I am so ashamed....

I promised myself I would only enter a Starbucks to get their city mug, because I have decided I am going to collect the mugs of cities I've lived in (and because they are HUGE, so they not only work for a lot of tea or coffee, but for cereal, soup, oatmeal, or the best use: EASY MAC). I already have two (CA and San Fran, thanks Aunt Sharon), and although I haven't gotten one for Seattle yet, I know where to find them. Anyways, the anti-Starbucks feeling was just that I was in London for a cross-cultural experience, and going to the carbon-copy coffee shop that peppers every American street does not count. However, today after venturing out to central London for a "cognitive assessment," (hee) I went looking for a good place to nestle in with a hot beverage and a table to use for some reading. I looked and looked, and I was inexplicably drawn to the corporate monstrosity (had actually already walked by two from the train station). I'd like to tell myself that it was just because I was multi-tasking by finding a study space AND buy the mug, but in honestly, I was craving a steamed milk, and I knew Starbucks gives you some mean foam. So, I caved. I did have a bit of a cross-cultural experience, they charge about 40 cents extra per item if you enjoy it in the store rather than "take away." But I left even more determined to find a independent, happy-to-be-me coffee shop that I can frequent with my studies. I know I told a few of you I found a good Greenbean substitute, but the guys who work at this place give out the vibe that they are inconvenienced by pulling your espresso. So, I'm still on a quest. And so, confession, forgiveness, and reparation. Lather, rinse, repeat.