A few days after I arrived in London, I decided to set out to find LSE. This time, I had a proper map to guide me from my accommodation to the campus. Though I understood that LSE was not exactly close to my accommodation, I assumed that I could easily walk to school. In fact, I told myself, the money I would save would be well worth the journey. After all, two and a half miles hardly seemed like a difficult task. To the conditioned walker, such a distance would be manageable but what I did not take into account was that I was in no shape to walk a block, let alone two in a half miles. Despite this, I awoke early in the morning and began my journey. I started on London Street, relatively close to Hyde Park, and made it all the way to Oxford Street relatively unscathed. Oxford Street, I came to understand, is a like the end of a rainbow, it does exist and trying to find its end is as futile as trying to find a leprechaun’s pot of gold. I should have realized this when Oxford Street spanned two pages of my map.

As I huffed and puffed down the street with blisters now sprouted on every toe, my speed rapidly declined and on several occasions, it felt as if I was walking backwards in slow motion rather than going forward. Though my body begged my brain to stop, I was determined to find LSE on foot. After one hour and ten minutes of walking, I finally saw the most radiant red sign indicated that I had found LSE. I quickly found a bench on Houghton Street so that I could rest my bones for a while. Utterly exhausted, I decided that it would be best if I took public transportation home. Unfortunately, when I forced myself off of that cozy bench and walked to the nearest Tube station, I had no idea how to get back home because I was not yet well versed in how to read a Tube map. Eventually, I decided that if I could make it all the way to LSE from my accommodation than I could surely walk home. Of course, I got lost and it began to rain but I eventually made it back. When I had finally reached my room, I peeled off my sopping clothes, gently removed my shoes, bandaged my feet, changed into my warm pajamas and began searching for the quickest routes to LSE by Tube.