My Last Morning in London

For those of you who know me well, brace yourself: I woke up, on my own, without an alarm clock, at 6:00am this morning. I wasn't quite awake, but I was conscious enough to grab my stuff and go take a shower. Good god, what's wrong with me?!

So today is my last day in London. I'm trying to pack and hoping that everything will fit and my big suitcase not be over 50 lbs. It feels pretty close right now and I still have to pack a few more things. Oh well. I've showered, I've had a quick breakfast, and now, I am going to go lie down and read while the other roomies rush around like chickens with their heads cut off. I'm sure I'll do that at the end too, but for now, it's lovely and peaceful. So, for my future reference, here is a list of things I think I will miss and that I don't think I will miss:

I will miss:

• The neighborhood. I love being able to run down the stairs and around the corner to the market if I need anything. Doing a bunch of small shopping trips just seems so much better than doing big huge shopping trips.
• The shower. Damn, I have some REALLY hot water and really good water pressure here.
  
• The daylight. It starts getting light around 4 or 5ish and doesn't get dark until 9 or 9:30. However, I know that I would die in the winter when it's dark ALL THE TIME.
• The weather. Yes, I've complained about the rain and the humidity, but it is pretty damn pleasant. I'm sitting right here by the window, absolutely freezing, but knowing that this will be the last time I will be cold (outside of the flight!) for a while.
• The greenery. This goes for more of the countryside than London, but damn it's green out there!
  
• The tube. It goes everywhere, it comes all the time, it's reasonably clean, and I have (had!) an unlimited pass for it.
  
• Walking. There's a ton of stuff within walking distance and having a car is very, very optional. Sure beats having to get into the car for everything.
• The variety. The part of town I'm in, I'm just as likely to hear french, german, or italian as I am to hear english. This is a spectacularly international city, and there's a certain homogeneous nature to all of the american accents back home.
  
• The Chocolate. Oh yes, I will miss that the most, probably.

I will NOT miss:

• The pollution. Yes, it's not too dirty of a city, but damn the air in the tube sucks. Lots and lots of particulate matter.
• Sharing my room with 2 people and the bathroom with 4 people. Yeah, seems like sharing with 1 person seems to be my limit. :)
• The exchange rate. Aren't I lucky? I came during the worst exchange rate ever! Must be nice for Brits to come over to visit us and live like kings.
• The crazy-assed schedule. I love going out as much as the next person, but after a while, all of the classical art museums tend to blend together.
• Traveling as a group. Yes, I've definitely gone out and have done my own thing a lot, but seriously, I can't STAND having to identify with this loud and obnoxious group of people sometimes. At least I got them to start standing on the right going up and down the escalators on the tube.

So all and all, a mixed bag. I'm going to shut down my computer now, and the next time, I post, I'll be home. Catch you in California!