Sunday, October 12, 2008

We Live & We Learn... The Hard Way

Last night Kimmy and I got our first real taste of London night life. A friend of mine, Emily, is studying abroad in London this semester, so I got in touch with her and she took us out on the town. Kimmy and I took the tube to the center of town and had dinner in China Town while we waited for Emily and her friends to meet us there. We were a bit early, so we decided to sit down on a busy street and people watch (one of my favorite past times) for about an hour. About 85% of the girls walking past us were extremely dressed up in fancy dresses and bright colored heels. Sitting on the street in our jeans and sneakers, we felt like the two American tourists who didn't get the memo on how to dress on a Saturday night in the city. **Lesson #1: Dress to Impress.**

When we met up with Emily she took us to a place called the Fudge Bar which she was pretty familiar with. We had a few drinks, met some nice English boys, and met up with a number of other students from Roger Williams who are all studying abroad in London for the semester. Kimmy and I went up to the bar to buy a drink, paid for them, and then realized we were completely stiffed on our change. We went back to the bartender to ask him to correct his mistake, and after a few minutes of him trying to cheat us out of our money, my New York attitude put him in his place, and we were given our money back. **Lesson #2: Repeat after me.. I am from NEW YORRRK.. I know how to COUNT!**



When we decided to leave the bar to go home, we quickly realized that the tube stops running at midnight, and it was about 1:30 at this point. We were told that we would need to take a bus home, so after about an hour and a half of literally running through the streets chasing double-decker buses, getting on the wrong buses, fighting with a few bus drivers, we managed to get on the right bus to take us back to Queen's Park. **Lesson #3: Disregard Lesson #1.. Running sneakers are a necessity if you want to catch your bus.**

We lived. We learned. One Step at a time.

1 comment:

JBN said...

Hmmmm. Seems like you need to learn how to count British money better. That way you'll not need to resort to the Ugly American persona to get your way!