United Airlines: Like Garden State but maybe with more vomit.

So I’ve arrived in the Greatest Britain with very few hitches (despite my best efforts, including “losing” my passport (It was where it ought to have been, I’m just nuts.) my cell (twice, found both times by the same woman), and turbulence for an hour and a half over Montana, the Dakotas, Wisconsin, that was sort of like the opening scene of Garden State but with more vomiting. Yeah that was a party. Grown men and women were crying. YOU’RE ALL LUCKY I’m not dead.

My hostel is called the “Clink,” and if that sounds like a prison to you, you’re partially right. It’s a converted courthouse, and very very cool. The  “C-Link” room, the internet room, is a courtroom and still has all the signs posted around it, such as instructions as to how one is able to defend oneself and when one must leave and return for sentencing.  I’m in a 10-bed all female dorm with 2 Australians, 2 Canadians, 3 Frenchies, and 1 gal from Munich. The Canadians and the German girl and I get along: the French are…french. You know how it is.

It’s now Saturday morning, and I wanted to get this blog post up before I go out for the day. I’m thinking today of hitting up a few of the museums; it’s just hard to choose since there are so many that I’m psyched for! Today might be the South Bank day. The Globe, the Tate Modern, St. Paul’s Cathedral, etc. We’ll see, and then I’ll blog about it!

Yesterday after showering and eating “somefink” because some British people apparently can’t/won’t pronounce the “th” (three is free, for example), I hopped back on the Tube (which I LOVE LOVE LOVE) and headed over to Tottenham Court, which is basically…shopping. I was in pursuit of a book store and then a guidebook. I found both! As well as a few other things.

Pictures! Observe!

They really like Freddie Mercury here.

They like American Apparel here (signs in the window advertise “True California Vintage Style!!”)

And they like mosaic murals in their Tube stations. (I like them too.)

And most importantly…the British advertise Tennis. Not Baseball/Football/Those Other American Obscenities.

Eva, this photo is for you. (Apparently they like Rafa the most though. Sorry!)

This concludes the first post…hopefully I’ll have something more awesome to say next time. AND, I’d just like to apologize for the silly ways in which photos are taken. I try and take them really quickly and surreptitiously that way I don’t look like a total tourist. This means that I get one try at taking the photo, and…hopefully my rapid point and shoot skills will improve with practice.

Finally: Londoner men have seriously mastered “business casual” in a very finessed way. I am so impressed by how glamorous this city is.