My first thoughts - London

After approximately 10.5 hours, I finally arrive London. What a trip? It was looooong. i was totally scared of what i was going to do to keep myself busy on the plane but i was surprised with how fast time flies. there were movies, occasional naps, my magazine, my unfinished book, stretching my legs and people to talk to when you are stretching. I met this lady and we started talking about Accenture. I sat there thinking according to Accenture, I am "engaged" meaning, I have a sense of loyalty to the company.

After all my excitement, we land and I go through customs, grab my bag and head to the train ticketting center. Little did i know that the train is different from the tube/underground. As an American/Nigerian they are all trains, whether it goes to the sky, moon, under the sea or whatever as long as it is on tracks, it is a train. Anyway, my first welcome outside of the not so friendly customs guy was the tube ticket agent. Yeah so there was some woman who was up trying to get a ticket before me and she was up there asking 21 questions. I could tell the man behind the counter was irritated. Frankly I think I would be also considering the long line of passengers the man would be waiting on. Anyway, I get there all smiley and warm and asking him for the cost of the ticket to Tottenham, I'm trying to compare round trip and one way prices. He told me the price for the one way like i could not afford the day pass. I asked my next question.... "Can i use the ticket on any tube/underground line?"..... His response was simple..... "you can use it for whatever you want to... dear" with a silly grin on his face. my natrual instict as an american was to demand to speak to his manager but its 7 am, i am tired, irritated and not really in the mood after all he hadn't given me my ticket yet and i needed to go home. So i smiled, paid and left... I'm obviously all excited. the people here have got to be the sweetest on earth..... NOT. the warmth didnt stop there, i was on an overcrowded tube and a seat finally opened up, i am moving luggage around heading for the seat when this young dude walks in and rushes for the seat ignoring me like he didnt see me moving that way. I get off at my train stop and call my cousins from the pay phone to pick me up and i put in a pound make my call and learn that the phones do not return change.. talk about day light robbery

My first thoughts....
So as far as entertainment is concerned, I was kind of surprised to see that the Brit tend to have a lot of information on the american famous people when it comes to movies and music. I mean I expected they would get a good amount but to be frank I know almost all the songs on the Hip Hop and R&B stations here (most of the time my cousins knew more than me).. yeah so every once in a while, there is that song that i have no idea about and usually by the beat, you can tell if it is american or not. All the Brits I've seen and spoken to almost know more about the stars than i do. It's pretty cute. Oh yeah and one thing I dont like is that sometimes some of the songs are slightly altered. Not sure why but i am trying to sing along and the song sounds different...

Yeah so everything is smaller. I heard that over and over again before i came here so i was well prepared. Their cars are also different. They have different models for some of the makes that I am used to or the have a whole different make. I noticed that the hoods are smaller so i feel like half the time my cousin is going to run into the guy in front of us but she doesnt apparently she still has space.

Overall, England reminds me of New York, the older buildings, the small spaces, the outdoor malls that are only common downtown in the U.S and the train system. I'm excited. Cant wait... Looking forward to my next 9 days here.