Like an old friend

London. Åh London. Det var dejligt at se dig igen. Alle der kender mig ved, at jeg elsker London. Jeg elsker, hvordan alle maser sig frem på Oxford Street med favnen fuld af enten den efterhånden ikoniske brune papirspose med de tynde lyseblå bogstaver fra Primark eller den skriggule fra Selfridges. Primark-posen  skriger kvantitet over kvalitet og Selfridges står for kvalitet. Jeg tilhører selv den første gruppe af folk, der ikke har råd til at mæske os i Selfridges luksus. Oxford Street er altid spændende. Der sker altid noget. Især hvis du gør dig selv imødekommende. Så snakker folk til dig. Det kan jeg mægtig godt lide. Såsom idag, hvor der var to pakistanere, der spurgte mig, om jeg var fransk. Not cool man. Den har jeg alligevel aldrig hørt før. Snakker I hollandsk i Danmark? Eller da jeg stoppede ved to fløjtespillende mænd, der så meget sydamerikanske ud. Og såmænd de ikke også var det. Bolivia og Peru. Jamen dog! Det var rart. Snakker I spansk i Danmark, spurgte han mig. I wish. Der sker altid noget i London. For nyligt opdagede jeg, at sprogudveklingseventet, som jeg gik til konstant i Buenos Aires, endelig er til at finde uden for Argentinas grænser. Selvfølgelig til London som det første sted. Så jeg tog to finske veninder under armen, hvoraf jeg skal bo under samme tag med den ene på vores kollegie i Aberdeen. Det var smadderhyggeligt! Jeg suger alt der kan minde mig om Argentina til mig, det er vist ingen hemmelighed. De tre arrangører havde også været i Buenos Aires og meget indforståede blikke blev udvekslet. Vi savner det alle sammen. Det er ikke kun mig. Jeg fik dog en del af Sydamerika i form at portugisisk. Det er rustent, men det var der. Lyttede til en del finsk og konkluderede, at jeg aldrig nogensinde skal lære det sprog. Der var som sædvanligt ingen danskere. Gudsketakoglov. Det argentinske flag var til at spotte men de var ikke til at trænge igennem til, så min søgen fortsætter. To be continued. Det spanske ligeså, og dem der kender mig, ved også at jeg elsker Spanien og alt relateret dertil. Eller rettere sagt, jeg elskede. Now not so much. Sydamerika ændrede alt for meget! Jeg tog endda mig selv i at spørge en spansktalende gut, hvorvidt han var fra Spanien og da han nikkede, tog jeg mig selv i at sukke højlydt, hvortil han grinte. Jeg tror godt han forstod det. De er ikke i så høj kurs mere. Eller også havde han set mit argentinske flag. Hvem ved. Alle i Sydamerika gør grin med den mumlede spanske accent og nu er jeg også begyndt at kunne identifiere det komiske i den. Så ja, i stedet for at skulle anstrenge mig for ikke at grine af dem, når de snakker til mig, foretrækker jeg helt at holde mig helt væk. Det giver da mening, gør det ikke? Og hvis de har et brændende ønske om at konversere med mig (for hvem har ikke det?), så må de imitere den skønne røst, der er den argentinske rioplatense accent. 

Jeg har haft en par rigtig gode dage i London. Jeg har været ude i forstæderne, hvor jeg boede første gang jeg var her, jeg har mødtes med nogle af andre førsteårsstuderende, der også skal til Aberdeen, jeg har været til en fantastisk (og gratis!) intimkoncert/meet n' greet med Nina Nesbitt, en skotsk sangerinde (inkl. cupcakes, drinks og verdens største goodiebag fra Forever 21) og jeg har mødt en helt masse nye fantastiske mennesker. London skuffer aldrig, det kan jeg vist godt konkludere nu hvor jeg har været her 3 gange. Og nu er klokken ved at nærme sig 21, kalenderen siger d. 5. september og jeg sidder pt. og stirrer ind i min skærm, som er åben på min universitets email konto - min indbakke bugner allered med beskeder om informationsmøder, registrering, tutormøder, mentorprogrammer og alt det hejs, selvom vi ikke engang er startet endnu. Jeg kan ikke tro, at det er nu. At det faktisk er i dag, at jeg stiger på en bus, hvor destinationen er Aberdeen. Imorgen er dagen, jeg har ventet på i efterhånden mere end 6 måneder - lige siden jeg fik nyheden om, at jeg var optaget. Jeg tager bussen i aften ved midnat og ankommer imorgen ved middagstid. Og så går det løs - snart kan jeg kalde mig universitetsstuderende i Skotland!

London, my dear friend. It was incredibly nice to see you again. Anyone who truly knows me also knows that I love London. I absolutely adore London. I love everything about London. I love how, when you walk down Oxford Street, can't avoid being squeezed by busy people waving either a brown paper bag that has the word Primark on it, written with those almost iconical ivy blue letters, or the yellow Selfridges bag that's a bit classier in my opinion. It's either quality or quantity. You choose. Primark is the latter. I fall into the category of deprived people who fall for the cheap tricks by Primark. They know how to market themselves. I fall for it. I also love Oxford Street because there's always something going on. Very Londonish. People talk to you if you put on your extroverted face and make yourself available. Or maybe you'll casually meet two Latino looking guys playing the flute and you ask them where they're from to which they answer with the softest Latin American-accent "Yo soy de Bolivia y él de Perú". Or you'll casually get approached by two guys from Islamabad asking you if you're French. I never heard that one before. Finnish, Dutch, American, Swedish.. But never French. Why not Argentinian, huh? I could totally pass for being latina. Or maybe, you discover that your favorite language event, an event you used to attend all the fucking time in Buenos Aires, finally expanded and can now be found outside Argentina. Where? London, of course! So I went. Of course I went. I went with two Finnish girls. One of them's gonna live in the room next door in the residence halls in Aberdeen, so we decided to meet up while we're both in London anyways. It was awesome. The guys who'd arranged it also went to Buenos Aires. Understanding looks were exchanged. We all miss it. It's not just me who's going nuts, guys, okay? I also got to speak some Portuguese (getting better everyday!) and listen to some Finnish. I can now conclude that Finnish will never be my language. As always, no Danes. Argentinians were to be spotted but no chances to mingle. Next time. My search for genuine (and approachable) Argentinians continues. I actually found myself asking a Spanish-speaking guy "De dónde eres?" and when he said España, the disappointment was written all over my face. I said 'Oh..', kept on walking and he laughed. It was kinda funny. Tragicomic. It's funny partly because I used to love Spain, Spaniards and everything related. But now.. Now I even find myself avoiding to talk to them because literally everyone in South America makes fun of the Spanish accent and now I can't help but notice it every single time. And I can't help but giggle. They do not like that. So I figured it's easier to avoid them, right? I have an unhealthy relationship with Hispanic things. The other day at Pizza Hut I actually found myself undertipping my waiter solely based on the fact that he, of course, was the only non-Hispanic waiter there. Can that be classified as racism?
Another thing that's also bound to happen in London is being met by very friendly cahiers and at least half of them will refer to you as love. It's lovely. Of course that's not just in London, but all over England. I love it! You say "Have a nice day," and they say "You too love!" How can that not make you all happy and giggily? 

So, to sum up, these past few days have been amazing. I've met up with lovely people who's going to Aberdeen as well, I went to see my 'old house' in the Northwestern surburbs where I lived with my hostfamily during my language travel in 2011, I went to a free meet-the-artist/intimate concert with Nina Nesbitt who's a famous Scottish YouTuber (and it included cupcakes, fruity drinks and a huge goodiebag from Forever 21 - score!) and I've met a bunch of amazing people. What more could you ask for? 
And now it's finally Friday the 5th of September. Which means it's showtime tomorrow! Or actually, it all starts tonight in my case - I'm taking a bus from Victoria at midnight and then 12 hours later, tomorrow at noon, I'll arrive in Aberdeen.  As of right now, I'm just staring at my computer where my university email account is open. Notices about welcome sessions, personal tutor meetings, career programmes, registration sessions. I've been waiting for this day for more than 6 months and now it's finally tomorrow. It's hard to believe, but one thing is for sure; I am utterly and beyond excited! This is it!