In which New Zealand is everywhere, apparently.

So this is it. I'm in London and it's time to fill you in on the first day(s) of my trip.

One of the most significant things that exchange students are typically forewarned about is culture shock. The sudden disorientation upon experiencing an unfamiliar culture in a foreign country. To the contrary, so far I have had the strange sensation of feeling like I'm not really in a new country at all. Of course I've certainly noticed I'm in London, as the Underground, double-decker busses and Big Ben are a bit of a giveaway, but I still feel very much familiar with my surroundings. This is probably thanks to the apparent ubiquity of Kiwis in the UK. 

I do have to say however, that the one significant difference I found quite disconcerting was upon entering the country at Heathrow. Anyone who has ever gone through customs in NZ will know the intense drilling you get about the kind of food you're attempting to bring into the country, and whether you went for a walk in a forest 2 weeks ago, and whether you've cleaned your shoes thoroughly because if not well just look out buddy. So here I was, sheepishly approaching the "items to declare" customs desk to admit that there was fruit in my bag, prepared to have it whisked away from me and destroyed at any moment. Instead I was greeted with a laugh and ushered into the country, biosecurity be damned apparently.

In Heathrow I was greeted by my big brother Max, who I'm staying with in London.We took the Tube back to his flat, an appropriate way to be inducted into London life I feel. As to be expected following 25 hours of flying, the rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful and involved a lot of resting. I took what may well be one of the deepest naps known to man. It took my brother several attempts to wake me, and upon waking I sat up, reached over to my phone to check the time, instead grabbing a block of chocolate and spending several confused minutes trying to figure out why it wouldn't turn on. Needless to say it took me some time to become a functioning human being again, as anyone who has ever flown halfway across the world can attest. I also got to spend my first night in the UK with my friend Camilla, who was spending her last night in the UK (poetic much?). With familiar faces, and familiar kiwi accents, having not spoken to anyone with an English accent since border patrol, it was hard to believe I had really left NZ at all.

Tuesday was my first chance to explore London, and I was lucky enough to be joined by Camilla, a seasoned traveller. This definitely turned out to be a good thing as I couldn't even remember which direction to take out the front door, let alone navigate a whole new city (although in actual fact, with the busses and Underground, London is a pretty easy city to get around). Our first stop was King's Cross Station for that quintessential British icon, Harry Potter. We got to see Platform 9 and 3/4, complete with disappearing trolley, and spent some time in the delightfully overpriced Platform 9 and 3/4 'Shoppe'. 

From Kings Cross it was easy to get just about anywhere, so we took the next natural step and decided to visit a cafe which had been converted from a public urinal, a few blocks from Regent Park. The cafe, Attendant, still contained the original porcelain urinals, making for an interesting dining experience. It was also strange because the waitress was a Kiwi, the hot chocolate came with marshmallows (something I was warned would never occur outside of NZ) and Lorde was playing in the background. Once again I found myself questioning whether I'd been tricked and in fact our flight had simply turned around and come back home. Also because Wellington too seems to have an obsession with turning public bathrooms into food joints. As we left the cafe I asked if they had any bathrooms. Apparently not. The man behind us laughed and muttered "well that's ironic". Indeed.

From there it was a short walk to visit another classic British character, Sherlock Holmes, at 221B Baker Street. Shopowners had clearly caught on to the tourist attraction, so the street was filled with memorabilia shops. We perused a few, but found only the typical cheap and nasty souvenirs. We did manage to get a photo with a costumed Sherlock Holmes, and enjoyed the gift shop, complete with deerstalkers and pipes, but gave the museum a miss. On the whole so far I much preferred simply wandering the streets and observing London, rather than paying for the many attractions.

We then took a stroll through Regent Park, which was chocca full of wildlife. I rather enjoyed the walk, but my mother would not have, given the propensity for geese to wander across the footpath and honk menacingly. On the plus side I got my first sight in many years of squirrels. If you do not think that squirrels are the most adorable little guys, with their ridiculously fluffy tails, then you are wrong. I heard on QI the other day that someone conducted a study in which they showed participants pictures of cute animals and a large proportion of the subjects experienced feelings of aggression, not because they were mad but because they wanted to touch the animals and couldn't. This is basically how I felt.

Down by the river there was plenty of wildlife, but throughout the rest of the park it was pretty dead. It wasn't exactly picturesque to be wandering down a muddy footpath lined with trees but not a single leaf in sight. I imagine the gardens are much more beautiful when spring and summer roll around.

After our excursion it was time to farewell Camilla, and time for me to experience the terrifying excerise of trying to get on a train during peak commuter traffic. I managed to not have a panic attack while squashed against 30 strangers so I'd say it was a success. I also couldn't help but laugh at the clearly frustrated train controllers yelling "do not block the doorways, keep calm, there are another 2 trains literally right behind this one so yes you will get home in time if you just get out of the way". Well it was something along those lines anyway. Having survived the trip, my brother and I decided to go out to dinner, to Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Of course, I once again found myself surrounded by NZ, as this was a chain started by three Kiwis, complete with tomato shaped bottles, Kaitaia Fire, and L&P on the menu. Welcome to England!

In any case, I had a delightful first day out in London. Hopefully I will get around to writing about my next few days soon, as I'm thoroughly enjoying wandering around London and ticking off all the major sights along the way.

Byeeeee!