My First Few Days in London

The 13hr40 mins flight wasn't as bad as expected. Probably cuz it was a night flight, I slept a good part of it away. Was met at the airport by my friend's friend, Chaiyut. Really grateful that he came down early in the morning at 630 to pick me up. Will be staying with him and another of his friend Leo for the next 9 months, hopefully everything will go well!

Moved into our "home" immediately and I must say it looks pretty good, although the rent is god-damn expensive. The Londoners must be making too much $$ as exotic cars like Aston Martins, Mercedes, BMW and Mini Coopers etc are all so common on the roads.

My first meal in London was a sandwich with latte and Chaiyut treated me to it. It cost 5 pounds (S$15) and apparantly that is considered cheap by London standards! Pretty much did nothing for the first 2 days as much time was spent making our home liveable. Hopefully all these shit can be settled asap so I can get down to my real purpose of being here... studying.

Finally had the time to go LSE on my 3rd day here. Travelling in London is pretty easy with the tube (equivalent to our MRT). Went to settle my bank account before that but apparantly it is still not ready so I have to survive with whatever few cash I have on hand for the next few days at least. Met this undergrad girl Celine from Singapore with her parents at the branch and I must say, it was so comforting to meet Singaporeans in London. Went to school to meet up with Chaiyut as we wanted to go down to Chinatown to buy some stuff. Celine and her parents joined us too as they dint have much plans either. I must say Chaiyut was a pretty good tour guide and her parents were suitably impressed! Went pass Covent Garden Market, Chinatown, Leceister Square and Picadilly Circus. Will return to explore these places in greater detail when I have the time. Had char kway teow for dinner at Chinatown and I must say it tastes so good! Not cheap though; cost £6 = S$18!!! Although it is due to the fact that I have been eating bread, pasta and pizzas for the past few days but nonetheless, I do miss Chinese food here. Got to start learning how to cook!

There's so many things to settle - school stuff, housing issues, banking, transport etc. And the worst thing is that since public transport is so expensive, minimum £1.50 per trip on the tube, the cheaper alternative is to walk. And my friend Chaiyut walks really fast! It's definitely not as convenient as Singapore where I can just drive the car around. But I guess it will be good training for me to be more independent by the time I'm done with my studies here.

Although it has only been a short few days here, but it has definitely given me new perspectives in life. Just today at school, I chatted with this guy from Pakistan and a girl from Africa. Everywhere you go in school, you see people of different nationalities and this is definitely something that is probably missing from NTU. Definitely looking forward to meeting and making new friends from all over the world and experiencing first hand the cosmopolitan and diverse culture here! Also, being alone in a foreign land makes me appreciate how I used to take my family for granted. In Singapore, I could always depend on my family and friends to help with whatever problems but here, everything has to be settled by myself. And the expenses are just tremendous in a city like London including the school fees. Hopefully the expenses will come down once I settled in to school life. I have to really thank my dad for giving me this opportunity to further my studies and do something which probably not many of my peers get to experience.

Sorry but did not have time to upload photos but it will be done soon once my internet at home is up and running!