Percolate?

I couldn't think of another relevant P word.

I am sitting here writing lots of postcards, since I went overboard buying them at the British Museum, so I thought I would do a blog post too, while I'm at it. And I am tired of just blabbing about where I've been going, so I thought I would do this one in a list form.

Top ten reasons living in Kingston is better than living in Tulsa:

10. Developed river: Kingston's full title is Kingston upon Thames, and that is no lie. There is a lovely walking path along the Thames, and High Street (which is what you call the main street/town center of any British village or neighborhood — remember this from Hogsmeade?) runs right along the Thames's east side. The theater and dozens of great restaurants come right up to it, it's full of swans and ducks, you can take river tours and even catch a ferry down to Hampton Court, which was Henry VIII's favorite royal residence. That's on my agenda of things to see.

9. Shopping: There are multiple H&M locations in Kingston, and it is really not that big of a town. Need I say more? I am going to have to be careful not to spend all my food and rent money there...

8. Pubs: I have not really taken advantage of this yet, but we are going to do a typical British pub night tomorrow for my roommate's birthday. Bring on the fish and chips and beer!

7. Developed town center: Going back to High Street — there is nearly always something going on here. There are tons of cute cafes and little shops, and you can get pretty much everything you need, including help from the Kingston study abroad office, right in the space of about a half-mile. Every day there is an outdoor market with the cheapest and freshest produce in town, which is great for day-to-day cooking. Next on my list: the gelato place. I expect I will go here to reward myself after our first day of class, coming up Monday.

6. Old shit: There is a bridge on High Street across a little canal tributary to the Thames which was built in the 1200's. Insane.

5. Food: For one thing, there is delicious Indian food everywhere you go. For another, I just discovered these things called pasties (again, recall your Harry Potter) which are like hot pockets only a trillion times better. Plus they are cheap.

4. Proper public transportation: Our bus stop is a ten minute walk from our house, and on weekdays, 7 to 7, the bus runs every ten minutes. Then, there are trains into London about every twenty minutes during peak hours. Best of all, with an Oyster card, you top off the amount you can be charged for travel at about £6 per day, so no matter how many busses you take that day or how far you go on the tube in London, they won't charge you more than that. Oh, and, the tube. Easiest way to get around ever.

3. Easy access to the ocean: All the study abroad people went to Brighton today, which aside from being one of the cutest towns I have ever seen, is also right on the ocean. It's just an hour away. The beach isn't exactly a Pensacola-type set up, since it is covered in pebbles instead of sand, and the water is pretty freezing, but it is still a great place to be. I did a tiny little sea-bathing today (a la Jane Austen's characters).

2. Easy access to the rest of Europe: Lea, Carolyn and I are going to Stockholm for the weekend in October, and the plane tickets plus our hostel only cost me about $150 in all. That is fantastic, plus, I'm going to Sweden??? Ridiculous. I just wish we could have stayed in the ice hotel.

1. LONDON: Subcategories to this include the British Museum (free), the National Gallery (free), Trafalgar Square (free), the Tate modern art museum (free), the Globe (£5 for tickets to the best Shakespeare in the world), the West End (discount tickets for students, where you can decide to see a random Beckett play and not realize till he says his first line that the show stars Michael Gambon, the guy who plays Dumbledore), Hyde Park (free), places where you can get better fish and chips in a box than you can in Oklahoma at a sit-down restaurant (£4), and really, the list never ends.

All of this sounds great, of course, but in the interest of journalistic integrity, I am going to construct an alternative list.

Top ten reasons living in Kingston is NOT better than living in Tulsa:

10. Paying rent: While it is true that TU is technically paying this, it is a big drag to remember to pay these people £95 per week. I think that is a little bit ridiculous for how far we are living from campus, and how we must use and cook all our own food and stuff. That's as much as my trip to Stockholm. At TU, Stead just pays my rent every semester. Thanks, Stead!

9. Not having a bicycle: The busses are great, but they are only really handy during peak hours. Out much after nine at night and they get more and more infrequent and inconvenient. I really wanted to get a bike so I don't have to depend on them all the time, but people apparently take their biking very seriously here, and I would have to drop like several hundred pounds to get even a used one that I don't have to fix.

8. British accents: While sexy in a select few people, mostly they are just hard to understand, and I hate having to ask people to repeat things.

7. Spinach: is very hard to find here. I knew they had it, since it's in a common Indian dish, saag, but I couldn't find it until recently, at the outdoor market on High Street. Even then, you have to buy a huge bundle, and I am going to have to eat it very fast in order for it not to spoil and go to waste.

6. Lack of Mexican fast food: Even when I am starving, I can resist places like McDonalds and Burger King, because, I'm in England for heaven's sake. But, I don't even have the option of going to T-Bell or Bueno when I am starving in my room after eating toast for dinner yet again.

5. Food in general, I guess: It's very expensive, in most places. I often feel awkward cooking in our hosts' kitchen, and I have been living pretty much on toast and eggs and oranges for the past week here. If anyone has any cheap, fast recipes that they like that don't require use of an oven (because I don't understand the one here), please send them my way.

4. Laundry: I am still too afraid to ask our family about their facilities, since I am fearful they are going to charge us extra. Carolyn's landlady does. But the laundromats (launderettes, here) are also really expensive. I am going to run out of clothes soon...

3. Not having a cat: Pretty self-explanatory. I have always had a cat, since second grade. Even living at TU, I can always go home and see Gracie whenever I want. And we all remember Sodapop. Our host family doesn't have any animals at all.

2. TV: Gossip Girl is a week and a half behind in the U.K., and sites like Hulu don't work here. It's nearly impossible to watch episodes of shows that have aired in the U.S. but not in the U.K. Same with House. It's torture. I just thank heaven LOST is over, and I don't have to be tortured by waiting for it.

1. People: Everything — and I truly mean everything — would be more incredible if I could share how great it is with the people I love. I miss my family and my friends and my jobs so heartbreakingly much.  Fortunately, I have made some great friends here, so I am not lonely, per se. And I am having the time of my life. It's just, it would be even better to be able to share it with everyone I love most.

Sooooo that's that! Two competing perspectives on life in England. I wish everyone could have this experience of becoming a local in a new place, because it has far exceeded my expectations. Next up, joining clubs at the activities fair tomorrow, maybe a solo trip out to Charleston farmhouse near Lewes on Friday, International student trip to Oxford on Saturday, probably another day in London on Sunday, and my first class at Kingston on Monday! Fortunately I met someone today who will be in my very first class, so when I have to skip to go traveling, I can get his notes, and vise versa!

Pleasant day to all,

Catherine