Word to the wise, don't fall up the stairs in a London tube station. It will hurt your knees and bruise your ego - unless you have a good friend to laugh it off with you.
Today I wandered around London and explored a city outside of the United States for the first time in my life. My reaction, welcome to the real world, baby. Without the comfort of my trusted companion, my Blackberry, I felt alone in a city with millions of people bustling all around me.
At home I know the routes to all of my favorite destinations as well as which way cars are going to be coming at me if I try to cut across the street when the light is green going in the other direction.
But today, I was lost.
I was also in the way of far too many double-decker buses. For nearly 30 minutes, three of my friends and I tried to find the right platform we needed to be on before we realized we needed to go up the escalator two more levels to get to Leicester Square.
Why were we so foolish? I'm really not sure. Maybe, though, it’s because we are so used to figuring it out on our own. Maybe we were just too scared to look like "tourists." Maybe we really are the typical American stereotype, ignorant and arrogant.
Either way, the longer we stood in one place looking and waiting, the more annoyed stares and harsh whispers were thrown in our direction. All we had to do was ask someone. Once we started asking for help, people were more than willing and much more friendly.
The moral of the story is, don't be afraid to ask for help when you're in new territory. Also, slow down and smell the roses - or else you just might fall and smell the pavement.
Heather Nacht
Magazine Journalism
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7 years ago
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