Greetings from Sunny London!

What’s that? Don’t believe me? Some proof then:

Still don’t believe me? Totally fine! I don’t really believe it myself. In fact, I’ve been exploring the city on these beautifully sunny days with one eye on the sights in front of me and one eye pinned suspiciously on the sky above, waiting for the other shoe, and by shoe I mean rain, to drop. So, walking around the city, I look something like this: (rough depiction)

Suspicions aside, London has taken me into its blissfully dry and open arms this week, and for that I am very grateful. I have moved into a new flat on London’s south bank, I have two of the nicest and most helpful roommates anyone could ask for, and most excitingly, next week, I start working at IPIECA, an oil and gas industry association for environmental and social issues. Once I begin my internship, I will write a more comprehensive post on IPIECA, its mission, and the work I will be doing there. Suffice it to say I am incredibly excited about it and cannot wait to tell you more.

In the mean time, I will tell you about something I am less incredibly excited about. And THAT, my friends, is international electricity conversion logistics. I’ll set the scene:

There I was, deliriously jet-lagged (exaggeration,) on my first day in London, with tragically frizzy international flight hair, late for a dinner date with friends. I hadn’t unpacked everything yet, so a full freshening up wasn’t in the cards. But there at the top of my suitcase was my blow dryer, and, what luck! An adaptor. It’s like the universe wanted me to have fabulous hair on my first night in London, right? I plugged the dryer/adapter in.

WRONG.

One second, a blown fuse, a mild electrical shock and the tiniest of button shaped burns on my hand later, and I was all too painfully reminded that a plug adaptor does not a safe intercontinental-blow drying-situation make.

Oww. 

Power adapters, people. Even if you have dual voltage appliances, they don’t automatically switch themselves over to the safe voltage level. There is a big difference between a plug adaptor and a power adaptor. I cannot emphasize this enough.

So, why do I tell you this story? Is it because I inexplicably lack the dignity-protecting instincts that so many are innately born with? Probably. Also because this experience served as a shocking, nay, hair raising, (sorry!) reminder of the million and one little planning factors and logistic realities that go into international travel. If you’re leaving home for a week, three months, a year or forever, and whether you are going to London or Amman, Addis, Nairobi, Braunschweig or outer space, travel is sometimes hard, annoying, and painful. But it’s one of the most important things a person can do. I feel extremely lucky to be here this summer, and I am very grateful to the Conflict Resolution Department at Georgetown University for giving me this opportunity. 

Until next week, cheers from sunny London!