I was in London for the better part of a day. I had absolutely no intention of going to London, but my flight got detoured on my way back to Spain. So I took advantage of the nine hour layover to get a little taste of the city. I won’t lie…driving on the wrong side of the road freaked me out. I can’t imagine that they get a lot of car rental business from Americans. It was overcast, gray and depressing. At lunch, I punked out and went for fish and chips because I didn’t know what “bangers & mash” was, or shepherd’s pie. It’s weird knowing what all the words mean but having no idea what they mean. But I understood completely why I never heard of anybody going to England for the food. I got the impression that London is kind of like New York in that parts of it are all glammed out, while others are dirty, grimy and really industrial. In short, I totally dug it! I dug the hell out of London. I’m really super sorry I didn’t go to school there.  But I wouldn’t be fluent in Spanish now if I had, which was kinda the point in going to school abroad. 

I knew from the few minutes I spent there that it’s a Gina-type city. I loved London for the same reason I love New York. It’s raw…the kind of city where it totally sucks to be poor. But if you have money, why would you ever live anywhere else? London is everything that’s great about Europe but without the language barrier. I admit, some of the accents were a real challenge. I knew I was hearing English. I just couldn’t feel it. The Scots and Welsh are just a total freaking mystery to me. My poor American ears couldn’t work it out. Thankfully just like in New York, you can walk down the street and hear every language on Earth. And thank God they cook there too because in my opinion, English food seriously sucks.