My flight, you ask? It wasn't too bad, although I didn't sleep much.
It took about a half hour for me to get my bags checked, and all the while I was fighting a nervous breakdown. ha. It's funny now, I swear. Check out my face, dudes:
Pretty funny, huh? I finally get through, and Matt sends me (I was rather unhappy about it, I must say) through to security, which was quick although they made me take off my sweater. I know. Weird. I get to my gate and the flight is delayed about 40 minutes, so I get one last coffee and a scone for the plane before placing a million calls to my family and then staying on with Matt until I left. I'm all weepy and stupid in my chair, especially when I had to turn off my phone. Hi-larious.I sat next to a 19-year old girl who was interning at the American Embassy and went to Boston University. She was nervous because she didn't have a Visa, which isn't a problem if you're a student like me, but since she's interning and being paid USD she was afraid she'd be deported. ha. She probably was. Anyway, I watched a couple in-flight movies ("Ratatouille" and "Into the Wild", which I strongly recommend!) and tried to sleep uncomfortably. No go.
We land and meet some AIFS reps at the gate, who then lead us to a bus into which we load our things before departing on the 45-minute drive from Heathrow to Kensington-Chelsea, where my dorm is located. I find out my room assignment in Ambassador House, and head there. I am surprised to find out that I am not, in fact, in an urban area of London, but rather in a royal borough and in a rather posh neighborhood. Case in point:
Yes. I live THERE. Doesn't it look French?
Who's door is that I'm knocking on, you ask?
Why, that would be my good friend Ambassador. As in the Ambassador to France.
Yes. My dorm is in such a filthy rich neighborhood that I am surrounded by Ambassadors. Unbelievable.
Anyway, the walk to the cafeteria, library, computer lab, etc. is less than 10 minutes away, and most of my other classes are about the same walk, just in the other direction.
We've been going on a lot of orientation-type activity trips since we arrived. I've gone on a bus tour of London, where I saw Buckingham Palace, Fleet Street, the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey, traveled to Spitafield Market, gone on a boat party, and to various pubs around the area. Tonight I'm going to a King Tut exhibit, which I am really looking forward to.
I've been meeting lots of very kind people, but friends just don't fall into your lap, so I'm struggling a bit with that and the fact that I can't just text people at any hour of the day. Also, the conversion rates of USD into pounds nearly make my head spin, but I'm trying not to think about that too much when it comes to doing things like going to museums.
A lot of people have been going out every night and dropping insane amounts of money. I wish I could do that, but I'd much rather go on trips to different countries than blow it all on beer and not take full advantage of my trip. I feel like some people around me don't necessarily understand that at this point in time, but I'm hoping eventually they will.
Anyway, I'm missing you all very much. Sorry for the extremely dry first post, but hopefully I'll have more to offer you soon when I start going on some real adventures. I went to Kensington Gardens by myself this morning, but my roommates are sort of hung over and I don't want to disturb them. haha. Thinking of all of you, and hope you are well! Love!
PS: If you still want a pen-pal, I have a fresh pack of envelopes with your name on them. All I need is your address and you'll have a brand new trans-continental writing relationship for the low, low price of an international stamp!
No comments:
Post a Comment