Orange County vs. Chicago vs. London: Let the Battle Commence

I'm finally feeling like I live in London. Until recently, I've felt like a long-term tourist (which is more or less what I am), but I think I've started to trick myself into thinking otherwise. This means I've been lucky enough to live in three pretty cool places over the last 20 years. Always a fan of some healthy competition, I wanted to see how these places stack up against each other. Here goes:

Food

Sorry, blood pudding (I tried it though!)

The winner: Chicago

Whether it's a meal under $10 at Edzo's, Hot Doug's, or Soup Box, or a meal quite a bit over $10 at Alinea, Chicago is a culinary wonderland. Also, since Groupon was started in Chicago by a former Wildcat, there are always plenty of opportunities to eat out on the cheap. Laguna Beach is home to some of my very favorite restaurants (though I am saddened to learn that my favorite closed last month) and the world's best cheeseburger does come from a certain California drive-thru (sorry Five Guys, you're just no In-N-Out), but my hometown can't compete with the variety and creativity of the Chicago food scene. London is a fairly distant third, although I've had some great Indian food and eating in pubs is always a lot of fun. Food from the grocery store is real bland, unfortunately. I don't even want to think about how much salt I've had to use since I've been here...

But why take the bus when I can drive?

Transportation

The winner: London

This was not even a contest. The tube is clean and runs so frequently, the buses are iconic and easy to navigate, the staff is friendly and helpful (they wear coats and ties!), and whoever did their design work is a pro. The el does have some advantages though: if a line doesn't run all night, it's open until at least 1 or 2am (all the tube lines close at midnight), and whole lines rarely shut down. Also, it builds character. As far as Orange County goes, I think it has a bus system. 

Friendliness

The winner: Orange County

That's what I'm talking about.

A lot of the reason I went to school in Chicago was to get away from the Orange County lifestyle, but when it comes down to it, it's just the place I feel most comfortable. After 18 years of living there, it's always nice to come home and feel like I know just about everything there is to know about it. Big cities are a lot of fun, and even though Chicago and London are very friendly places (certainly friendlier than LA), the hustle and bustle of a city can get to be a little trying on the people. Plus, how can you not be friendly with the beach 20 minutes away and the mountains 2 hours away? Also, it's where my family is, and that's a tough one to argue with.

It doesn't usually look this imposing.

Museums

The winner: London
To start with, almost all of the London museums are free, including The Tate, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, and the British Museum. That's a lot of culture for no money, especially when you consider how unbelievably expensive this city is in all other regards.  Chicago's MCA may be free on Thursdays, but the Art Institute will put you back $16, and even LACMA is $10. Not only are London's museums cheaper, they hold some pretty incredible things. Considering the city traces its roots back to the second century, it obviously has a little bit more history to draw from. 

I can see my house from here! (not really)

Architecture

The winner: Chicago
Frank Lloyd Wright, the Bean, Hancock Tower, Willis Tower, and the Wrigley Building!? Oh, and that one building that looks like a you-know-what. London obviously has some beautiful buildings, but what's so cool about Chicago is that there are so many places where you can see a ton of buildings at once. Whether it's driving down Lake Shore Drive into the city, standing in the middle of Lollapalooza and looking all around you, or taking the train across the river, the views of the city's architecture are breathtaking.

I think this was taken in February.

Weather

The winner: Orange County

Do I even need to explain this one? Yeah, seasons are nice, but it's a pretty tough argument to claim that -12 degree winters beat 75 degree days at the park in December. And sorry London, but this rain is brutal. I'm looking forward to heading home and spending Christmas on the beach, book in hand. 

So there it is, all broken down. There are plenty of other categories that I thought about looking at (music scene, nightlife, intangibles), but these six seemed like the ones I had the most experience with in all three places. Also, this worked itself into a very nice three-way tie (completely intentional). If I made any glaring mistakes, then comment away, but otherwise, look out for another post in a week or so!

So I'm writing this post from the British Library, which is less than a ten minute walk from my flat. With over 13 million volumes, it's the largest library in the world (suck it, Library of Congress). I can't wait to start using it as a resource for school, and also just as a nice place to get some quiet reading done. Classes (finally) start on Tuesday, which means that my life here will start to get some semblance of a structure. I'll be taking three philosophy courses (Aesthetics, Normative Ethics, and a Philosophy of Mind class that I'm a more than a little terrified for) and an art history course called 19th- and 20th-Century Art in London, which meets every week in different galleries and museums across the city. I think it's the most excited I've ever been for a class schedule, especially considering each class only meets for an hour or two once a week. This means no class on Monday or Wednesday, and only one class on Friday. "Study" abroad, indeed.

With all the free time I've had over the last three weeks, I've really been able to do a lot of walking around and exploring in London. I'm starting to get accustomed to carrying an umbrella everywhere I go, seeing as since I've been here it's gone exactly one day without raining. It's really not so bad, though, the tube and bus system are so comprehensive that you can more or less avoid walking around outdoors if you choose. I chose to brave the elements, though, and have found a lot of really cool things. Last Sunday ended the London Design Festival, and I happened to stumble upon an old abandoned power building that had been set up to showcase different pieces by local and international designers. There were different types of furniture, light fixtures, a BMW that had been turned into some bizarre art installation (pictures below), and even a workshop upstairs. After that, I found my first (of hopefully many) Banksy pieces on the side of a wall in a beer garden farther down the street. I ended the day with a trip to the Wellcome Collection, where they had an exhibit all about skin. Pieces in the exhibit included old anatomy textbooks, volumes bound in human skin, and skin samples showcasing French tattoo art at the turn of the century. Yesterday I walked to the Tower of London, going straight through the heart of London's financial center (centre?), and then walking back around through Shoreditch, which is kind of like a mix between Wicker Park in Chicago and Xintiandi in Shanghi. Lots of cool bars, real artsy, definitely not somewhere I'm cool enough to fit in--yet.

I think one of my favorite parts about being here so far is the pub scene. It's completely unlike the bar scene in the States, a fact that I'm all for. As I heard it described to me, a pub (short for public house) is basically a shared living room for a neighborhood. Since the flats and houses here are so small, it's much easier to take the newspaper to a pub if you want a place to read. Also, it's great to be able to order a beer and talk with a friend and not have to worry about any kind of social stigma. The drinking culture is so embedded in British daily life that I was offered a glass beer when I sat down to get my hair cut the other day. I haven't seen a single can of Busch Light since I've been here, either, which is always a good thing. 

That's most of what's going on in my life right now, so check out the pics below and I'll try and write something again once classes get under way.

Astute Observations from an Intrepid Young Traveler

1. The tube is so much easier than the el. Not only do trains run SO much more frequently, it's also much faster, quieter, and cleaner. Nobody talks, though, so it is a little difficult being the loud American trying to figure out the system. What's nice is that each line runs more or less throughout the city, crossing over other lines all the time. This means that you're never more than one line and a few stops from where you're trying to go- no heading into the middle of the city only to get on another train that takes you back to where you want to be. Also, their train tracking system blows the el's out of the water, and the employees all wear coats and ties while being super friendly. The best part? No waiting for the purple line at Howard in the snow for 25 minutes.

2. The music played in public is all over the place. In the states, you can usually tell what kind of music will be played in a particular place, whether it's a department store, bar, or pharmacy. Here, though, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to what I'm hearing. The mobile phone store was playing Shaniah Twain followed by Local Natives followed by Boston like it was no big deal. A pub I was in the other night had that Katy Perry/Timabland song playing right before some classical music. There just doesn't seem to be any consistency to what's popular at a particular place, and I think I kind of like it. If the grocery store wants to put a Radiohead funk cover on the same playlist as the Wu Tang Clan to keep everyone happy, who am I to say no?

3. Gray is always in. Apparently people here dress to match the weather, because everyone you see is in neutral colors. You'd think that with the weather overcast all the time, people would make an effort to wear bright colors to cheer things up. Nope. If I'm not wearing dark gray, regular gray, or light gray, I feel like I'm immediately sticking out as foreign. I also didn't fully realize quite how uncool Americans are compared to Europeans when it comes to fashion. I saw man in a store yesterday wearing a maroon nylon one-piece jumper that ended in capris with an elastic belt, and I thought to myself, "Now that guy knows where it's at." I didn't really think that.


4. Whoever designed the currency here must also have made money repairing pockets. I'm going to get to the bottom of this conspiracy before I leave. There's no reason for £1 AND £2 coins. After just a few days of walking around, it sounded like there was a tambourine (or two) in my pocket. I think after another week I will have worn holes in all of my pockets. For a place with "Great" in the name, I expect to see some greater decision making in the future.

One Week In!

What a crazy week. I've moved in, been through orientation, spent a weekend in Wales on a homestay, and seen so much of the city. Everything's going great- I've figured out the Tube, seen the sights and the nightlife, and can't wait to get started with welcome week in the next few days. Instead of writing about every single thing I've done, I thought I'd get some pictures up now and start writing a little later on when I have more time. Enjoy and get in touch with me if you want to hear more about my trip!

The Obligatory Pre-Departure Post

So this is the entry where I talk about how excited I am to be leaving tomorrow. This is usually done with a lot of exclamation points and maybe even some CAPITALIZATION for EMPHASIS!!! (or "capitalisation"if I really want to fit in overseas) Right after that, though, I'd temper it with some reservations about leaving home for so long, anxiousness about meeting new people and taking difficult classes, and fear that I won't fit in as an American. I'm going to leave that part out, though, mostly because I'm not feeling any of those things. I'm just really, really excited. I got to spend a great week at home with my family and visited my fratstar little brother up at USC as well as another close friend at Chapman. Between the beach, an Angels game, Yogurtland and In-N-Out, I figure I took full advantage of my week in Orange County. But now it's go time, and I couldn't be more ready to get out of here. That means it's time to put down the computer, pack some bags, and do this thang. Goodbye friends and family, I'll talk to you soon! Let's do this.

It's Go Time

Alright, let's get this thing started. It's 23 days until I head off for London, which means that this blog is up and running 22 days sooner than I would normally start a project. It's basically just going to be a place for me to get my thoughts written down, post some pictures, and document my trip using the technology of the future (think of it like Dippin' Dots for the computer). I suppose it's all the better that people can read what I'm writing, it'll keep things on track and somewhat organized. So, if you are a stranger who wandered onto this blog by mistake, then good luck getting to where you're going. If you are a stranger who found this blog on purpose, get out of my life, I certainly don't keep a spare key to my apartment underneath the back porch. And if you are my mother, that liquid I'm drinking in pictures is nothing more than London's famous foaming apple juice. Enjoy the posts, everyone, and perhaps I'll even find myself living vicariously through you living vicariously through me.