Subtle Observations

Before I get into the amazingness that is Marks & Spencer, I should probably start by re-capping last night’s events. On Sunday evening, whilst fighting off some jet lag and caffeine withdrawals, going out and socializing wasn’t number one on my list. Thusly, Alex and I discussed organizing a little get together to take place last night, wherein we could actually meet all of our facebook friends. As one H. Joe Puentes put it, “What good are facebook friends if you never get to actually meet them?” I think in this case, that point was supremely valid. Our ‘little get-together’ of six or seven people ended up being a good 20+ LSEers who ended up joining the party. We ended up hitting up The Prince of Wales pub on Drury once more and enjoyed every second of it! Meeting everyone that we had been talking with for months was super fun, and the mix of personalities ended up making for an eventful (and hilarious) night. After seeing the close of the Prince of Wales for the evening, we headed across the street to finish up our night.

Mia, Alex & I at the Prince of Wales pub!

Now, if I would have thought things through more clearly, I would have determined that hanging out until 130A and drinking on an empty stomach would not be conducive to waking up at 630A to head to the Sports Centre for an induction. As fate would have it, my alarm didn’t go off at 630A and instead I slept until 845A. Oops. Luckily, they were able to get me in at 1130A and I got a good solid mid-day workout in before heading out for the day.

I topped up my Oyster card (which I’m borderline obsessed with) and hit the tube station to take a ride down to Oxford Street. A friend from my complex and I hit up O2, Primark (to get some basic necessities at a ridiculously amazing price), H&M, Selfridges and Marks & Spencer. First let me say, if you’re ever in the area, Selfridges & Co. is the most amazing, brilliant place ever. If there were a heaven for shoppers, this would be it. It smells like amazing shopping when you walk in — the floors are white marble and the building screams ‘handbags here cost more than your education.’ Even if you don’t buy anything, it’s worth checking out.

{This picture doesn’t do Selfridges justice!}

The Marks & Spencer hub is on Oxford Street as well and it has helped my official transformation to London life. I thought I was going to have to live on pre-packaged Sainsbury’s/mediocre 3 bean salad for life. Instead, we found the most amazing grocery shopping at Marks & Spencer and realized that we could actually stock a kitchen and cook! I’m planning on making another trip down there for some basics later in the week. Fortunately, M&S has a branch in Covent Garden, about five minutes from my place.

Lessons from the last 24 hours:

1. Marks & Spencer is 23498294 times better than Sainsbury’s
2. Multiple pints of apple cider + jet lag + lack of food & caffeine = a bad combination
3. Hanging out with people definitely moves the acclimation process along a thousand times faster than normal
4. Dressing in layers is key. The tube is about a million degrees when everyone and their mom is riding it during rush hour. Uncomfortably hot.
5. Sitting at Hyde Park with a pre-packaged M&S lunch and intelligent conversation is actually an enjoyable way to pass time.

6. Pret a Manger (a cafe-ish joint in London) is not pronounced ‘Prett a Man-jer.’ It’s pronounced ‘Pret a Man-zsay’ (with a French accent.) Pret a Manger is French for “ready to eat” … who knew?

I definitely need to pack for Germany tomorrow — I’ll be leaving for Oktoberfest Thursday afternoon! Craziness!