The Bowdoin Orient

December 8, 2000
Volume CXXXII, Number 12

Letter from London: Sightseeing

by JAMES FISHER, STAFF WRITER

   LONDON-If I were a pessimist, I'd say gobal warming has come to London.
   This week it's been unusually warm, in the 50s (11 degrees C to us). The rain has also dropped off, although this fall has been the wettest in over 200 years-18 inches of rain have drenched the streets of the city in the past few months.
    Right now, though, it's no more rainy than Maine is, and it's warmer. (True story: I overheard a Colby freshman who hails from California (here at the CBB London Center before beginning the February term) ask her friend, "Does it get this cold in Maine?" when it was about 35-40 F outside. Colby-the school of hard knocks.)
    So I'm taking advantage of the weather by cramming in all the sights I haven't gotten around to this semester, of which there are plenty.
    I feel guilty when I admit that, while I've been here for almost three months, I haven't seen a single theatrical production (but have made time for three or four movies) or been to Buckingham Palace, Windsor, or the Tower of London. I haven't even been to the Millennium Dome, which will almost surely be demolished or made into office space early next year.
    I don't feel so bad about skipping the Dome; actually, it's one of the most insulted and hated tourist attractions in the world, and no one hates it more than the London taxpayer, who sees it as an ugly, bloated financial black hole which has deprived him of part of his pension and made his pint cost more. No one goes to see it-they'd be laughed at if anyone knew they did.
    I'm making up for it in these last few weeks. I went to Aberdeen, Scotland, recently, where it was much colder than in London and where a large statue of William Wallace (think Braveheart) occupies the town square.
    This weekend, I'm going to Windsor. Not for the castle, though, but for Legoland. The Dutch, who first invented Legos, have licensed a park just half an hour outside of London. I was a big Lego collector when I was a kid; I hope I can fit into the rides now.
    Mostly, though, I want to soak up what I know about London already, and revel in it. I have become a temporary citizen here. I know the tube; I know the language and customs of coffee shops, restaurants, and pubs; I know the major news stories; I know the TV channels, all five of them; I know what is worth buying from the Indian grocery store down the street and what spices to leave alone.
    I'm more interested in European Union news than charges of election-stealing somewhere in the south-Georgia, I think. What's going on with the election anyway? I haven't been able to find out who won…
    For me, the point of studying away seems not to involve setting the customs of my temporary native land against the standards of my country, but to temporarily forget my country has any standards. I'll do the comparisons when I get home, not now.
    This isn't to say that I don't miss home, or Bowdoin. I haven't been able to bike or hike here at all; it hasn't snowed; I only saw my dad here in London briefly as he was returning from a business trip, so I certainly miss my family.
    It seems like the Bowdoin campus is pretty active this year (or at least controversy in the pages of the Orient is). But time is short now: only one week of classes and then one of exams is left before we leave. No point in feeling homesick, when I'll be Londonsick so soon.