I'm entirely bonkers. But all the best people are.

Yesterday I did something crazy. It all started with the book sale. A local bookstore came to the academic center and tried to sell us books. I wouldn't have any of it. I went back to my room and ordered some on Amazon.co.uk for much cheaper. But when I was filling out the shipping address, I couldn't remember the postcode for the life of me. I went on the NYU blackboard, where all the helpful hints about study abroad are kept, hoping to dig up a file containing the full address of the NYU center. While I did not come up with any  postcode, I did end up finding a link to a website called Gumtree.com, which is the British equivalent to Craigslist. Poking around, I noticed that there were people selling bikes on Gumtree for £40 or £50. I then researched when the London bike hire, which allows anyone to use public shared bikes for short-term use for £1 a day, would be available to people without British bank accounts. As it turned out, mayor Boris Johnson just announced that it would not be at least until November. The original launch date was scheduled for July 30, but the new system has problems that are still being worked out.
Since coming to London,I have missed the convenience of having my bike in New York. Walking seems painfully slow compared to riding a bike, and a subway fare here is even more expensive than in New York, with the cheapest Tube fares start at £1.80 ($2.78) and go up from there depending on how long your journey is.
So I sent out messages to people on Gumtree who were selling cheap bikes that I could use while in London. I only got one response back saying that I could have a bike for £50 ($77) and I could pick it up any time. Yesterday evening I set off to Elephant and Castle to buy a used bike. A direct bus took me there from Russell Square for £1.20.
Elephant and Castle is ugly. It's a series of very busy intersections with too many cars driving quite quickly. The neighborhood I picked up the bike in, though just a few steps from this awful road, was quiet and nice. Little row houses set back in a small, car-free complex. I picked a bench in the neighborhood to meet the seller and get the bike. The seller came to meet me. She was about my age, a student who had studied in London this summer and was ready to head back to her home in Germany. We stood in her front yard, and she told me about how the bike had gears but she never used them because London is so flat and other practical information.
When I mentioned I was from the United States, one of the seller's friends asked me, "Why are you here? Isn't the United States the best country in the world?" I was surprised. Surely, these foreigners must know that, like any other country, the United States has its share of problems. But then again, there are many Americans-probably the majority of Americans-who think that, yes, the United States is the best country in the world. Maybe I'm the weird one who doesn't see why it's so amazing.
After exchanging money and thank-yous, I began riding back to my dorm, avoiding most of the terrible Elephant and Castle traffic by taking a different route. I was not entirely sure where I was going, but I knew I was heading in the right direction. I passed Waterloo Station and ended up crossing Westminster Bridge. It was dusk, and it was absolutely amazing riding over that bridge, going just a little slower than London traffic even on that heavy mountain bike, looking around at a sweeping panoramic view of the Thames with Parliament and Big Ben taking center stage.
In the end, it might have been easier and cheaper to just open a British bank account, transfer some money over, and make use of the public bike hire system. If I did that, though, I wouldn't have gotten a bike, seen a different part of London, and meet locals all at the same time.