08.17 Day 2

 

Today started with breakfast at the Imperial College cafeteria. Strange breakfast foods were eaten (e.g. baked beans and mushrooms). We thought we were running late for our housing meeting, but we weren’t too worried about it, because we’d awoken to an email from a contact of one of the judges Daniel worked for in Houston. The news: she is willing to rent her flat to us for a very discounted rate, and it is located just a few blocks from the school. This is about the best scenario we could have hoped for! This neighborhood is fantastic, and now we won’t have to pay for traveling to school, which could cost 70 pounds or more per month. We’ll probably need to find other accommodations for the second half of our stay, but we feel good about that…we’re hopeful that we’ll make some good contacts here in the meantime. On top of that, we weren’t late to our meeting.

After the orientation, we headed out to buy our SIM cards on High Kensington Street. On the way it drizzled a bit, so we decided it was time to buy umbrellas. I got a cute frilly one, and Daniel got a practical, larger model. Then, we stopped for a coffee (for Daniel) at a cool looking place called Caffé Nero. Finally, it was down to business. We decided to go with T-Mobile SIMs (for better coverage) and then we headed to a traditional British pub for fish & chips for lunch. Our fish & chips were pretty fancy….no newsprint included. All in all, the meal was good. We both liked the pickled onions, which was a surprise. During lunch we installed the SIM cards and were excited to realize they will work in our iPhones!! Now we don’t have to live without instant answers to every question, constant communication with friends on Facebook, and most importantly, readily available maps for when we’re lost!

After lunch, we wandered along to the neighborhood where we’ll be staying during the first part of the semester. It’s really nice! Then we headed back to the hotel/dorm. We walked past the other side of the Museum of Natural History, which is an awesome building. Then, I think we may have taken a nap, but I don’t remember. (I’m writing this 2 days later. I should remember!) In the end, we headed out to eat dinner at a really great restaurant called Di Mario’s. We’ll surely be back to eat again there. And, we capped off the evening with a stop at the same market as the night before – once again purchasing a large bottle of water and supplies of chocolate.

All in all, a great day! Lots of walking, good food, and fun just spending time with Daniel and exploring our new neighborhood.