Finding a Towel and Jet Lag
I woke up to a knock on my door this morning. I had slept about twelve hours and was very groggy. I was so glad to see the first of my three roommates. She was heavily laden with her gear and looked exhausted, exactly like I had been the day before. With our apartment, we needed to check in at a different building about 5 minutes up the street. She hadn't known to do this (I hadn't either until had called my professor to ask). She patiently waited for me to get ready, and so began the start of my day.
Off we trecked just up the road, only to meet 5 of our fellow students. After they had all been checked in, we went back to the flats, sticking out like sore thumbs with all the suitcases, backpacks, and bright eyes. It was wonderful. It was kind of hard to navigate out way back though because graduation at the local university had just gotten out and families and graduates were up and down the sidewalks. Leading the way, I felt like I should have a little flag, like a tour guide.
After convening, we discovered that none of the girls who had shown up had brought towels either, and so the great towel trek of 2018 began. Designated "tour guide" I showed the group around the neighbourhood and off we went to the tube station. I had thought that I had found a larger Tesco in a different part of Kensington, but the weather was not nice enough for us to walk the distance so to the Underground we went. Google lied to me. I felt betrayed. The Tesco we found was nothing more than a slightly larger version of the one that can be found right around the corner of our flat. I was devastated. For a day and a half, all I wanted to do was find a freaking towel. We were all getting hungry, and the rest of the group had not had sleep like I had had and were losing steam. We decided to forge ahead and see what else this part of town had to offer. We found an American Food store, which we got a kick out of, and a nice man in a convenience store who directed us to Westfield Mall. Back to almost trusty google, we followed the map to the nicest mall I've ever visited. The first thing you see when you enter are designer stores like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Burberry. This mall had chandeliers! We lost hope of finding inexpensive towels here, but then we saw a HUGE Marks and Spencers. THEY HAD TOWELS. Finally, I could rest.
After gathering our luxurious large pieces of cotton for a fair price, we set back to Notting Hill station, where our round trip fairs were from. We ended up stopping at a different Tescos on the way back to grab shampoo and other necessities. To cut down on price, we've decided to go halfsies on a lot of things. I'm curious to see how this goes.
Once we got back to the flats, none of us felt like making the cereal, or the eggs we'd all purchased so we went around the corner for our first pub experience in England. It was hard for us to find a place to sit for all 7 of us, but the waiter upstairs was very nice and accommodating. For nine pounds, I had Cod Goujons and Chips (the cheapest way to do fish and chips at this establishment). It was nice to be sitting down after walking roughly 5 miles through the city. Getting lost is fun, and leads to fun stories, but twice in two days is not something I recommend if you are not expecting it.
We all turned in early which was very nice, except here I am, at 4 am writing this. I woke up at quarter to 1 and haven't been able to sleep since. I'm hoping to get some sleep but my internal clock is all messed up. According to one of my friend who's travelled a lot, days 2-4 are the worst for jet lag. Naively I thought that if I went to bed at the "right time" for more than one night my first week I would miss jetlag. I successfully figured out our ancient toaster and enjoyed UK Lactose-Free Milk. It's a lot better than North American lactose-free because it doesn't have insane amounts of sugar. For the first time in a long while, I feel like I'm actually drinking milk.
Today I learned that I will probably have great walking stamina at the end of this trip. I also learned that asking for directions is okay, and so is being labelled the "mom friend". Also, wearing a maple leaf pin on your lapel when travelling really helps people be more patient with you when you're asking questions.
Westfield Mall has very fancy chandeliers and beautiful architecture. The American Food Store is hidden just off one of the main roads. It was a hoot!
Charlie Chaplin is portrayed in this mural on one of the walls of the pub we went into. We were seated right across from him. The Zetland Arms pub has really good food and boasts award-winning meat pies. I am wary to try a meat pie this trip because I didn't like them the last time I was here and watching Sweeney Todd when I was a kid sort of put me off them.
My new friends and I at our table in the pub, with our waiter photobombing us in the back.
Off we trecked just up the road, only to meet 5 of our fellow students. After they had all been checked in, we went back to the flats, sticking out like sore thumbs with all the suitcases, backpacks, and bright eyes. It was wonderful. It was kind of hard to navigate out way back though because graduation at the local university had just gotten out and families and graduates were up and down the sidewalks. Leading the way, I felt like I should have a little flag, like a tour guide.
After convening, we discovered that none of the girls who had shown up had brought towels either, and so the great towel trek of 2018 began. Designated "tour guide" I showed the group around the neighbourhood and off we went to the tube station. I had thought that I had found a larger Tesco in a different part of Kensington, but the weather was not nice enough for us to walk the distance so to the Underground we went. Google lied to me. I felt betrayed. The Tesco we found was nothing more than a slightly larger version of the one that can be found right around the corner of our flat. I was devastated. For a day and a half, all I wanted to do was find a freaking towel. We were all getting hungry, and the rest of the group had not had sleep like I had had and were losing steam. We decided to forge ahead and see what else this part of town had to offer. We found an American Food store, which we got a kick out of, and a nice man in a convenience store who directed us to Westfield Mall. Back to almost trusty google, we followed the map to the nicest mall I've ever visited. The first thing you see when you enter are designer stores like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Burberry. This mall had chandeliers! We lost hope of finding inexpensive towels here, but then we saw a HUGE Marks and Spencers. THEY HAD TOWELS. Finally, I could rest.
After gathering our luxurious large pieces of cotton for a fair price, we set back to Notting Hill station, where our round trip fairs were from. We ended up stopping at a different Tescos on the way back to grab shampoo and other necessities. To cut down on price, we've decided to go halfsies on a lot of things. I'm curious to see how this goes.
Once we got back to the flats, none of us felt like making the cereal, or the eggs we'd all purchased so we went around the corner for our first pub experience in England. It was hard for us to find a place to sit for all 7 of us, but the waiter upstairs was very nice and accommodating. For nine pounds, I had Cod Goujons and Chips (the cheapest way to do fish and chips at this establishment). It was nice to be sitting down after walking roughly 5 miles through the city. Getting lost is fun, and leads to fun stories, but twice in two days is not something I recommend if you are not expecting it.
We all turned in early which was very nice, except here I am, at 4 am writing this. I woke up at quarter to 1 and haven't been able to sleep since. I'm hoping to get some sleep but my internal clock is all messed up. According to one of my friend who's travelled a lot, days 2-4 are the worst for jet lag. Naively I thought that if I went to bed at the "right time" for more than one night my first week I would miss jetlag. I successfully figured out our ancient toaster and enjoyed UK Lactose-Free Milk. It's a lot better than North American lactose-free because it doesn't have insane amounts of sugar. For the first time in a long while, I feel like I'm actually drinking milk.
Today I learned that I will probably have great walking stamina at the end of this trip. I also learned that asking for directions is okay, and so is being labelled the "mom friend". Also, wearing a maple leaf pin on your lapel when travelling really helps people be more patient with you when you're asking questions.
Westfield Mall has very fancy chandeliers and beautiful architecture. The American Food Store is hidden just off one of the main roads. It was a hoot!
Charlie Chaplin is portrayed in this mural on one of the walls of the pub we went into. We were seated right across from him. The Zetland Arms pub has really good food and boasts award-winning meat pies. I am wary to try a meat pie this trip because I didn't like them the last time I was here and watching Sweeney Todd when I was a kid sort of put me off them.
My new friends and I at our table in the pub, with our waiter photobombing us in the back.
My post-midnight snack of milk and burnt toast. I know now that the timer on our toaster is hard to keep track of.
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