london calling.

So, I'm in London.
Weird.
Actually, the weird thing is that it is not in fact weird. I got off the plane on Tues. night and was just like, oh. London. Cool. Maybe that means that this place is already kind of like home (or, at least, way like New York.) I did have an OMGZLONDON moment earlier, but I'll get to that in due time...

I am currently sitting in my relatively normal-sized, yet well-decorated, dorm room out in Camden Town, which just so happens to be my fave part of London (think Lower East Side for location and some hipness, Williamsburg for the still-gritty, ungentrified nature), and waiting for two of my new American buddies to make it out here from campus (Bloomsbury--"literary London," aka Virginia Woolf-land.) It's raining. You're not surprised about that, though. Thankfully, thus far we've really only had drizzly days, nothing super-rainy ... like today. (Oh God. I'm turning into a Londoner. I'm talking about the weather.) But regardless, we're still going to go for a walk down to the market, maybe go adventuring a bit--that's the wonderful thing about not yet having any responsibilities.

I've fallen in with a passel of Americans, yes...it's an orientation week thing, I'm promised, though they're all at least interesting if not awesome. All of them either go to Wash U, are history majors, and/or live in the catered hall out in Bloomsbury. I'm the outlier, which is kinda funny. About ten of us met up at the opening reception (free wine...I like this country!) and went out to a pub after...last night, we all ended up going to an avant-garde electronica performance at the Tate Britain (featuring Momus, the unreliable tour guide from the Whitney Biennial that Emily and I stalked...) I think you can guess whose idea that was. Haha. Thanks, flavorpill ldn! It was quite cool, though, as it was like the Guggenheim, only, um, free, and no line to get in. The Brits have the right idea (whatever that idea might be.)

Following that, we went for a bit of a walk along the river. It was a clear night, and Parliament was gorgeous. It was, as I think is obvious here, pretty breathtaking. Even the Eye looked pretty awesome, considering.

Following all this, Anne, Courtney, and I ended up at a pub right near the bus I have to take back to Camden. We were tired and it was already 11 -- oh yeah. In England time works funny. Due to the fact that a lot of pubs still close at 11.30, and some close at 1, you have to get an early start to drinking, and feel like it's 4am when it's really just 1. It's weird and is most definitely going to take some getting used to -- I'm used to leaving for 1020 at 12 or 1! But so yes, Court & I weren't going to get anything to drink (hellooooo exchange rate!) but the three of us ended up collectively making friends with a random English dude, who bought us drinks (no, we were not roofied; no, I did not have beer and am perfectly happy with sticking to vodka lemonade, since it's still TOTES English!) We talked about funny things British people say. He liked the Kaiser Chiefs. I am so stoked that people here actually like good music.

That's about it for today. The girls should be in town in about 20 minutes, then I suppose we'll see. A NME-hyped band is playing Frog (one of the NUMEROUS indie club nights in ldn--I'm in love) and a few of gli Americani mentioned they'd be up for music, so I'll see if I can talk them into it...if not, I'm sure there's still time for me to have my Pete Doherty moment.