Go Adjust
As many of you know I am keeping this blog not only as a great way to store my memories of this trip, but also because I am a Social Media Scholarship recipient for the Summer Semester Abroad at the University of Utah (whoo hoo!)
To keep us on track we are asked to post on certain topics, like transportation, school programs, leaving, coming home, and ‘adjusting.’
When I first saw that I had to write about adjusting I thought; “Gosh! But London is so fun and amazing...and English speaking! What could I possibly have to say?”
I thought about writing about how difficult it was to find eggs at the grocery store (they don't refrigerate them over here!) Or about how being in the front seat of an Uber, sitting in what would be the driver’s seat, was one of the most terrifying moments of my life!
But really I would say that the thing that was the hardest to get a hang of, was communicating. Many people in my program, including myself, did not change their wireless plans, but instead just decided to turn on airplane mode and rely on wifi to get in contact with friends and family back home! I thought this sounded like a reasonable idea! There’s wifi everywhere right??
I had not realized how much I rely on my cell phone. I always thought that when my mom told me I was ‘addicted to my phone’ she was being hyperbolic.
Not having the ability to text your friends with a ‘hey what’s your eta?’ or look up the best Curry restaurant in London while being out and about was, at first, really stressful. It was hard to make plans with people unless you were right there with them. We had to trust our guts instead of checking yelp reviews! But then it became kind of fun! I feel like I got to see a lot more of the city, partially because I kept getting lost, but also because I wasn't able to rely on the internet like I normally would.
One time, Monica and I were trying to get to Shakespeare’s Globe Theater to go see a show, so I made sure to put it in my Google Maps before we left. But somehow I accidentally took us to an entirely different “Globe”...
Then we took this selfie on the tube that we couldn’t post anywhere because we didn’t have internet...but along the way we had some laughs and found Madame Tussauds wax museum!
Communicating with people back home also became really fun! I got to send post cards, which was a first... I even sent my mom a post card shaped like the Queen’s face:
We did have wifi at our flat so I got to Skype my dog which was also very exciting!
So while not having the instant connection to the World Wide Web was a challenge it really reminded me how much fun getting lost can be, how important face to face relationships are, and how easily I can get consumed with my phone.