life by the River Thames

Life in a residence hall when you're a graduate student is...different. I'm surrounded by hoards of replicas of my past teen-20s self and it is exhausting to watch. Sometimes I wonder if I jumped the gun a bit by accepting this hall so quickly. I mean, I don't want to be homeless in London, but seriously...I passed a kid in the hall on the way to the lounge (where the microwave lives) and this was our interchange:
he said, "What, you're not going to Crush?"
Me: "Crush?"
Him: "Crush!"
Me: "What's that?"
Him: "{something British and undecipherable} in the Quad!"
Me: "Does it cost money?"
Him: "5 pounds."
Me: "I'm broke."
Him: "{something else, maybe Cheers? who knows.}"

Then there's the trashed lounge after a party. Gingerly removing bottles of liquors from the sink to wash my paltry load of dishes. And the smell of feet in unventilated hallways. Stepping over some pool of gross outside someone's door. Ah....college life.
But it's all worth it - all of it - for the walk to LSE.

I live in a borough south of the River Thames. I have to cross it on my way to school. It's pronounced "temz" by the Brits and I can't bring myself to say it out loud. Temz. Thames. Tames? Anyway, it's beautiful - brown, noisy, but beautiful. By day it is littered with boats and the bridges are bustling with double-decker buses, cabs, bikes and cars. By night it is Lite-Brite picture perfection. Small globe lights are strung between ornate light poles (torch poles? they call flashlights torches. why not?) and benches a-plenty for sitting and watching the world float by. I heart you, River Thames!

After crossing the Millennium Bridge today, I passed a 3-piece boy band playing for pocket pence just outside of the Tate Modern museum. Two acoustic guitars and a keyboard blower thingy that sounded a bit accordion-y. No love from me - I had like 5 pence and that seemed a crummy contribution.
No classes yet - so I had time to buy a small fridge for my grocery treasure-hunting, and do laundry. I saw this crazy thing in the store - ironing water. I gave it a try - it's quite a lovely experience. I was ironing things just to iron.