Blending in

Studying abroad is such an interesting experience. It makes you look back and relive your entire past to reevaluate where you're currently at in life. How else do you know how to recognize yourself without the mirror of everything else reflecting back. Yesterday was a very interesting day. We were on the Undgerground(subway) on our way to Greenwich when this very articulate man started speaking. He said "Hi everyone, I'm getting off at the next station to go to the homeless shelter but I would really appreciate any spare change you have so I can get a sandwich or something to eat. If not, have a lovely day." he seemed so absolutley genuine about it. Most people ignored him, one even gave him a dirty look. The woman next to me was beautiful, seemed wealthy, and very well off from the clothing and bag she had. She reached into her pocketbook and handed him a handful of change. It reminded me of this fortune cookie I got from Panda Express in the Union last year. It said "Give to those less fortunate that you." Once this popped into my head I reached in my pocket and gave him £2. He said "Thank you very much kind sir," and got off at the next stop. It made me feel a lot better though that a few people did what most in America don't do... show some generosity. Especially from seeing people on the Underground so wrapped up in their own world that they took time away from themselves for a moment... to help another person out. We jumpeed stations and got on the DLR which is an Overground rail station ran by a computer. There's no real driver for the DLR. We went to Greenwich which is now the financial district. There's Cutty Sark, an old sailor ship, The National Maritime Museum--which I loved so much! Boats, ships and nerdy facts about trading industry through shipping days!-- and the Planetarium along the Greenwich Meridian Line, which we did not see up close because you have to pay for it. The Planetarium was really cool! It was at the top of the hill where the Observatory is and it overlooked the "Queen's House" Museum and the green area where they had the Equestrian competition for the Summer Olypics last year. |The open expanse looked over the buildings leading all the way down to Greenwich Pier along the Thames River. It was so beautiful to see.

This morning, I was walking to the bus and this woman stopped and asked where I'm from. We had a really good conversation. She was working on a campaign to get homeless people off the streets and into shelters. I'm not a permanent resident so I couldn't help out but it was so nice to talk to her and she was asking me about my experince here and shook my hand. It was just nice to have a stranger say hi. Maybe she thought I was a Londoner, which makes me think I'm blending in here! I use my headphones on the Underground because people don't make eye contact and it's really awkward to start at your hands for 35 minutes. I finally figured out how to make my hair work in the humditity which is a major bonus because 97% of everyone you see here is gorgeous, well kept, stylish and groomed. So I secretly get happy when people assume that I'm from Europe. haha. It's all about just pretending that you know what you're doing and making everyone think you know. Except when I'm walking around saying "wow!" every other word... that gives the whole "tourist" thing away.