I was looking forward to visiting London, especially after hearing so many great reports from family and friends. However, upon arrival, I immediately sensed a level of disorientation of time and space. I had felt this same disorientation when I first visited Prague. Adding to this was the unnecessary need to move through space quickly. Upon arrival (by coach- no stress there), we checked the group into the nearby hostel. I had expected the hostel to be bare bones, but the reality was a bit disconcerting and added to my stress levels. Although it as adequate for sleeping cheaply in an expensive town, it lacked basic amenities, such as a chair to sit on in the room, a shelf for clothes while showering, and free wifi in the lobby. In addition, the beds were set at weird (90*) angles on top of each other so that feet were enclosed by the top of the next bunk, so that once on bed, movement was limited. the final item was that I developed a nosebleed during the night, which startled me significantly. Was the air too dry (ha! it rained a lot during the month, although it was sunny and dry this day) or was my blood pressure totally out of whack? Intellectually, none of these minor issues mattered, as the centrality of the location was more important for our group.
On top of this, my colleague suggested a walk, which sounded like a good idea, except that it was longer than I was able to comfortably complete at that point, resulting in foot discomfort/blisters, even though I had comfortable shoes and the walk was not stressful at all. I was ready to be done shortly after the halfway point. Then, navigating the tube/underground proved less than intuitive at the start of the visit, due to the tap in/tap out required by the multidimensional structure and the Oyster card.
In retrospect, I clearly needed down/alone time to process the changes. Unfortunately, that was not possible, so my brain just shut down and left me on physical autopilot, which left me feeling extremely tired. My colleague tried to snap me out of it by describing her analysis of my reaction to me, but I was totally unable to think or respond. It was as if I were in a parallel universe where Dr. Caligari's cabinet and the Magic Mountain's dream sequence intersected.
Of course, following time to sleep and process (the nighttime nosebleed notwithstanding), I was alert and able to function much better, but I was troubled by the previous day's experience. The rest of the short stay was relatively uneventful in terms of stress, and I was able to begin appreciating what the city had to offer.
Luckily, this visit was immediately followed by a free weekend in Berlin, a city I know fairly well, and in which I was able to investigate some things I had never seen with pleasant company, if not perfect weather (torrential rain did seem to be the norm for each location we visited).
The last day of the program had been changed to be a free day, and I eagerly left early to spend the day in London alone to visit the David Bowie exhibit at the V & A museum. This had been one of the activities I really wanted to do while in London, but the group's activities prevented it during the site visits. Feeling confident about how to get there (train from Grantham, tube from King's Cross, walk through underground to museum), I finally experienced a glimpse of the wonder of the city that so many others of my family and friends had predicted. Of course, the Bowie exhibit contributed greatly to that...I fell in love with his music, aesthetic, costumes, stage presence and performances all over again :))
The takeaway from this realization is that I need private time to process new locations, even if that means limited activities in a new location. In addition, my preparatory research for a new city must be more rigorous to prevent some of the physical/psychic disorientation. On a side note, just HOW do the students regularly drop bags and run out into a strange city and enjoy it till late in the night?!? Their need for novelty and fear of missing out on something must be truly more powerful than I imagined.
Here are some photos from the V&A: the grand Chihuly chandelier, a couple of the decidedly feminist statues I saw waiting for my entrance time to the DB exhibit (Alfred Stevens, mid 19th century, "Valour and Cowardice" and "Truth Silencing Falsehood"). Look at these up close, as they are all three remarkable items! The last one is the queue in front of me outside waiting for the museum to open. The queue behind me was way longer, going to end of the block and around the corner--it is a popular exhibit.
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