Want to live life like your going 1000 mph every hour of every day? Well, you can go do a ridiculous amount of speed...or take the slightly more legal route and study abroad in Europe. I literally cannot wrap my head around the fact that a little over a month ago at this time I was in my house back in RI, frantically packing for my flight. When I look around at my friends here, it's so strange thinking 30 days ago I never knew they existed.
And even though I probably look like a zombie most of the time (sleeps tends to not happen), I'm having the time of my life and wouldn't change a thing. Here's just a ESPN highlights version of the first month...
*The first day here I lugged all my stuff up four flights of stairs in search of Flat E...only to reach the top and the door said "D." Thinking I was in the wrong building, I proceeded to carry everything back downstairs. As I get back to bottom I hear one of the girls living in D yell to me that they found Flat E. We have to go through the girls suite and up another flight of stairs to get to our room. Later that night all the guys I'm living with decided to nickname our flat the Penthouse. Even though our apartment kinda sucks, we hype it up to everyone. Our shitty TV that has all of 6 channels (on a good day...) is our "home entertainment system." The fan becomes a "climate control system." If you're in London come get the Penthouse tour firsthand. Life changing.
*Never would've thought that after a month here I would've been to more rugby matches than soccer. Considering I had no idea about most of the rules, have to give credit rugby is an insane sport. Oh, and that jersey I had a picture of in one of the first posts...guess who's a proud owner of one of those? Gotta love having a friend who works for the team and the subsequent employee discount.
*One of the first things we noticed at dinner Day 1 was that we only had 5 of everything: plates, knives, cups, and the like. That was until we went to this one pub that throws everyone out the door at midnight. Really, do you expect a bunch of poor American kids to stick around and return the glasses? So needless to say we've "acquired" quite a few glasses...and a hard hat. Still don't know how I ended up with that one.
*Apparently I give the "drug addict" vibe to people in London, can't tell you the number of guys who have walked up to me and asked if I wanted to buy. Funny thing is more guys have offered me coke more than anything else. Read an article a while back that a line is cheaper than a beer in London, it was on Barstool so it must be true.
*No matter how many times it happens, I still can't help but laugh every time I hear a little kid with a British accent.
*In one of my poorer decisions, decided to go on a pub crawl with internship the next morning. By about 12 I was starting to nod off, and I really didn't want to pass out at my desk second week on the job. Simple solution: go take a nap in the bathroom.
*The amount of people that smoke in this city is sickening. Even worse, no one really seems to pay attention where they blow their smoke. If I had 5 pence for every time someone decided to blow smoke right in my face...
*Not having ESPN or any American sports is killing me. Our suite must be such a sad site on Sunday, each one of us huddled up with our laptops trying to stream football with our shitty internet connection. On a side, First Row Sports is a godsend. Pretty much can watch any sports game imaginable.
*Animals here are absolutely fearless. Squirrels will run right up to you in the park, and if you offer them food they'll sometimes climb up your arm. And I'm positive before the end of this trip I'm gonna get hit by a pigeon, they dive bomb through crowds with absolutely no regard for their own safety.
And even though I cry every time I see my bank statements (which after I book my last few trips later tonight is going to look even worse...), I wouldn't change a thing about the last month. One of my friends joked about how you just need to "swipe it and forget it." You're really only gonna have one chance like this to tear shit up in Europe, you need to make the most of every moment.
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