a trolley into. But, we had to be good tourists and take the pictures anyway of course.

Because of the tube strike our plans to meet Dusjan at Heathrow Airport to help him with all of David’s bags was completely ruined. It was cheaper for David to have Dusjan meet us in London with all of his things rather than having him ship them to his uncle’s house in Birmingham or Florida. Originally we were going to meet Dusjan when his flight landed around 11pm, but since we couldn’t take the tube we had to find a bus and the only bus we could take wasn’t getting to Heathrow until 12:30am. We tried to text and email Dusjan, but we had already boarded his plane in Sweden and didn’t get the messages until he landed in London. We waited for over an hour for the bus to get him Tuesday night. It never came. We tried to text him again (we couldn’t make phone calls traveling because we didn’t have the special number) the text messages wouldn’t send and we ended up running out of money. So we went back to the hostel and tried to call and text him on Skype and then just emailed him explaining the situation. Eventually Dusjan finally checked his email and realized we couldn’t make it and headed to the hostel alone. It took him over two hours because of all the traffic and confusion in the city. At around 5:30am Dusjan burst into the hostel room, scaring the crap out of me. In the morning David and I explained everything again to him and apologized, but there really wasn’t much else we could have done.

On Wednesday, David, Dusjan, and I walked around London. Our first stop was the tower that Henry VIII had his second wife Ann Boleyn beheaded. Then we went to London Tower Bridge, for 5 pounds we got to go inside it and in the engine room museum. After that we ate lunch and then Dusjan left us to go do some shopping because he had already been to London. David and I went to the British Museum to see the Rosetta Stone and some other exhibits, then we were going to go back to Buckingham Palace to take pictures with the guards, but it was going to take forever to take the buses there (it took us about an hour to go a few blocks to the British Museum!) So instead we went, well I went, shopping. Then we went back to the hostel to meet Dusjan for dinner and then we were going to go down to the pub in the hostel to watch the England – Andorra game. We were going to eat there as well, but then after we ordered potato wedges we realized they didn’t have a kitchen in the pub. Instead they were ordering the food from a pizza place down the street or something. It was hilarious, we waited like a half an hour for a side of potato wedges and when we asked where they were the girl said she called and they would be here any minute and then I looked up and saw a guy running across the street with them! So, yeah, after that we decided to go somewhere else to eat.

Then on Thursday morning I had to say goodbye to David and Dusjan and catch my plane back to Sweden for one more night in Örebro. It was really hard to say goodbye, especially since David and I had been living together for the past 17 days. Making matters worse it was that the whole goodbye process was rushed because of all the tube problems and then we couldn’t find where I was supposed to catch the bus. It all started to sink in though throughout the day that I am going home. For the last time I took the bus from Skavsta to Örebro. Joie and Per met me at the bus station and took me back to their apartment for dinner before we went to Heleen’s for a final goodbye party with everyone. It was crazy, practically everyone had left already, and maybe twenty people were at the party. So, of course there were many tears at the end when I was leaving. Not knowing when or if I am ever going to see these people again is really scary and sad. When I left to come here it never crossed my mind how much I would love it and all of the people I would meet. Instead I always just thought, “yeah I’m going away for a couple of months and then I’ll come home”. Now, I don’t really want to go home. I can’t believe I that I don’t know exactly when or if I will ever see these people again. It’s not like at home when you can say goodbye knowing you’ll see them when the summer is over. This could quite possibly be goodbye forever. And I didn’t even get to really say goodbye to everyone.

On Friday I met Karina and her parents at 11am at the university to drive to Stockholm to take the ferry to Riga. Joie dropped me off, and that was tough, but at least with her I know I’ll see her next spring when she is studying in the US, and thankfully Per too because he is going to come visit her (obviously). I didn’t even get to say goodbye to Per because he left early for work.

This is all just to weird. Right now I am sitting in Karina’s house, and I feel the most homesick. But it’s a complicated homesick, I’m homesick for Boston and for Örebro. Seeing Karina with her parents and meeting her friends makes me miss everyone at home and feel slightly jealous that she is able to do it. But at the same time, I wish I were back in Örebro with everyone and not caring about anything. Studying abroad puts you into this weird alternative universe, where everyone and everything is amazing and nothing matters but being with those people. But now, being here, it’s brought me back to reality. That on Thursday, just five days from now, I will be home. Even scarier is the fact that no one there has experienced all this with me, so I know that it will all feel like some sort of weird dream. It’s a really depressing realization that this is all coming to an end.

Love and miss you!
Home: 5 days

London pictures have been posted: http://picasaweb.google.com/sineadorade

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