WonL
The random thoughts of an architect-turned- lawyer from the deep south living in Washington, DC...
Friday, August 04, 2006
Removing the rose-colored glasses to get downright pissy.
As most of you already know, I sure am enjoying my fairy tale summer. Since I met Ben, I have been saying I do not want to return to the States. I love London and love being here with him. However, as the end of my summer trip approaches, I do know that I will be going home soon. In anticipation of this, I have been reflecting on things that I miss about "home." In the process, I have come to realize just what a spoiled American I am. I miss the convenience of my life!Most obviously, I cannot wait to get out of this god-forsaken dormitory and back home to my huge comfortable luxury high rise apartment. The lack of respect and quiet of the people in this building is unbelievable. So. Sick. Of. Doors. Being. Slammed. I just want a full night's sleep. I am so tired of having to wear earplugs to fall asleep. It's just not comfortable. I miss my big comfy bed with my down comforter. The bed here is so hard and fits only one-half of a person. I am so sick of running into the wall when I turn around. Oh and the shower, don't get me started on the damn shower. I actually dread taking a shower because it is the most miserable experience of my day. Aside from the shower itself being tiny, the shower head sprays in every direction possible except down toward me. If I want to get the conditioner out of my hair, I have to jump up and down to get some water. I have actually just given up and I think I am walking around with about three weeks worth of conditioner build-up.
We have "maids" that come once a week and clean our rooms. This is crap considering the maid that came last Friday smelled so horrendous that I had to use up my body spray to get rid of the odor in the room. Oh, and speaking of body spray, I ran out and went to three stores before I could find more. The body sprays here don't actually smell good. They all remind me of Jean Nate. And they are all aerosol. Everything here is aerosol. It's as if they don't care about the environment. Oh my gawd, the pollution. There are some streets I cannot even walk down because of the excess pollution. [Wow, getting a little off track here.] Let's wrap up dorm life by saying that it sucks and I spent $1800usd to live here.
I miss my money. I am tired of needing to purchase things but having to double the amount to know how much it is actually costing me. London is already expensive but London is more expensive when you are spending worthless American dollars. And the coins. Why must there be so many coins? Seriously, if 1 pence is such a negligible amount, why do you feel the need to have a 2 pence as well?
You are really going to gasp at this one, but I miss the Metro! Seriously, I had a "tube vs. metro" conversation with my friend the other day and he swears by the convenience of the Tube. Are you kidding me? I have lost well over $40usd on crap tube rides. You know, the kind where you get to some random stop and they say "everyone off the train, um, signal failure, um, good luck." I cannot believe it is such a common occurrence here. Yesterday, I actually only got one freaking stop. I recalled what friend said about other options to get to my destination and how convenient it was. Conveniently, I could just take a regular train from where I was. Not so conveniently, the sign in front of the train entrance said "no train, there is a person on the track." Convenience aside, the Metro is air-conditioned. Enough said.
The weather over past few days in London has been divine. Prior to this week, however, it has been downright miserable. Apparently, I selected the all time heat-record-setting summer in which to come here. I realize the same is going on in the US, but at least at home, I have air conditioning in my apartment, at school, at work, at bars, etc. Here, nada. I spent three weeks just sweating. Never actually cooled off. Add on the misery of showering and it's just rough!
It's the everyday little things that have really inconvenienced me. However, even with all of them piled on daily, l still love London and I am still not ready to go back to the States!