Feeling better

I'm feeling a bit better today, though still having trouble finding a place to live. I slept all through the night last night! Yay! I think I might be adjusting to the time zone. And John sent me a map of all the cafes in London with free wifi, so I'll go find one today. I asked a woman at the youth hostel if there were any around, and she said, "No, in London, they're few and far between." Turns out, there are two within a mile of the hostel.

I think I forgot to mention about my flight, I was feeling all grown up for leaving home alone and moving to a different part of the world and all that, and then I spilled a full cup orange juice all over my lap within the first 30 min of the flight. Seriously, the first 30 minutes. It went everywhere. I was wearing fairly quick-drying pants, though, so it wasn't too bad. I felt like a child, though.

Did I say Izzi and her boyfriend had iPod Nanos? Cuz I was wrong, if I did. I have an iPod Nano, and it certainly doesn't access the internet. They have those things that are iPhones, but without the phone. Whatever those are called.

I have been riding the tube a lot. I love the tube. They built it really near the center of the earth, so it's hotter than Hades, but it's still fun. There is seriously no ventilation whatsoever, except at random points riding the escalator, when you're suddenly blasted with large gusts of wind. I don't know what possessed them to add super-powered fans to the escalators.

Today, I moved from my couchsurfing digs to a youth hostel. Actually, I haven't checked in yet. I just left my luggage there. But the thing about the tube is, they only sometimes have escalators, and elevators are even more rare. To get in or out, or even to transfer from one line to another, you have to take stairs. My luggage is really heavy (I know, Becky, I know, I brought way too much). Earlier, I was attempting to drag it up some stairs to a train, and a really nice guy picked up the bottom to help me. He was cute, too! I probably should have offered him some Pringles to thank him, but he got on the train and I didn't. Oh well, I'm sure there will be other nice, hot guys I can share Pringles with.

A good thing about the tube is that, when a train stops unexpectedly in between stations, the drivers get on the PA and make a little announcement, even though it's usually something mundane like, "There's another train in the station, and we're just waiting for them to clear out." In France, I once sat on a stopped train in the middle of a field for 10 minutes. Rather than make an announcement about why we were stopped, the driver turned off the power, including the air conditioning (it was June in the south of France: hot!)

I guess I've been looking forward to moving to London for too long, because I sort of take everything for granted, even though I only just got here. I'm far too worldly. Where is my sense of wonder? Excitement at hearing a Cockney accent? This morning, the radio was on, and people were giving the news in British accents and I didn't even bat an eye. The one thing that still makes me smile every time, though, is school-children. They all wear adorable little uniforms, and speak with adorable little accents. Even if they're horrible little monsters, they still look and sound so charming!

So, I've spent all the (British) cash that Aunt Chris and Sara gave me. It goes so freaking quick! Fear not, though. I shall find a bureau de change and change all my American monies into pounds. That should last me for at least six more hours.

Feel free to email me or ask me questions in the comments. I'll try to remember to answer them in following posts. I miss you all to pieces! Come visit me! I don't have any place for you to stay (or even for me to stay) but we can wander around and be useless together!