London

Hello folks,
I've been in London since Thursday. Honestly, I feel that it's a blessing that I was able to make it here. I was beginning to wonder if we would be able to after having sat on the tarmac for 3 and a half hours on Wednesday night. We waited for the plane to be de-iced (45 min), the runway to be cleared (2 hrs) and the plane to be de-iced again (45 min). Finally, we were in the air at about 10pm, and we arrived in London at about 3pm local time. I was quite jetlagged as I rode the tube (subway) into Central London. Groggy, tired, and disoriented, I was able to find my way to the hostel 2 blocks from Russell Square. I still haven't quite gotten over the jetlag. I usually am in bed by about 9 or 10, but have been waking up around 1 or 2 am and having no luck falling asleep for at least 2 hours. I've been feeling extremely tired when I finally wake up again at 8 or 9. Each passing night has been a little easier....part of my inability to sleep has been due to all of the noise around the hostel. The kitchen just down the hall from me is usually full of drunkards until about 3 am. I'm glad I brought the earplugs!!!
One of the major reasons for this short stay in London is because I have applied for graduate school at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). It is a masters program focusing on the performance of an instrument from Africa or Asia, and it has an ethnomusicology component to it as well. I met with Lucy Duran, one of the faculty on Friday afternoon. It was a wonderful visit. We met for about an hour, and didn't speak much of the University at all...instead we just chatted about the Kora and music of West Africa, an area of interest which she is very focused. I would say that Lucy is one of the main reasons that Toumani Diabate is so well known in Europe and North America today. She recorded his first album in the 80's titled "Kaira" as well as a recording with Toumani and Ballake Sissoko called "New Ancient Strings". Both are are in the list of my top 5 Kora recordings. To make a long story short, it would be awesome to have Lucy as a professor. I felt like I could converse with her for another few hours that day if I had the opportunity.
Today has been the most enjoyable day for me in London thus far. This afternoon I met with Stewart, a friend of Megan's growing up in Connecticut. He has lived here with his wife and son for a couple of years now. It was interesting having met him here for the first time, and not through Megan. We met at a little Australian restaurant called St. Ali. I had a delicious Lobster and Tomato soup, and we chatted about London and all the things that make it different from most of America....which are quite a few. It's REALLY expensive here. It makes living in NY City look inexpensive in some ways. Expect to pay $2000/month for a 1 bedroom flat. You could probably find cheaper deals in east and southeast London if you look hard enough, but many units are run down. I bought a bag of four small organic apples from the grocery store the other day for 1.50 pounds ($2.25ish). Meat....prohibitively expensive....Organic meat? Pretty much nonexistent....as far as I could tell at the couple of grocery stores that I could tell. Organic anything seems hard to find around here...quite different from back home.
After meeting with Stewart, I met with a gentleman named Obinna. He is the boyfriend of a woman that I know named Vikki. She and I met in Gambia in 2008. Unfortunately, we weren't able to meet up this time...she lives in Nottingham, which is 2 hours to the north. Obinna lives here in London though. He biked up from his home in Southwest London up to the Angel tube station in Pentonville. It was quite a lovely visit. Both my visits with Stewart and him have probably been the highlight for me at this stage of the trip. I got a lot of walking in today which felt good. It helped me get over the tiredness that I've been experiencing during the first few hours of each day.
Overall, I could see London as a decent place to come for school. I'm not quite sure that I'd want to live there very much beyond that though. The experience, while being mostly positive, has been quite the sensory overload. Very crowded, fast paced, and the smell of cigarettes is difficult to avoid...much more so than any large city in the states, it seems. The person at the hostel's front desk gave me a solid stare for a few seconds when I told her that I didn't smoke upon being asked as I checked in on Wednesday. It does seem like every one here that I talk to smokes. It's unfortunate that the outdoor courtyard right next to the kitchen pushes the smoke right in. You can even smell it from the public restroom here. There are signs around buildings saying "no smoking by entrance" but people don't seem to obey.
Next post will be from Gambia. Until next time-

Sean