ledna 22, 2006

London I

London rushed by like a tube line racing by a meter from one’s face. It was a joy seeing Erin for the first time in weeks. She showed me her colorful dorm in central London. The room was a clean yellow with a beautiful trim along only two walls, almost as if the rooms were converted from doubles to singles as an afterthought. After going to Eat*, we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The Victoria and Albert Museum was an amalgamated collection of antiquities. The displays ranged from iron fences to ancient Japanese pottery. We walked out of the museum under a pink London night sky to see the temporary skating rink sandwiched by museums.


The night was concluded with Indian food. I felt underdressed in my cargo pants and hooded sweatshirt, but the vivacious doorman insisted that we come in for dinner. To our right were quiet English professors. Behind us was a quiet, trendy London couple. To our far left was a quiet British couple. To our close left were… Americans. Not so quiet. Two sorority girls had apparently decided to try Indian food. Conceited and loud, they furthered the stereotype of Americans for everyone else in the room. Erin and I did our best to counter the stereotype, but we went mostly unnoticed. I suppose it’s always that way—the loud ones are noticed.

*The sandwich shop’s name was, in fact, Eat.