Learning London

Tips, tricks, and figuring out the unknown from Londoners.  

1.  Getting "iced" - and I thought people didn't actually drink Smirnoff Ice.. I was wrong, they do. Of course when I saw it in a club goers hand I struck up a convo with this Londoner and obviously getting "iced" is an american thing. BUT although I don't know what they actually call it here, it is done with restrictions. Getting "iced" is done at 7am and with the "big bottle". (Ollie if your reading this just know I thought of you in mammoth when I was taking about this.)

2.  American music is listened to in every club here. All the time. And NOTHING is new. I'm reliving my freshman year of high school music, maybe even older, when I go out.

3.  The spelling is completely different from the pronunciation. For example when it says Euston, you pronounce it Houston. You can imagine the excitement I had when someone brought up "Houston".. False. Really wrong on that note. Can you tell I'm American? 

        More examples of names that I have yet to conquer: Leicester Square and Gloucester St.

4.  Figure out how to get places after getting on the tube. The easiest part about exploring is the tube the hardest is the streets. Street signs are on buildings not in your face like in the states and when asking for directions you'll get a blank stare. Most people don't know where the location your looking for is and if they do the directions will be in kilometers.. Not too helpful when you've relied on your smartphone to get you around for the past four years. 

5.  Although this fact does not necessarily have to do at all with London I learned it from my advertising teacher so I suppose for me it does. Alan Turing, a computer scientist that should have been a hero to some was ignored because of being caught in the 1950s for being homosexual (then an illegal crime). Turing created a program that broke the Enigma Code during WWII and allowed the British to see where German soldiers were located. It was Steve Jobs who considered Turing an inspiration and made Turings death a symbol that many of us carry daily. After Turings conviction, he put cyanide in an apple and was later found dead. All the Apple products that we carry around daily is a homage to a man that should have seen much more respect in his lifetime. 

With what I continue learning in London I will continue to write. 

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