The first week in a new country/city is always the worst. It is a fucking roller coaster of emotion. You have the peaks of excitement and newness and discovering Boot's has like a million scents in your favorite dry shampoo. Then, you have the valleys of crushing loneliness and creeping depressing, where you're not quite sad enough to stay in bed all day but you also go a little crazy when you can't find the exact floss you want (who uses tape?!) and the only American TV you can find is CSI: NY. (When I was in America, all I watched were BBC shows and now all I want is Amurrica).
On top of all this, it's time to grow up. Having a big girl job is also the worst. These two things added together just makes a person want to go back to grad school . . . But then I think about how I don't want to do that and that working is better than lying around all day watching syndicated episodes of Big Bang Theory.
Well, in times of need, the ENTJs turn to list-making. (Also, I just finished reading Mindy Kaling's book which is phenomenal by the way, and she really defrumps list-making).
Things in London which are better than things in America:
- the prepared foods: the M&S Food Hall is fantastic. Right now, I'm eating some Persian duck dish with saffron rice, roasted butternut squash and some lemony-oniony ragout. This is way beyond a Stouffer's lasagna, guys.
- the cell phone situation: my UNLIMITED data plan, with 1000 texts and 200 minutes costs only £12.80 per month. That's less than $20!! Craycray.
- the shopping: so many good stores . . . And, they're opening more and more American stores every day. If they add an Ann Taylor, I would be completely satisfied.
- the coffee choices: this is actually kind of funny, because London doesn't make great coffee. But, the choices are so varied. In the States, you get Starbucks, Dunkies, and maybe Caribou Coffee if you're in a weird part of town that still has a bookstore. Here, there's Caffe Nero, Starbucks, Pret, Paul, Costa, and all sorts of little patisseries. You don't have to be held hostage by Starbucks here.
Things in America which are better than things in London
- television: what kind of flat that has heated floors (seriously amazing) only offers freeview television? Especially when freeview television is meh. Newsflash London, there are more shows than How I Met Your Mother and Scrubs.
- prices: I guess this is kind of a lame category, but it's legit. Things in London are just outrageously expensive. It's basically taking Boston prices (argh) and switching out the dollar sign for a pound sign.
- sandwiches: okay, look, this isn't elementary school anymore. You can't just put some butter and cheese on some Wonder Bread and call it a day. More meat! More cheese! More salt!
- Hulu: so, you get some weird version of Netflix in the UK where all the movies/shows available for streaming are different. There's actually a pretty decent selection. But you can't get access to Hulu without maybe doing something shady (I might get desperate enough for this very soon). I need my stories!!
- football: the real kind.
