Getting Lost as Part of the Fun

It has only been a few days since I arrived in London but I feel like I have been here for ages. There are a lot of places and things to explore, there is simply no time to waste. Even so, I try to have a balance life and ease myself into this city by allowing myself plenty of leisure time because before long I will be diving into a lot of school work and bowful of stress and insomia that I will barely have the time to relax.

London is a city consists of many districts and I live in a district called Bloomsbury and LSE is located near Holborn. There is a 25-minutes walking distance between the dorm and the school and even though I've walk back and forth between these two places several times I still manage to get lost everyday on my way back to my dorm. If I have not been tempted to make just one turn, it would have saved me at least one hour of being lost somewhere. Even though I carry in my bags all the maps one would need to get around Central London, however, I feel somewhat incompetent because I have no sense of direction. It is a frastrating process but when I come to think about it, I can't help but laugh at myself. And after I have a good laugh, I sit down and give myself a pat in the back for having the courage to venture to a new destination all alone and was not afraid at all the whole time. I have gotten very good in using the underground system in London, which is equivalent of the subway system in the U.S. but I have yet to learn how to use the double-decker buses. The distance between the ground and the underground is so great the the escalators that take people are all very steep and long. If you stare up from the bottom of the escalator it is at least two stories high. I can't believe how people done it before those modern conveniences were installed. All those heights are not good for my nerves.

It is so much fun and rewarding to explore a new city all by yourself though it can be very scary. After reading a raving review about this Indian vegetarian all-you-can-eat buffet located in Chapel Market (Southwark) in my London guidebook, I decided to go there and have a meal. It is worth a try because London is a very expensive place to live and the cost of food is ridiculous. As a student, this is definitely a place where you can bring your friends to go to and have a spicy, healthy and inexpensive food.

After this daring first adventure into Southwark, a new district, it gives me new confidence that even though I will get lost sometimes it is worth the whole trouble because at the end of it is the fruit of my labor.