I'm sitting here in my flat drinking tea and eating biscuits (which are actually crackers). I've drinken more tea in the week I've been there I probably have in my whole life combined. Contrary to what I was expecting, their tea actually is a lot better than ours. I will definitely be loading up my suitcase with it when I come home. I've been in London for 6 days now, and I'm finally getting to my first blog post. I've been without internet until yesterday so that's why I haven't posted. ALSO, I apologize for this post being so long!
I was wondering what direction I wanted my blog to take. Instead of just boring everyone (or the 5 people who will read this), it will be a mix of quick updates on what I'm doing along with lessons I've been learning and new experiences I've encountered here, instead of just a play by play of my life. Also, I'm going to include a new words section. You might think since we speak the same language that it seems the same, but I feel like the language (the parts that are the same) is the only thing that's similar. So I'm going to number all of the lessons during my adventures over here...I mean the whole point of study abroad is to learn to new things and I would love to look back, and also count, all the lessons I've learned or new things I've discovered. So if you don't feel like reading everything just look for the lessons in the blog. Also check out the bottom for my new words list!
Day #1 - Sunday, September 19
I started out the day bright and early, at the Waterloo Airport at 530. Anyone who knows me knows I am not a morning person. Well the fun of the day started when my bag, which was supposed to weigh 50 lbs. or less, weighed 83 lbs. Slight problem. It was going to be $300 to check a bag that weighed that much, so I started to panic a bit. But luckly the wonderful lady at the airport said that they would give me an extra bag to put 33 lbs. worth of stuff in so I would only have to pay $60 to check the second. Lesson #1: weigh luggage before arriving at the airport...it saves a LOT of stress. After I finished my luggage situation out I had to say goodbye to my parents and Eric (who had suprised me the night before by showing up at 11pm after getting off work and driving down from Minneapolis so he could say goodbye) It was definitely not the easiest thing to do, although it was nice to have three wonderful people who I love me see me off.
Then I flew to Minneapolis, waited a few hours, and got on a plane to Newark, NJ, to await my 9 hour layover before leaving for London. Now I had heard from multiple people that the Newark airport is the most dreadful airport ever, but naive little me thought "oh, it can't be that bad" Lesson #2: Newark Airport IS in fact the most dreadful airport ever. Once I left the terminal from my flight from Minneapolis, I went to check in for my next flight. Well I had landed around noon, and little did I know that since my flight wasn't until 925, that check-in wouldn't start till around 530. And once I got out of the secure zone, there was no access to food or anything, so I got to sit for 5 hours on the ground waiting for it to open. Then when we finally got to start checking in, I had issues with my carry on being too heavy (it had been fine for domestic flights but to large for their requirements). So I did some sneaking and cheating and had some other people from my program watch my heavy items while I weighed it, and then put them back in. Got on the flight no problem and had an overnight flight.
Day #2- Monday, September 20
I woke up on the lovely plane as we started to descend towards London. Once the plane landed, it took FOREVER to get out of the airport and too the hotel. For starters, as we were unloading stuff from overhead compartments, a lady in the row in front of me got hit in the head with a laptop and started throwing up/going in and out of consciousness. Once the paramedics arrived like 30 minutes later we go to finally get off the plane. Then we had to wait in line to go through immigration, which took almost 2 hours.
Then we finally drove into London to go to the hotel. After putting my bags in my room and calling mom, dad, and Eric, I set out to find a cell phone (or mobile phone, as they say). On my way to get it, I saw a girl on the street who I recognized as being the other girl who was going to be studying at the same school as me (Paige). She recognized me too and we introduced ourselves. She decided to come with me to get my phone, as she had just gotten one and said she would help. I finally decided on a cell phone and got that all set up and went back to shower and nap.
Then we went out to dinner for our first meal in London. We had mashed potatoes and a pie (which is like a pot pie) and "Spotted Dick Pudding" for dessert which was just as disgusting as the name of it. I think maybe one out of the 30 of us at even half of it. After dinner, Paige and I, and some other from the group, wandered around and found a little pub. Yes, mom and dad, I drank a beer. Then we went back to the hotel and went to bed.
Day #3 - Tuesday, September 21
Woke up in the morning and we had a bunch of information sessions from the study abroad office. For one of the info sessions, one of the Lords of England came in to talk to us about the politics of the country, since it is a lot different than ours. It was interesting to learn things about that. Then we went on a 2 hour walking tour of London, which was mostly directed towards students going to the other school. Then we stopped for dinner, where I had fried calamari and fries (super good!). As part of our orientation we had gotten free tickets to a theater show (or theatre) called Birdsong. It was really long but kind of cool to be able to experience the theater of London on our second night there! After that we headed back to the hotel.
Day #4 - Wednesday, September 22
Once again I had a morning full of information sessions on London. A crazy lady wearing a pearl suit came in and talked about the "Pearly Kings and Queens" for about an hour. Definitely one of the strangest experiences I've had in a while...all of the students just kept looking at eachother with a look that said "What on earth is going on right now. Is this a dream?" And what, may you ask, did she talk about? I honestly don't really know what was going on.
After that strange experience Paige and I decided to go run some errands. We went to the WORLDS LARGEST APPLE STORE. It was 4 floors of lovely Mac products (yes, Eric, I am brainwashed, and I'm okay with it). We spent a good hour and half in there playing around on computuers. Lesson #3: The UK uses a different keyboard. It never crossed my mind that even though we speak the same language that the keyboard layout would be different (maybe I'm just not that smart). Needless to say it was a bit tricky to type quickly...I had apostrophes all over the place! After that, we went to T-Mobile so I could upgrade my phone to get international calls, which has proven to be super handy. Then Paige and I went to get dinner, fish and chips, at a cute little restaurant called Munchkins. After that we grabbed some wine and chocolate and went back to the hotel to watch a movie.
Day #5 - Thursday, September 23
Today I moved into my flat! Paige and I, being the only two who are studying at University of the Arts, were supposed to be picked up at 10:00 to be escorted to our flat. Well, at about 10:20, when no one showed up, the study abroad director decided we would ride with the other students on the charter bus they had rented (which they call a coach). So we hopped on board that which was one of the most interesting bus rides I've had. Lesson #4: London is full of road rage. I have heard more angry drivers honking in the week I've been here than I probably have in my entire life. DO NOT attempt to cross the street when the hand is up. After dropping off some other students we finally arrived at our new home for the next 9 months, Julian Markham House. I'm living in a flat in the Southwark borough (pronounced South-ark). I unpacked my suitcases and then went on an adventure to find some stuff for my room. After getting all of that unpacked and settled in, Paige and I went to go get supper. After that I just relaxed after a long day of traveling and shopping and met one of my roommates. I live with 5 other people, 2 from the UK, 2 from Hong Kong, and another one from Michigan. All of them are freshmen so it will definitely be interesting (for lack of better words) to live with lots of younger students who are new to college. Then a little skype session and bed!
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| view from the doorway |
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| my bed! |
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| desk area |
Day #6 - Friday, September 24
I finally got to sleep in today, yay! I woke up around noon (shocking, I know). Paige and I grabbed some lunch and then went to go buy some back to school clothes. I needed to get a jacket because silly me thought it wouldn't be very cold here...wrong! When I went to go pay my card got declined, which I thought was really strange because I had told Wells Fargo I would be abroad. After clothes shopping we had planned to go grocery shopping, but I wanted to go figure out my card situation. After looking up my account online, I had 4 suspicious activities from somewhere in Luxembourg from that morning. Definitely not me. After some panic and phone calls home, everything got sorted out.
THEN began the grocery shopping trip extravaganza. We walked down the street looking for a supermarket, and after walking a bit found one. We got cards (mistake number one) and walked through the store getting groceries. It was just the basics: lunch meat, pasta, bread, cheese, crackers, soup, ramen, etc. After paying we realized we had gotten ourselves into a bit of trouble. Lesson #5: European style shopping exists for a reason. Both of us had 5 heavy bags full of food. We quickly realized that everyone else in line had 2 or 3 items, or a basket full at the max. After loading our arms up and struggling a block later, we found a box next to a garbage can and decided it would be a smart idea to put our bags in there and drag it home. Needless to say, everyone who walked by us during this process was staring, and we were on a very busy road. After a while the box decided to break on us, and after hysterically laughing at ourselves for a minute, we reloaded up our arms and walked back, with many stops along the way. All in all it provided a good laugh and a good lesson on shopping! After unloading the groceries, I made my first homecooked meal in a week. A chicken breast, a bowl of corn, yogurt and grapes, and burnt garlic bread (thanks, Paige!). And now I am relaxing listening to the sounds of London, drinking tea (another glass from when I started).
If you have made it this far, congratulations! I promise the next posts won't be as long, as I will be updating more often.
English Language Revised!
lift - elevator
biscuit - cookie or cracker
coach - bus
queue - line
touch wood - used instead of knock on wood
laundrat - laundry mat (my flat mate said the British shorten all their phrases because they are lazy)
mobile phone - cell phone...most people get confused when you say cell phone
pie - is used for something like a chicken pot pie, or steak and kidney pot pie, not a dessert
pudding - mentioned in Day #2...definitely not our pudding. I don't know what is is or what is is supposed to be but it is a solid mass of grossness.
jacket potatoes - baked potatoes
The letter W - the letter W is not pronounced over here...for instance, the borough I live is in Southwark, pronounced South-ark. Or the town of Norwich is Nor-ich.
