LSE Summer School

Ohhhh…kkk….so finally the long awaited destination is reached…..the oh-so-wow dream travel country, the most exciting and happening tourist destination and the heartthrob of many is here before my eyes….splendid, ecstatic, stupefied and dumb-struck was what I was supposed to feel on seeing London, and wasn’t it also meant to be love at first sight with this Kingdom???? Sadly, its none of the above. After less than 24 hours of staying in this place, (90,Roseberry avenue, Central London, the Lse residence hall where I am putting up), and exploring high-end crowded places like Trafalgar street, Leicester square, Northumberland Avenue and some other complexly pronounced streets of whose name I am forgetting right now, I can say(not so safely though, given the amount of time spent) that London disappoints me. L ok, I don’t disagree that its clean, beautiful, noisy but peaceful at the same time, but I also have a weird feeling here. Right from the time my taxi took me out from the Heathrow airport till now, when I am sitting cozily in my bed typing this and its 2.10 am , Greenwich time, I have had a very eerie feeling with respect to London. Maybe its because I came here with a whole bunch of expectations in my head which obviously have been turned down, but in a way have taught me to stop forming pre conceived notions about people and places….Wait ….did I just say “people”???? forming pre conceived notions about “people”????oh yes, I just did. And here is where the root cause of all my disappointment lies..PEOPLE. Right from when I landed, to when I was traveling in the tube, to when I was exploring the Tesco supermarket, to when I was buying French fries and at so many other instances, people of London have disappointed me. Ok, no offence and with utmost respect to the citizens of this country, I have to say that whoever I have come across till now has either been rude, or indifferent, or snob, or cold or mainly…”un” warm. If people are falling all over each other in the tube (that’s the London metro), the person right adjacent to you gives you a strong stare as if trying to make you feel guilty for what you are doing, even though he may be doing exactly what you are doing… which is falling over the person right next to him because it is DAMN CROWDED!!!! And NOT because we like leaning against or falling onto other people. If you try buying a sub from the Subway, which, by the way is the cheapest eating option in London) and by chance, just by mistake you fail to understand the weird british accent in which they are asking you which sauce they should put on your Sub and you happen to reply in a “Sorry?”, they close your sub, don’t bother to repeat what they said and your order gets packed, AND you pay a 1.99 pound for a sub, that too WITHOUT the sauce..wow!!! many like incidents in a very short span of time…have given me a sort of negative feel about the Londoners. But I am hopeful of finding better people to talk to in the next 22 days that I am here and want to believe that the first day’s tete-a-tete with some weird people was a sheer bad luck and that’s all.

P.S. The highlights of the day were :

A full fledged Gay parade at the Leicester square. Honestly, it was one heck of an experience to watch so many bisexuals together at the same time, same place, all walking so proudly with the most colourful of costumes, decorations, dancing and singing their way to glory with loud, blaring music in the background and it seemed as if the whole of London had gathered there to cheer for them. All shouted, hooted and yelled to make it the liveliest parade I have ever come across.

My FIRST tube journey from Embankment station to Angel for which I was officially supposed to be changing one line but ended up changing five(!!!) because due to some technical difficulties the “circle” line had to be changed for the “hammersmith & city” line and later for the ‘district” line….ummmmok forget it,,,,its complex!!!!

My stroll in Roseberry avenue around 11 at night, trying to hunt for food…..Vegetarian food ….and ended up finding all the departmental stores closed, thereby voiding my chance of buying my last hope…bread and butter!!! And had to ultimately settle for French fries…..

These were by far the highlights which I could recall right now while I am feeling damn sleepy, besides that London girls I think are hot, always half dressed, or so I think and guys are hotter, trust me!!!!! J and wait, did I even mention a word about my accommodation!!!???!!! To acquaint you a little, its situated at a fairly silent place from where Marks & Spencer , Body Shop & Burberry are just 15 minutes walking *winx* and people are active mainly at night, whereas during day time, there is hardly any soul to be found. I have my single room at a fairly amazing location from where I can see half the roseberry street. So its all cool, waiting for it to get cooler!!! By the way, cool reminds me……….the temperature is around 15 degrees right now….:) *shivers*