First post not from within the US! For the next 2 weeks, I’ll be working in Droit’s UK office. My goal is to develop closer ties with the engineers here, improve my understanding on how Londoners work and complete the work associated with the latest development sprint. The London crew seems quite welcoming. As an initial observation, I think this is the case because I think most people here are quite clearly extroverted, at least when compared to the general populace in NY.

This is also my first time ever being in Europe. I got quite a few warm welcomes from numerous people (even from non-coworkers). It seems the culture around here is quite friendly to tourists (viz. people who don’t know how to make their way around). It actually took quite a bit longer than I expected to find my way to my hotel as the streets in downtown central London (where I’m staying and working) are quite confusing. Really, it’s quite ridiculous. Who puts street signs on random building facades? The NYC grid system is something I apparently have taken for granted.

Aside from workie things, I’m definitely going to try to take quite a bit of pictures. I plan to go out quite often to see the sites, whatever that means. Admittedly, I’ve made 0 plans for this trip, aand I’m only now kind of regretting it. London seems like a nice place to explore, and it’s quite large and diverse. Glad to have the chance to be here for a while. Hopefully I can find a way to somehow calm my nerves of being away from home and not having to deal with homely responsibilities–perhaps then I actually convince myself that I can have a good time.

random side notes

As a side note, flying business class with Norwegian air is apparently the only way to go. Aside from being able to skip distrurbingly long international flight lines (check-in and security) at JFK, I’ve never been more comfortable than I was on my way here. I’m just not sure I can convince myself to spend an extra >=$500 for creature comforts. For a 7 hour flight… maybe it’s more understandable.

Finally, I do have an upcoming blog post from last week that I’m still working on. I’ve been traveling more than I usually do lately, and it’s definitely taking its toll on my motivation for these kinds of things. I’m still working on it, but I want to give the writing/story the time it really deserves.