HiBAiSHi

Things that I will not miss:

1. The word “yeah” at the end of every sentence. Wow, how can people actually talk like that yeah? Don’t they get annoyed, yeah? I thought I would have gotten used to it yeah, but no, yeah, no. I have decided that because I can’t stand the way some people talk around here, I guess the “slang” part, I will not pretend to do an English accent. Ever.
2. Indian/Bangladeshi/Pakistani “bruvs.” Seriously where do these people come from and when did they think they were such thugs? I get a little depressed every time I overhear a conversation or listen to them ask a question. Not a single one of any of the friends I have made here want to be friends with one of these people
3. The terrible way that my flat is designed. Who thought it would be a good idea to build a flat that is actually just a long hallway with rooms. Why are the lights in the hallway motion sensing? Why are there four freezers in the kitchen, but no refrigerator? It also makes me miss simple things like a toaster oven. Very sad sometimes.
4. The Hammersmith & City Line. Particularly dodgy. Despite being the best public transportation system in the world, I hate the tube on Sunday’s. It is impossible to get to Mile End on any line but the District Line, which unfortunately is the slowest line in the city.
5. How socially acceptable it is for Europeans to smoke everywhere. How my hallway always smells like cigarettes. How my roommates find a way to always have an empty nutella jar used as an ash tray every time I come back. Particularly, it was upsetting when my roommates figured out that the smoke detectors weren’t actually smoke detectors, just heat sensors.
6. How I have to plan ahead thirty minutes to go out anywhere in the middle of London. I hate the East End. So much. Though I hear because of the 2012 Olympics the road that is adjacent to campus is actually going to be closed off to cars and completely renovated. So maybe if I came here in… 2011, this would have been an awesome area. Unfortunately, the Olympic related highlight has been a fire at the Olympic site that cause the sky to darken.
7. How the sun sets at around 3:30 in the wintertime. How it rains every other day intermittently. The lack of daylight makes the days seem so much shorter. I stopped running a while ago, because I hated running in the sketchy east end when it was all dark. Though, this did give Ray an excuse to run with his shirt off so “bikers could see him better.” It’s fun being white, innit?
8. How difficult it is to cross a street. Instead of crossing once, you generally have to cross three times just to make it all the way across a main street. That’s ridiculous. It also doesn’t really have any good pattern or anything, but I guess in any street you just cross when there are no cars and don’t care what cars think. Too bad those cars driving in the city already pay an 8 pound congestion fee. Ouch.
9. The crash of the US dollar. Nominally, everything is the same price. However, in actual money everything costs twice as much as it does. Because of this I feel even more poor than I ought to, but it’s misleading because you don’t feel that bad paying some prices. Especially because there is no sales tax and the prices aren’t misleading. But paying $4 for a load of laundry? (Just the washer mind you). Kind of depressing. Purchasing power parity my ass.
10. Ah, who am I kidding. I really am going to miss living in one of the world’s most incredible, convenient, culturally diverse, and totally awesome cities. A lot. Not to mention it’s a springboard to the rest of Europe. Oh well, back to Durhole I go.