Orientation & Covent Garden!

After two days filled with orientation, course inductions, and meetings, a lot of the study abroad students were getting antsy and wanting to explore London more. A group of us decided to go out to dinner and see whether or not the rumor that "British food isn't good" is actually true. We chose to go to Covent Garden because we knew it had a lot of choices and was a nice area to see. To get there all the way from Southeast London, we took the Tube for the first time. The Tube is essentially like a NYC subway with similarities like musicians playing music in the station, but there are also these huge, steep escalators. We were told several times during orientation that in England, when going on an escalator, you have to stand on the right so that people can pass by you on your left. If you don't, it really annoys everyone. It's kind of hard because you want to stand as a group and talk, but instead you have to stay in a single file line. I definitely notice more cultural differences as the days pass. 

After changing tube lines twice we arrived in Covent Garden after about 20 minutes. Navigating the tube wasn't as intimidating as I thought it would be and I'm glad the group of us figured out how to use it early on. When we arrived at Covent Garden we were all excited to see a place that looked more like how we imagined London. There was a performer balancing on a tightrope in the street, people dining outside, and shops everywhere. Not to mention amazing Christmas decorations!

Outdoor seating

We ended up eating outdoors as well, with a fire lantern next to us to keep warm. The weather in London has been surprisingly nice though! Well, nice for London... :-) After looking at the menu, I decided I wanted the mushroom ravioli. I can't remember much of the description but it said it was in a chardonnay cream sauce and since I love mushrooms I had to get it. I'm so glad I did! It was probably the best ravioli I've ever had so who says London has bad food? It was only pasta though, so after I try more "typical" British foods I'll have to make another opinion. 

Mushroom ravioli

After, we went to a pub called "The Globe" that was a few minutes away and met a few University of Westminster students that our friend knew from her college at home. The pub was really nice and even better news is that they show sporting events! Well... only football (soccer). I've never been into soccer since I'm more of a football/baseball fan, but I definitely want to see a Chelsea game in real life and go to The Globe to watch a game on the tele there. Uh oh, British words are rubbing off on me! 

Thinking about British words, people here say "cheers" to mean thank you. When Cailin and I went to the laundry room and were holding the door for the guy behind us, he stopped, grabbed the door and said, "cheers." We didn't really catch what he said and we thought he might be holding the door for us so we said thank you to him. Only later did we realize that he was saying thank you to us for waiting for him to reach the door. Well, he might have been a little confused! We also had course inductions which told us when our classes would be held and a little about the department and classes we are taking. I am super excited to take the courses Creative London and Social Enterprise. We go on site visits to different new and upcoming art galleries, dance companies, social enterprises, among many other creative organizations. My lecturer (they don't call them professors or teachers) said we could even do theatrics, visual arts, or any other effective creative format to make our final group presentation. I can't wait to have a creative outlet after taking all my hard junior level business courses last semester! I also loved Covent Garden. It's so pretty and reminds us of Quincy Market, except larger and with easy walking access to Soho, Piccadilly Circus, China Town, and Trafalgar Square. The group of us were all excited to eat a good meal surrounded by the city. I got tomato roasted penne which was really good. 

The exchange rate is so bad though that we are going to have to be careful with commuting prices and eating out. I put 20 pounds which is almost $35 worth of money onto my "Oyster Card" (London's transportation card) before the weekend and have barely any left! However, all us study abroad students really needed that night away from campus; Covent Garden was the London we saw in photos and pictured inside our heads so it was nice to feel like we truly arrived in London!