Welcome to London, Nothing Works Here

A couples weeks ago, I traveled to London for a four-night vacation with a few friends. It is a fabulous city that I hope to visit again someday. Although it was hard to pick just a few, I will share with you some experiences from my trip.


It was so nice to be surrounded by English speakers for a few days. When I went through customs at the train station I didn’t expect the officer to be speaking English to me. I never thought I would be so happy to hear “Can I see your passport please?” I anticipated that it would also feel a little strange not speaking French to people in restaurants and stores, and that was very true. At every single meal I ended up telling the waitress “merci” or “sil’vous plait” at least once. It was the weirdest feeling to catch myself speaking the wrong language and having to quickly grasp onto another word or phrase in my head. For those few seconds, I felt like I was a foreigner to my native language.

There are mostly exotic restaurants to be found around town, including Chinese, Lebanese and Indian. We decided to eat at these types of places most of the time, as the English cuisine didn’t look too fabulous. Although, I did go to London planning to try the famous “fish and chips,” so that had to be done. One day, we stopped at a small English café alongside a harbor and of course they had fish and chips on the menu. When it first arrived the aroma was appetizing. However, when I took the first bite I expected something more, something with a crunch. My eyes also popped wide open as I realized the fish was battered and cooked with the skin still on. Oh yes, shiny scales and everything. I am still glad I gave that experience a whirl and can say that once I got over the presence of the skin, the poisson wasn’t half bad.

Being in London for 4 days gave me the chance to see all of the tourist sites, such as the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. These historic sites were very fun to explore. Visiting St. Pauls's cathedral was the most eye-opening experience, with a large dome and stairs climbing to the very top of the vividly painted ceilings. Shakespeare's globe theater was really neat to see. Even though it isn't the original globe theater, which burned down in 1613, it resembles the the original theater quite well- it doesn't even have a roof! I was inspired by the museum and the theater so much that I decided to take a Shakespeare class when I return to U of O next term.

I was also fortunate enough to make it out to Wimbledon: the oldest tennis tournament in the world. I browsed through the museum and saw some pretty amazing things. There was a display wheel of all the different types of racquets that have been used in the past century and a case with the different types of tennis balls made over the years. I loved seeing everything about the evolution and the history of tennis, a sport I have played for years, laid out in front of me. I was then allowed to walk into the stadium seating at Center Court. Since it is now off season, I obviously wasn’t able to watch a match, but my imagination brought me to a summer day watching Andy Roddick or Maria Sharapova on the baseline. It was an incredible feeling to be standing in the middle of history, victory and prestige. I hope to find myself back to see a match someday soon.