Definitely Not the City That Never Sleeps

Choose the answer that best fits:

_______ is the city that attracts the most visitors/tourists every year.

a. Las Vegas
b. London
c. Sydney
d. New York

If you guessed B, you're right! This was a little fact in a video shown on my flight to London with Virgin Atlantic (which, by the way, is super nice and my new favorite airline). London receives more visitors annually than Las Vegas, Sydney, and New York combined, and now I know why.

I am absolutely loving everything about London so far! It really is an amazing (not to mention enormous) city. Yesterday, my first day here, I ate Dominos pizza, which was followed by Starbucks coffee--not so much a dive into UK culture. But after today, I want to experience everything I possibly can while I'm here. There is an unbelievable amount of stuff to do, and 4 months doesn't seem like enough time to even make a dent in it.

After orientation at City University, we visited St. Paul's cathedral, which is incredible and completely breathtaking. After this, on our way to Tate Museum of Modern Art, we crossed Millennium Bridge, which is surrounded by an amazing view of the city including an all-you-ever-imagined-it-to-be view Tower Bridge. On the way to dinner, we walked along the river, passing The London Eye and Big Ben, and I couldn't believe what I had before only seen through Google images was right in front of me.

While I'm quickly falling in love with London, there are some things that will undoubtedly take some adjustment. So far, what has had the biggest effect on me is how early stores close. By the time I got a chance to go to the store to get sheets, an alarm clock, and towels at 6:30 last night, the store was closed, and I was shocked. Instead of waking up with an alarm this morning, I had my mom call me on Skype (pathetic, I know). I dried off in the shower using a t-shirt and slept on a mattress and comforter without sheets or a duvet cover.

Besides this, there are so many other subtle differences between here and the U.S. that are going to be so much fun to discover. As my program (or programme, I guess it would be here) adviser said today: it's not better, it's not worse, it's just different. Here are some of the things in comparing cities I found so far:

1.
New York:
Drive like maniacs on the right side of the road.
London:
Drive like maniacs on the left side of the road (Trying to not get hit by a car/huge red bus while crossing is a lot harder than you'd think)

2.
New York:
A Milky Way=A Milky Way
A Mars Bar=A Mars Bar
An Almond Joy=An Almond Joy
London:
A Milky Way=A 3 Musketeers
A Mars Bar=A Milky Way
A Bounty=An Almond Joy

3.
New York:
Diet Coke is 0 calories
London:
Diet coke is 40 calories

4.
New York:
Cut food with a knife using your right hand, then proceed to put the knife down and eat with a fork using your right hand(or opposite for lefties)
London:
Eat while never putting your knife or fork down,cutting with your right and eating with a fork in your left

5.
New York:
Ridiculously expensive
London:
Ridiculously, crazily expensive

6.
New York:
Call a room with toilets a bathroom
London:
Call a room with toilets a loo

7.
New York:
Drinking age is 21
London:
Drinking age is 18

8.
New York:
Beer is served in moderately sized glasses
London:
Beer is served by the pint

9.
New York:
Public train service is called the Subway
London:
Public train service is called the Underground or the tube

10.
New York:
We never, ever see movies released in theaters that were made in other countries
London:
90% of movies in theaters are made in Hollywood. So far, I've seen promo ads for It's Complicated, Avatar, Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakquel,and so many more posted everywhere

11.
New York:
There are no British fast food chains taking over our country
London:
McDonalds restaurants are on every block and Starbucks is on every corner


I can't wait to look out for more! I'm having so much fun already, I'm almost forgetting I'm here to STUDY abroad :)