early september, 2

So today, I went to a branch of nameless bank in another city because they have a "foreign teller" who keeps pounds on hand. The exchange rate today was a pound to 1.666 dollars, so not the best I could have hoped for, but the point is, I now have quite a few different types of British notes to tote around. Because I am modest, I will not post a picture of my specific notes, but here is what they look like, generally (or always...):

The pictures don't make it clear, but the notes vary by size, according to value, so the larger the value, the wider and longer the note. I don't know if you can tell but the lines running down the left-hand side of the notes are iridescent, too. I had to fold the fifty in half "hotdog style" to fit it into the drive-thru envelope the teller gave me for the cash because it's so large. 

BTW: this is not an advertisement to burglars, o k.

I went to the local Marshalls to look for luggage tags but they didn't have them, at least where I could find them. However, they had 234847598439547543 pairs of women's shoes and 34985793475934 women browsing those aisles, so I wasn't sad to leave. I've seen luggage tags at Target, so I might just go back there...my favorite place! 

And then I went to the store to buy ice-cream because summer.

You might be wondering why I decided to have cash on me, besides the novelty of actually touching things that have actually come from Britain. I have a two-fold, partially-straightforward answer. 

1) I have to pay for my student visa at customs when I get into London and for whatever reason it seems less overwhelming to consider paying cash.

2) I've been told it's a good idea to have a bit of cash on me for smaller transactions, and because it's easier to track how much U.S. dollars you spend that way.

So that's my post for today, thanks for reading.