Today was a great day at work (mostly because someone new started and so finally somebody was more lost than I was). I finally finished my first project and I feel very accomplished.

After work, Jessica and I met to go grocery shopping. There is a grocery store about a block from our apartment, but it is really expensive. We decided to go to Sainsbury, which is pretty much the equivalent of WalMart. Sainsbury was in a part of town that seemed to be mostly occupied by Muslims; nothing like the rest of London. It is so interesting how London is such a melting pot for all kinds of people.

Let me just say, carrying 30 lbs of groceries, in the pouring rain, with no hand to hold an umbrella, made me pretty homesick. I miss being able to drive where I need to go and get home in 15 minutes. Getting to Sainsbury took a good half hour/forty-five minutes on the tube. On the way back, standing in a hot, crowding, jerking train, attempting not to drop groceries everywhere, was so pleasant after running through the pouring rain.

Okay enough complaining. I just had to get it out of my system.

I had to buy the first umbrella I could find today that was reasonably priced (sense I lost mine sometime this weekend). Of course the only one I could find that wasn’t more than 10 pounds was a plaid, blue, black, and puke-colored umbrella. Man, it is a sight to see. It is the most hideous thing I’ve ever seen. It looks like an alligator hunter’s ripped plaid t-shirt was draped across some wires and someone decided to call it an umbrella. It will do. It was only 2 pounds. It is the cheapest price for anything I have ever seen in London, literally. I’m over it. No one can see my face when I’m holding an umbrella anyway. (I’m really done complaining this time).

I’ve decided today that if you were ever in some sort of trouble with the government, London would be the last place you would hide. Everywhere I go, I have to swipe some sort of ID. To get into my building, to get into my apartment, to get into my room in my apartment, to get into L’Oreal, to get up the elevator at L’Oreal, to get into the bathroom, lunchroom, and mail room at L’Oreal, to check into class every Friday, to get on the tube, to get off the tube, to get on a bus, to get into a pub, etc. Therefore, if anyone ever tried to hide their identity here, they’d have to live in a cave.

That was irrelevant. Back to what I said about Sainsbury being in a Muslim community… It amazes me how much of a melting pot London is. There are different clusters of ethnic groups all over London. You can go down one street and see a mob of Chinese people, then go down another and see a bunch of African stores with a tribal dance studio on the corner, turn down another street and you reach a Jewish community, it just goes on and on.

I learned in class on Friday that there was never slavery or segregation laws in the U.K. Maybe everyone else knew that, but I didn’t. Yes, the British made A LOT of money in the slavery industry before it was abolished, but slavery was never practiced on British soil. The professor claimed that this is the reason why London became such a melting pot. African Americans would come to London and be free, but people from all over the world came to London because of trade and globalization. No matter what nationality you may be, there will be a place for you here. It is almost as if London does not have its own culture, it is just comprised of many different cultures. However, most of the time I think that London is just like America, but people talk differently, there are cooler buildings, and a Royal family here.

In my attempt to simultaneously cook my dinner and type my blog I splattered red sauce all over my shirt. Oh well, one less thing to add to my suitcase of bricks when I go home. I’m going to stop blabbing and eat.