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| The lovely view from my window (can you spot the Gherkin?) |
This is a long overdue update on the beginnings of my adventures in London. I have quite the bad habit of being lazy/putting things off, but after being here for fifteen days (and having friends urging me to start the blog I said I would make whilst abroad) I figured it would probably be a good idea to start writing things down now before things become a blur (btw, thanks to Teryn and Natalie for the wonderful blog name!). This will be the first of quite a few "backtracking" posts… sorry in advance if my posts are much too long, I can't help that I'm a wordy person.
Boarding the plane, I couldn't believe I was one step closer to being in London. When a flight attendant greeted me with a British accent as I stepped onto the plane, I couldn't help but smile to myself (being the dork that I am) and get excited about what would be in store for me these next few months. The flight was actually a bit shorter than expected, as we made the journey in a little under ten hours and even arrived at the gate about fifteen minutes early. I only managed to sleep for a couple of hours, but I did get to watch Monsters University (which was alright…lol sorry Teryn), Girl Most Likely (which was entertaining/funny and worth a watch for some fun), and About Time (probably my favorite movie from the flight, a romance/drama with quite the interesting plot line). I was also able to listen to some music that was available on Virgin Atlantic's media player, which was pretty darn cool.
After arriving at Heathrow feeling less than great (of course I would get sick at the worst possible time), it still didn't hit me that I was in another country... let alone on another continent. Making my way through the airport with my two large checked-in bags and two carry-on bags in tow, I instantly began to regret most of my packing decisions (I'm forever cursed with the tendency to over pack…both Kristi and my mom can attest to that).
I waited for my ride to housing with Guadalupe, a classmate from my cross cultural training class that happened to be on the same flight as me. I had arranged to be picked up quite a bit later than my arrival time, in anticipation of a possible long wait going through border patrol/customs. Surprisingly, the process went by much faster than expected. After waiting for about forty minutes for my ride, I was picked up and began heading out from the airport.
The ride from the airport was pretty relaxing, and lasted for about forty-ish minutes. While listening to my iPod I looked out the car window, taking in my new surroundings for these next few months. I wish I had taken a few pictures during the car ride, but the only picture I ended up taking was one of an interesting looking McDonald's…lol.
Anyways, once I got to my housing building, I started feeling a bit weak and feverish and quite possibly could have laid down on the floor and took a nap. But I needed to check in, so after my kind taxi driver and a friendly stranger (who saw me struggling and kindly offered some assistance) helped me carry my checked-in bags up the stairs to the front of my building and I was all set with paperwork, I made my way to the highest floor. Finally getting into my room was such a relief, and I immediately plopped onto my bed for a bit before unpacking my large heap of stuff. I noticed that half of the room had already been claimed by my roommate, and decided that I should probably unpack before she came back and witnessed the temporary mess that would most likely be forming.
Boarding the plane, I couldn't believe I was one step closer to being in London. When a flight attendant greeted me with a British accent as I stepped onto the plane, I couldn't help but smile to myself (being the dork that I am) and get excited about what would be in store for me these next few months. The flight was actually a bit shorter than expected, as we made the journey in a little under ten hours and even arrived at the gate about fifteen minutes early. I only managed to sleep for a couple of hours, but I did get to watch Monsters University (which was alright…lol sorry Teryn), Girl Most Likely (which was entertaining/funny and worth a watch for some fun), and About Time (probably my favorite movie from the flight, a romance/drama with quite the interesting plot line). I was also able to listen to some music that was available on Virgin Atlantic's media player, which was pretty darn cool.
After arriving at Heathrow feeling less than great (of course I would get sick at the worst possible time), it still didn't hit me that I was in another country... let alone on another continent. Making my way through the airport with my two large checked-in bags and two carry-on bags in tow, I instantly began to regret most of my packing decisions (I'm forever cursed with the tendency to over pack…both Kristi and my mom can attest to that).
I waited for my ride to housing with Guadalupe, a classmate from my cross cultural training class that happened to be on the same flight as me. I had arranged to be picked up quite a bit later than my arrival time, in anticipation of a possible long wait going through border patrol/customs. Surprisingly, the process went by much faster than expected. After waiting for about forty minutes for my ride, I was picked up and began heading out from the airport.
The ride from the airport was pretty relaxing, and lasted for about forty-ish minutes. While listening to my iPod I looked out the car window, taking in my new surroundings for these next few months. I wish I had taken a few pictures during the car ride, but the only picture I ended up taking was one of an interesting looking McDonald's…lol.
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| Does this not look like a fancy McDonald's? Haha |
Shortly after unpacking I met my roommate, Regan, as she came back from dinner. We talked for a bit and then headed downstairs to meet with Jackie and Leah, who she had met earlier in the day at the airport. It was nice to already know a few people on my first day here, especially since we had orientation beginning the next day. The four of us hung out for a few hours and headed downstairs to the vending machines for a snack break (Regan was lucky enough to get two Kit Kats for the price of one!). Mini side note/fun fact: the Kit Kat here is produced by Nestle, but in the United States it's produced by Hershey's (this explained why the chocolate tasted a bit different than usual… riveting information eh?)
This pretty much sums up my first day in London, so I'll end the rambling here and have more "backtracking" posts up soon! Possibly intermixed with more current posts, but we shall see :)
Toodles for now!
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