Slugs, Lettuce, and a Sparkly Toilet! (Days 3-4)

Day 3: Friday, March 16

Friday was another cold, London-y looking day, so the decision was made to do “inside” things all day if possible.  After enjoying some melt-in-your-mouth homemade croissants and pastries, we made our way over the to the guest house where Carmen and I would be living for the next 5 weeks.  We could have made a 2.5 mile outside walk to the closer rail station, but since we already had the unlimited day travel card, we took the slightly longer, but incredibly warmer, route.  A decision agreed upon by all!  After meeting the home’s owners, my mind was instantly at ease, and I knew I would feel very safe and at home at their guest home during my stay in London.  For all those unaware, our housing was canceled on us last minute, and other potential housing options were given to us.  None of these were very safe or in a reputable area of town, so we received the name of the guest house from our preceptor’s “right hand lady,” Peggy (more on her awesomeness in another post!) and swallowed the extra cost of the house for the ability to safely leave our surroundings during the day and night without fear for our lives!  Interesting and unrelated side note: guns are banned in the UK.  Not even policeman are allowed to carry them!  I was told, “only the bad guys have them,” which does make me wonder why the police aren’t allowed to protect themselves and their citizens, but I guess that’s socialized government at work for you.  I’ll take my right to bear arms any day, thank you very much!

Fun British Phonebooth

After leaving the guest house, my parents and I made our way back on the tube to central London (my and Carmen’s housing is located in zone 2) to visit the British museum.  It is huge and very overwhelming!  Most well-known for housing the Rosetta Stone, many Egyptian artifacts and mummies (including Cleopatra), and parts of the Greek Parthenon.  I am sad to report that we were quite tired after an hour and a half of touring (just the Egyptian area at that!) and did not make it to the rest of the museum.  The good news?  Almost every London museum is FREE, so I can come back another time to finish the rest of the exhibits!!  Lovely!  

At the British Museum

The Rosetta Stone

A quick stop to a local Museum Tavern for some chips (aka French fries) and rejuvenation, and then we made our way to Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road, where all of the major shopping is!  Here, I parted with mom and dad and met up with Carmen, Aimee, and Megan for dinner at The Slug and Lettuce (yes, this is the real name!).  I had a wonderful chicken wrap with no signs of anything alive in my lettuce ;)  There was some crazy strobe-lighting going on since it was Friday night, and the music was going, and we most definitely enjoyed the people watching.  After chatting a bit longer, I headed back to the B&B to pack up my belongings and get ready for the big move into the guest house with Carmen on Saturday!

Day 4: Saturday, March 17

On moving day, we woke up to what I expected to see most days in London… RAIN!  I couldn’t be too upset though, because I had invested in a hot pink raincoat just for this trip, and I finally got to wear it.  Yes, judge me if you want, but it is pink and beautiful and did a wonderful job of keeping me dry.  Peggy, who I mentioned in my above post, worked as the registrar (our Mercer equivalent would be Jordana) at a pharmacy school in London and recently retired.  We had heard wonderful things about her from Michelle (who came to London from Mercer last year), and since she had already gone above and beyond in finding us secure housing, we knew this must be true!  She “collected” me in her car (my first experience riding on British streets, you know, minus that first day, which I have already labeled and stashed away in my mind as a blur) with ALL my luggage and off to my new home I went.  After dropping off my luggage so there would be room for Carmen in the car (!) and stopping by Peggy’s home and getting to meet her husband, Ted, we headed to Oxford Street to pick up Carmen.  On the way, we stopped to pick up a ring of Peggy’s in what is known as London’s “Diamond District.”  Yes, it was quite fabulous.  After navigating through some “diversions” (aka detours), we collected Carmen and made it back to the guest house.

During the rest of the day, Carmen and I worked on unpacking and making our rooms feel as home-y as possible.  There is a good bit of space in each of our rooms, each with their own sink, which is quite convenient.  Interesting fact:  sinks over here have both a “hot” faucet and “cold” faucet.  I’m talking completely different faucets, which makes washing hands and faces with scalding or freezing yourself slightly near impossible.  The owners of the guest house are extremely nice and accommodating and essentially gave us our own suite with private door so our rooms can be opened up to each other and closed off to the rest of the house.  We also have a private bath, which is extremely rare to find.  Well, a half private bath.  The sink and toilet area are finished, and the shower will be completed next week.  So we still shower with the rest of the guests, but battling over shower times has not been a problem at all.

Peggy was kind enough to invite Carmen and I over to her house for dinner on Saturday, where we spent 4 hours eating, talking, and enjoying our time learning about the culture from her and Ted.  We had her husband in fits of laughter over some of our “slaughtering” of the English language.  His favorite was the way Southerners have given the word “fix” an entirely new meaning.  As in, I’m fixin’ to go to the store.  We all laughed especially hard at his version… “I’m fixing to go fix the car” in full British accent.  He just couldn’t understand our Southern creations!  Also, we got a lovely tour of her home and found the most wonderful piece of furniture ever created.  A SPARKLY TOILET!  I am not kidding.  I took pictures to prove it.  It is beautiful and lovely and will one day be in my home as well (after I win this battle with Bryce…cross your fingers for me, everyone, it’s not going well!! Haha).  Carmen and I both squealed when we saw it.  A very good end to the day if I do say so myself.

THE SPARKLY TOILET!!!