5 pounds.

Don't know if anyone is actually reading this, but this will probably be my most interesting post to date.

Just want to mention for my own recollection that I did go to the Hobgoblin yesterday, because they have Thai food from 4-8 and it wassss scrumptious, I don't even know what I was eating but it tasted fly...and the Heineken I sucked it down with was fresh as can be...oh yeah, did I mention imported beers taste better here?

Ok so last night I was sitting in my dorm. I can't say I actually wasted any seconds here, I've truly been letting every one of them engulf me, yano, challenging every moment to introduce me to something new, but I felt tired and I decided to stay in and do nothing. I just read the new Dan Brown book (which is OK at this point) in silence. When I woke up today, I felt guilty for my soul, and I decided I wouldn't do that again.
I had an orientation this morning which was just another British professor talking about UK education VS US, what to expect, all that, quite boring. It was ok though because before it I ate my first proper English Breakfast...sausage, tomato, bacon, a huge helping of fries, an egg, and red beans. The guy who served it to me had such an accent that we couldn't even communicate, so you know it's the bangin. Then I spent 3 hours in I.T getting them to fix my internet, just me and this old cockney British dude, and he eventually fixed it.

I walked back to my flat around 3pm, and decided it was time to explore again. Now, I don't know London at all. The prospect of wandering around the city alone is a little weird, but I said hey, why not? I knocked on my friend Kelly's door and asked her to help me map out a trip if I just got off the train at London Bridge...where would I go? We couldn't figure it out, so I said, hey, I'll just wing it.
I bought a lonely train ticket to London Bridge and rode the train, thinking about how lost I am going to get. I get lost delivering pizzas alone in Old Bridge, New Jersey, Imagine me wandering around London with no map, no friend, no nothing ( i know if Nick reads this, he'll laugh). So anyway, I got off at London Bridge, and just started walking.
I didn't realize that the London Bridge Cross (station) is alot like Penn Station in NY. There's just alot of arrowss pointing to "out" and different places. I just followed all the signs in this huge cross until I got out onto the street.
This was a part of London I'd never seen before. It wasn't really touristy, it was actually more scary. There were bums, but British bums are hilarious because when they ask you for money they say, "ex---uss-me sir but do ye have any spare pence?'... all proper and stuff. It's not like NY where they mumble something about their daughter and shove a cup in your face. After rejecting a bunch of bums, I made my way down the street. I was walking fast, it was really fast paced, people were whizzing by talking in all sorts of different languages, and for the first time on my trip I felt a little uneasy, a little alone. I felt better when I passed a Subway, and I figured that was God's way of telling me I'm never alone as long as I can still get a subway club on the other side of the Atlantic.
So I walk for 25 minutes in an unknown direction. Crossing streets, brushing past people, making it seem like I'm going somewhere. Finally I saw a sign. One arrow pointing toward some place I didn't recognize, and one that said "The Globe". Oh shit. I had forgotten that the Globe theatre is in London. Shakespeare's actual globe..the literal holy grail for english majors and nerds globally. Well I start moving down this stupid little street but it all seems very foreign. I don't really look out of place though because I look like the British with my short hair and new beard, but I feel like everyone that looks at me knows I'm American. I walk for about twenty minutes fast, getting sweaty now, seeing no signs for the globe, starting to feel lost and empty again. ( remember I don't know how to get home either). Finally I notice this fat sweaty brit is walking next to me. I look at him and say, in my most proper voice "say sir, I'm not from around here and i'm a bit lost, can you direct me to The Globe?". He smiles and goes "ARE YUUU FEMILIAR WYTHH SUFFFFULK STREEEYT?" "No", I tell him quietly, "I live in New Cross". "OH AWRIGHT THEN JUST GO DOWN STRAYGHTT UNTILL YU HYTT SUFFOLLK STREEYT AND STAYYY LEFT TILL YOU SSEEE DEM STAIRS AND THE GLOOWBE IS ON YUR LEFT I SAY". "Ok Thanks".

I walk about twenty minutes down the street. Things are picking up. It's beginning to look less scary, more metropolitan. I see business men smoking cigarettes and college kids walking around again.Then I see a bridge. I walk toward the light toward the bridge and I realize I am standing above the Thames river. The fuckin Thames!The view is extraordinary, and I cross the bridge. From the middle of the bridge I can see all of London bridge to my right, and to my left I can see the Millenium bridge, the one from the frickin postcards! I am freaking. The view is exceptional I feel completley light-weighted. So i cross to the other side of Thames but know I want to make my way back to the Millenium bridge and cross it. I get to the other side and start moving left so I can get to the Millenium Bridge( look up a pic if you haven't seen it!) As I'm walking through the city again looking for the bridge, I see ssomething ABSURD towering over my head. It is St. Paul's Cathedral, and it is the most impressive thing I have ever seen in my life. I walk a bit further to climb its steps, and put my hand on the old doors of this old church. I feel like I'm in a movie.
From here I can ssee the Millenium bridge easily. I walk over it and it is beautiful, lovers holding hands taking picturess, people just staring into the abyss of the london skyline...it's perfect. Europe is for lovers and dreamers. I get to the bridge and I'm in front of an arts museam that has a lawn and a perfect view of the thames River. It is a bit overwhelming.
I make my way left and I finally see Shakespeare's Globe, just waiting for me in plain sight. I am astounded at how far I've come by myself, and I'm standing at the foundation of everything I've ever read about or believed in. I couldn't go in because there was no play or anything, so i vowed to come back and take a tour with someone or something, but for the time being I drank a coffee in the gift shop (lol..well at least I went in). I finally saw the globe.
Anyway, I made my way back up to the green lawn overlooking the Thames,and I sat down and watched the boats drive down the river, I watched people walking on the bridge, I watched planes fly by, I stared at St. Paul's Cathedral as it towered over the other side of the skyline, and I thought..."wait a second...I'm in Europe right now"
Right next to me these young people were just making out all over the place, right in public, and they didn't seem to care, they were in their own world. For the first time in months, I felt a little envious, and jealous...I mean, imagine being in love in a place like this...in the very place where the idea of love was probably born by the romantics? It's fascinating. I felt a little lovey feeling too.
I stared at the Thames and thought about life. I thought about how I had done all of this by spending 5 pounds. I thought about how different life is right now...how precious everything is. I thought about how lucky I am to be here, in this place, experiecing a part of life some Americans will never, ever understand.

I got lost in London and wound up staring into an infinite abyss of beauty and art. I can get lost in Old Bridge and imagine the same. I've only been here four days.

I won't talk about my ride home, but it took forever and I got lost 400 times.

Like everyone says to me here,
Cheers

Andrew