As we all know, it rains in England. Quite a bit.
Although it hasn’t rained all-day everyday, thus far, as I thought it might, it still has rained enough to notice. Today was the first day I had to go out in real rain, like a nice, steady, measurable rain. It was raining when I woke up, and didn’t seem as though it was going to let up any time soon, so I forged ahead with my friends as we all needed to purchase a few clothing items and home goods for our rooms.
I broke out my new raincoat just for the occasion because, guys, I do not live all that close to campus or the city center. I could be further away, it’s true, and European vs. American sensibilities on walking distances are fairly different, but I’m used to Wellesley's bite-sized campus, where everything you need is within your sightline. My residence is a 20-30 minute walk to campus, and campus to the city center (where all the stores are), is another 10-15 minutes. And all this in the rain. I wasn’t exactly feeling like Gene Kelly, if you know what I mean.
Yet, the craziest thing is that while my friends and I had our raincoats and umbrellas wrapped around us in an attempt to stay dry, the locals seemed to hardly notice the rain. I saw people walking around in shorts and t-shirts and canvas shoes, running through the park, dressed up in heels and dresses all as though it was not steadily raining. Some people had hoods, or held their bag over their hair, or had a jacket, but many moved about as though it was sunny! It’s not as though this was just a drizzle, if I hadn’t had my raincoat, by the time we had reached campus I would’ve been drenched, my clothes would’ve been soaked straight through.
The rain can’t be avoided though, and I supposed the blinding purple color of my coat wasn’t the only thing that made me stand out as a foreigner today. When you live in a rainy climate long enough, I guess you just get used to it.
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