Culture Shock

First week in London. Wow. When I set foot in Newark’s airport, I thought the most stressful thing I would do is fight with the possibly menopausal Continental Airlines employee over the weight of my bag.

Two inflight movies and a time zone later, Heathrow Airport seemed surreal. As our bus pulled out into the sunlight (a rare sight for the fall apparently), I found myself overwhelmed and lightheaded (though mostly due to exhaustion and starvation).

I soon found how different two cultures can be even in the simplest of areas. Never have I been so bewildered or stressed at a grocery store in my life. Homesickness became just another symptom of my severe case of culture shock.

UPS Truck featuring sign for 2012 Olympics

All gets better in time right? Apparently not soon enough as I learned at 4:50 a.m. when insomnia became the next of my culture shock symptoms. At least I got a good laugh at the discovery that late night British television caters to the deaf with signers (even in music videos).

The city is truly beginning to grow on me though. After 3 days, I can truly say I love this place. Yeah, the food pretty much sucks, and, unfortunately, they don’t have a Walmart.

A street sign I found rather humorous

My favorite part about the city so far is how easy it is to get around: Taking the bus, the tube, or simply walking. Adventure literally lies in front of our every step.

Today’s journey? The hunt for Abbey Road which I learned today was famous thanks to the Beatles (I’m a big fan, can’t you tell?)

I offered to take a photo for Julia and Sarah that is reminiscent of the album cover that made the street famous (fortunately a woman had it on her shirt to help me find the correct framing).

A week’s worth of adventure and these are just the cliff notes. Look forward for more to come!

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