The first thing you’ll learn in economics 101 is the “Diamond-Water” paradox – why do diamonds cost so much when they are very (unless this is you) non-essential and water is so cheap when it is essential.  It’s got something to do with the overall demand for these goods in the population – you can read more about it here.

In London, they have the opposite paradox, as in, I can’t figure out why some things are cheap but others aren’t.

Here’s the rundown:

• Liquor: cheap. (unless you are from anywhere outside of Canada, you are leaping for joy when you see this:
• 
• Clothes: cheap.  You can get dress shoes for under 30 pounds, which is unheard of in Canada.
• Rent: stupid crazy stupid stupid expensive.
• Here’s the strange one – stationery: so expensive.  I got a pencil the other day.  Not an automatic one, just a crappy, run of the mill, wooden, sharpenable pencil like they used in the 1980′s.  It was a pound – that’s $1.50 Canadian!  I used to throw them away like confetti whenever they got to an “unsatisfactory length” and now I’m holding onto this one for dear life.

So some things on the list make sense, but I’m confused as to why clothes (which I consider less essential than school supplies) are inexpensive.

Then I forget about it and decide to forego buying 13 pencils to get that litre of vodka :)

Rebecca is Shiggy’s Foreign Correspondent, freshly relocated to England.  She’ll try to keep you informed on life across the pond. 

I’m in the middle of a very turbulent math course.  Yes, I’m struggling with math.  Everything is backwards in this country, and I’m being heavily tutored by a trio of two Nicaraguans and a Mexican.  Myself and another Chinese-American, fellow Rhodes scholar finalist.  Asians.  Being.  Assisted.  In.  Math.  By  . . .  I’ll give you a few minutes to let the irony of that sink in.

Here are some of the things I learned about London, specifically, in the last two weeks.

1) “Pants” means underwear.  Easy to keep making that mistake.

That’s . . . about it.  (I don’t get out much, too busy studying).

You will not miss home.  I promise you, everything will be both deliciously new and comfortingly familiar all at the same time.