First Impressions

Upon arriving in the UK, I found myself navigating a series of twists and tunnels in the underbelly of Heathrow Airport. It seemed as if my parents has just dropped me off at SFO, waving to me enthusiastically and blowing me kisses goodbye while I tried not to cry and reminded myself that I would be back in December. [Note, forgive me Jenny and Kim for not calling you two back before I left, though I did receive the voicemails and was so happy to hear from you guys!] Bless the British government for providing luggage push carts, as I was not too keen on pulling twice my body weight in shoes, ramen, and textbooks across several hundred yards of airport. Once I met up with the NYU group, I had Katie snap a photo. I am well aware that I look fully deranged and perhaps overenthusiastic after an 11 hour red-eye flight. However, NYU has this whole pick-up deal well arranged and this nice burly Scottish gentleman picked us up in a coach and drove us to Nido in Kings Cross.

Now, as lovely as the study abroad website makes Nido look, let me be quite honest in telling you that it is a shithole. Perhaps that is a bit crude, yet I am at a loss for an adequate adjective to describe a semi functional post-modern giant gleaming eyesore of a building, with generally very good aesthetic qualities yet severely lacking on overall functionality, space, and cleanliness. The beds are so close together I could reach over at night and smack Giuliana on the nose should I desire so. And should you ever have the chance to Skype or video chat me, you will see that my desk is only steps from the bathroom, so close in fact, that I have become accustomed to pushing off from the desk while seated in my desk chair and rolling the 2 feet to stop at the bathroom door. Not only is the bathroom small, but it is also most well lit location in the entire room, suggesting that I might as well do all my studying on the toilet.

View of my desk, bed, and microwave/kettle/shared desk drawers/ utility shelf.

However, the academic center at Bedford Square is absolutely gorgeous. Of course, the neighborhood used to be populated by Lord Whatever and Lady DooDah, so the rent would be much too high to put students up there, but wow am I jealous. The only thing in Kings Cross is the rail station, St. Pancras/Eurostar, and the Tesco down the road.

A gorgeous classroom in 6 Bedford Square. Too bad I don't have any classes here.

So, what have I done since arriving? Well, you'll just have to wait until after I make lunch - the cleaning staff has been working on that kitchen all morning, and being a communal one, I haven't been able to make food all day. And currently it is 16:07. 4 hours due. I am famished.