By Marta Morientes

A newcomer in London: Lesson 1

I have not even been in London for 24 hours and it has been an absolutely rollercoaster of occurrences. I can’t imagine what it can happens during one year!

I’ve had to wait some hours because I was very pissed. Let’s begin:

Yesterday…

I got Stansted Airport at 18.30.

I had to wait one hour to get my suitcases.

Another hour waiting for the bus.

The bus took 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to Liverpool Street (it’s not where I wanted to go but I decided a metro would be faster than that damn bus).

I arrived in Brixton at 00.15 in the night, it was full of trendy cool fancy modern stylish young people.

Well, let’s go back for a moment, when I was deciding where could I spend my first days in London I choosed Hootananny Hostel, apparently it had an awesome pub and I happily booked it.

I went inside and realized I was in the middle of a concert with three suitcases until I finally got my bedroom. 

I went to drink some beers with some new colleagues of SCA and we had a great beginning.

This morning… 

I woke up in the hostel in a 8 beds room. At some moment I realized ALL MY MONEY, which it was inside my wallet, had been stolen.

I was so upset and after some arguments in the hostel I decided to go for a walk.

I was sitting on a chair in front of Ritzy Cinema when suddenly Tarun, a new colleague from SCA that I met yesterday night, was walking around there. 

I told him I was so sad and I asked him how he was. 

His PHONE had fallen into the toilet and it didn’t work. 

We went to buy a new phone for him. 

We decided to buy some beers and drink it at the park in front of SCA. We were talking about his ‘The Meaning of Life’ project, about advertising in India, about music and many other interesting topics. 

I guess that’s what SCA is all about, sharing suffering with this new family and enjoying beautiful moments too. 

This is a really new journey, not just academically but also personal growth and me, on my first day, I have had the first lesson of this journey: 

Hug your wallet when you are sleeping in a hostel! (I imagine Tarun learned another lesson too…). The first lessons of many of them.

See all of you on Tuesday, maybe we can go all together to Hootananny Pub and ask for free beers in exchange of this incident.