I am continuing to settle in and in such a quick way that I already feel at home. I still am about a week away from having a routine, so there are still plenty of days that are either too busy or not busy at all (today is the latter). I'm realizing the first week from a big move is almost always going to be annoying; life is inefficient and it takes mistakes to learn how to make it more efficient.
Transportation is currently the biggest inefficiency, mostly due to my unfamiliarity to the know the best ways to get from here to there and the fact that things take long to get to. I live in a neighborhood, outside of the city, and as a result, it takes me forty five minutes to an hour to go anywhere in the city. I honestly don't mind the trip, but what I do mind is when I mess up a time, or a bus stop location, or some little screw up happens in my trip that makes it take longer. More than simply learning the routes, which I am doing OK at (but an iphone would seriously help speed this learning process up), I need to better know the times at which my way(s) of getting home (buses, trains, tube) come and go because that will obviate the wasted time of waiting around. All of this though will come in due course because I realize my stupid mistakes are giving me better traveller's instincts to learn the system better. For instance, when I couldn't find my bus stop was last night, I chased my 24 bus for three blocks, which I later discovered was a giant circle, in order to find the next bus stop that was 100 feet from where I originally was standing. Or I realized I left my umbrella and recently purchased London map on the top deck of the bus the second I got off the bus because I was too preoccupied with worrying about the right stop to get off, and had to run to the next stop, wait there for ten minutes, in the rain, worrying that I'm going to miss my train, because the bus will not open its doors, even though it was stuck in traffic, unless at a stop.
Traveling this week was humbling. I messed up in ways that were preventable that annoy my compulsive self but I am learning how to roll with it. Other things I'm also learning how to roll with and chalk up to the inefficiencies of the first week are: buying things for my room, getting groceries, signing up for classes, fighting jet lag, deciding if its worth it to buy an iphone, finding a transformer so I can finally shave, getting a library card, discovering the library is closed on sundays, withdrawing money, opening a bank account, etc.
This update became a rant at some point. I didn't realize the pent up frustration I had towards my first week, nor did I realize how OCD I am to want everything to work out perfectly. haha oh well.
In other, less uptight news, school is going well. I start (ah!) my first class tomorrow at 10am. I'm excited for it, I think. I believe there will be quite a bit of reading to do as a way to compensate for the lack of busy work they assign, which I'm ok with. I just better not procrastinate!
OK--I've had enough with this entry, I'm going to eat, at 215pm, for the first time today.
