My first impression of London is that everywhere you look is some old and cool piece of architecture that I have never seen before. The city doesn’t seem to have an overall bad smell, which is reassuring as I thought it might be “smaugish” or have some sort of big city smell. The only consistent smell I have come across is cigarettes, which is bad, but it is often a short exposure.
I had lunch with Leah and Brenden the first day at this little sandwich and gelato place. There was a kitchen right behind the counter, and it was full of plants and it was super cozy.
While we were there we sat and observed people walking through the streets of London. I learned more in that 30 minutes eating this homemade avocado, mozzarella, tomato, basil sandwich and watching out this window about the people and the city than any class I could have taken.
This is not a sandwich, but it is the first Fish and Chips I had in London!
First observation- People don’t care if the walk sign is on. They will walk across the road when cars are coming, when cars are not coming. It felt like watching a real life game of frogger, because there are those little “checkpoints” that are ¼ or ¾ the way across the road occasionally. And people will get to those, and so that they can get across the street faster.
Second- There are quite a lot of younger people, and quite a few old people. In this area around the Hotel. There were not that many Middle aged people. Which was quite interesting.
Third- Bikes are popular, including a lot of food transportation.
Fourth- There must be a couple small grocery stores nearby as there are many old ladies carrying groceries back to their homes.
Fifth- Cars drive fast, and will be SUPER close to hitting people and will not care. Opposite of that, people stand right next to corners in order to be able to walk ASAP.
Six- People are in a HURRY. I think its because the weather is bad often, so they get inside while they can.
Part 2
Well for starters, A couple of us accidently didnt make it onto the same subway car as everyone else. We just had to watch it leave and decide amongst ourselves if we knew where we needed to get off. That was all because it gets to the station, loads, unloads, and leaves in less than 40 seconds. But now I know! So next time we know the procedures and how quickly to move. Push and Shove, push and shove.
Tonight we saw a production of Straight Line Crazy at the Bridge Theatre in London. It was about Robert Moses, the designer behind many of the roadways and parks in New York. It was a play about passion and ultimately how his unchanging views of the lower class and his obsession with cars, held him back from helping the very people he sought to help. My favorite part about the production was the acting. The story being told from these talented actors I thought was very good. Andrew and I spoke about how we thought the acting was slightly characterized. Just a slightly heightened reality. I had no issue with this as I knew exactly in the first couple of minutes what world this play lived in. The set was minimal but I felt as though it helped bring the attention to the actors specifically. When there was pieces on set, it was larger pieces that were very very specific to the scene and the mood. I did not feel throughout the whole play that nothing was taken away from the minimal set. I was taken out of the play in several moments due to the lights turning on in places that people were not standing yet. I understand at the start of the scenes, but throughout they kept having half of the stage dark, and half light, and then turning on the other half! I didn’t understand why and it was not pleasing to the eye.
A wonderful thing about this theatre, is that it is right next to the beautiful London Bridge.
Theatre in London U of A 
Grason, all interesting observations! So sorry you had a “baptism by fire” experience on the underground, but you all did great!
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