5 Jan

Sachi left today! We finally got a taste of breakfast in the hall and it wasn’t too bad. The hash browns are somewhat lacking and Sachi found the tea rather weak, but it was nice to have cereal again and the croissants are pretty nice. You can get milk, toast, juice, hot chocolate, hash browns, croissants, eggs prepared in various fashions, sausages, baked beans (!), fruit, and yoghurt. All in all, not a bad spread. Right after breakfast we walked down to the Denmark Hill train station where Sachi was hopefully in time for the soon-departing train to Victoria Station. They wouldn’t let me on the platform without a ticket, so we said farewell at the gate. I think I’ll miss her more than I realize. She’s shown me how to navigate around London and helped me settle in, put up with my frequent taciturnity and grumpiness, and for that I’m very grateful. Not surprisingly, I got a little lost on my way back to the dorm because I decided to be fancy and walk the long way around instead of the most direct route. I know, I have much to learn. But believe it or not, I’ve been the unofficial “navigator” of the Americans and exchange students here. Yeah, it’s true. I helped them get to orientation and back! Lainey (Elaine from next door) calls me “a wealth of information” because I know more dates, rules, and travel routes about King’s and London than any other new student here. It helps that I’ve spent more time in this city than any of them have and that I had a very capable navigator with me during my first days here. I got back to the dorm about 10 minutes after Sachi left (so I wasn’t lost for that long! Besides, it’s a small area) and puttered around on the computer for a bit, waiting for Lainey to get ready. She was ready just after 11 and told me about Katie Peoples, another American from Washington University in St. Louis (where I was accepted and almost went!) who would be joining us on our way to orientation. She had just arrived in the morning or the day before, I can’t remember, and was still unpacking when we got to her door. She’s just down the hall from us. In a few minutes, we were ready to go and headed out. I’m getting more and more familiar with the bus system here so I comfortably guided them onto the right bus. It was fun talking to them on the way over and it will be nice to have Americans around whom I can understand and who understand the cultural references I might make. It will make “culture shock” when that finally hits a lot easier to bear. On the ride over we chatted about movies, England, home, all kinds of stuff. Since orientation wasn’t until 13.00, we left early to grab some lunch nearby. To my delight, both of them love Indian and spicy food (especially Lainey ‘cause she’s Chinese) and we found an Indian restaurant nearby. Unfortunately, we only had 50 minutes to eat and I was concerned that Indian food might take too long. We then went to a small pub/café and I ordered vegetarian spring rolls while Lainey had a salad and Katie a fish and chips dish (I think). We learned that you must order and pay first at the bar and that they will serve you at your table. Good to know. Lunch passed amiably by with conversation about travel and such, then we headed back to Guy’s Campus by London Bridge for orientation. We were five minutes early but about the last 10 people to arrive; the room was already full of what we later learned were Americans, Australians, and students from Singapore. We sat at a table with students from Singapore and America and chatted with them and each other for a bit before the presentation began. As expected, an icebreaker was the first activity of the day. I met a girl named Ain (pronounced like the German “ein”) from Singapore who is studying Geography at King’s because the Geo department at home isn’t so great. She’s here with a lot of friends from school which is really nice. She speaks Malay, English, a little Mandarin, and understands Cantonese. I thought that was really neat. I also spoke for a bit with her friend Faisal who was surprised that I could pronounce his name correctly. I told him I know someone by that name back in the States and he was pleased. The presentations were informative but mostly boring except for the person talking about, surprisingly, study skills. He seemed the epitome of dry British wit who made the whole room of students and King’s representatives laugh. We also enjoyed some tea and biscuits during a break, which is such an English thing to do. The hours started to drag near the end and everyone was relieved when the call finally came to enjoy the free beer and wine they served. I had a glass of white wine which I finished very slowly and a little painfully. Lainey had a bottle of Carlsberg, which I warned her was the worst beer Saket tried in Europe. Near the end of the bottle she agreed with him, and this girl has drunk a lot. We found several people also from KCH and invited them to ride back with us since many were not sure of the way. Kelly is also from Singapore and she lives down the hall and to the left of us. Sweet girl, but 31 years old! She hardly looks above 20. We were hungry getting back to the dorm so we agreed to go to The Fox on the Hill, the local pub about 4 minutes walking from the dorm) at 6:30. Lainey was told that Ed, Colin, and some of the other British kids she hung out with yesterday were also going there so we met up with them before heading out. These kids are simply hilarious and just so much fun to watch. I had a veggie burger with chips that were pretty decent considering I spent fewer than £5 on them. Everyone ordered food and some drinks. The British kids with us were Ed, Colin, Yvonne (my RA), Abby, and James. James is also a senior student/RA from a town right near Stonehenge and damn near impossible to understand. Ed is a fresher (freshman) and just 18 years old. He’s the baby of the group age-wise. The British kids have no “filter” as Lainey calls it on what they say; they will talk about literally anything and have no scruples about who might be listening. My fellow Americans and I would often miss what was being said and would have to ask one of them to explain. Their fast speech was fun to hear even though I missed most of what James said (I could figure the others out pretty well). More kids from KCH joined us and before long we were firmly entrenched in our little corner of the pub. The new kids ordered dinner which gave the earlier ones and excuse to get more drinks which they promptly did. Things started getting a little crazy as packets of ketchup and sugar started to fly about the table. At one point, Yvonne opened a package of sugar slightly and nearly all of us got hit with some of it. I found some crystals in my hair that night. We ended up staying at the pub for nearly two and half hours before everyone finished their food and drinks. The Brits wanted to watch another movie and since we didn’t have anything better to do, we Americans joined them. The pick of the night was “Van Wilder, Party Liaison” which most of them had seen before but I never had. It was a terrible movie in the genre of American Pie and such. I suppose those are movies for some people, just not for me. Sami, one of the kids who joined us at The Fox, is also the bar manager at fuBar, the KCH bar-in-residence. The bar was refurbished over break with some new taps and such and he, Yvonne, and Ed were eager to see it. It’s a tiny establishment but cozy and colorful with some Roy Lichtenstein artwork on the walls. The drinks there are cheaper than what you’d find at The Fox or other places and I imagine it’ll be really busy once term officially begins. After spending some time there we all realized how tired we were and so we headed back to our rooms for some much needed rest.