Touchdown

Internet finally up at my dorm! Landed in London Heathrow on Wednesday and checked-in to my room in the afternoon. Turns out the place had some network issues so the internet was down throughout the entire building. Unpacked my luggage, repacked my backpack, and decided to get lost in London. 

And by 'repacked my backpack' I mean to say that I forgot to take anything out and stuffed it with whatever else I thought I might need. My laptop, in case I needed to pretend I was working on something in public. An umbrella; on average it rains half the time in London so I expected it to rain throughout the latter part of the day. My sunglasses, because. My U.S. passport with English visa and school offer letter; if I accidentally commit a heinous British crime I could justify my incompetence. 

After a briefly observing the available food shops, restaurants, and other sources of sustenance around my vicinity, I left the mutton chops of the city and made way across the Thames into the bushy heart of London. In efforts to not get lost, I made mental note of a few key landmarks as soon as I crossed the river. "Pret A Manger", some sandwich shop. Check. Guy giving shoeshine to an exceptionally British looking fellow reading the newspaper. Check. And onward I went. 

Having made no preparation whatsoever, every time I stopped I had no idea whether what I was looking at was of any significance. I had paused in the middle of the street to take a gander at a statue of a person holding up a dragon. Or was it the other way around. I'm not sure. It was a person (verb)ing a dragon. Vertically. I would've liked for someone to stop and tell me that it held some historic importance, but that never happened. However it was a significant landmark for me because it was at that point that I realized I was lost. Turns out "Pret A Manger" is a chain store and there are literally 2 or 3 of them every block. They serve mainly sandwiches and juice; apparently the British love to have sandwiches for lunch. Also, the shoe-shiner was no where in sight.

Of the potentially non-descript buildings I passed, I did bump into St. Paul's Cathedral. It costs money to go inside. I have nothing more to say. 

Eventually I found my way back only by looking for "Bridge" on the street signs and following them to the edge of the Thames. On the other side it was only a matter of skimming along the river until the surroundings started to look familiar. I had 2 goals when I started: to find LSE and to break in my uncomfortably new shoes. I achieved neither of them. I went in the wrong direction away from the school and my feet hurt like hell.