Hey everyone! This is going to be my day to day blog of my adventures in London! I'm using a paper journal also, so I'll be copying some of my thoughts and observations from there as well. Feel free to pass this link on to whoever you like, because I probably won't be writing anything in here that I wouldn't tell my grandparents (hi Grandma!).
So my first few days have been crazy busy but awesome. Saturday I had a goodbye lunch with my parents, Billy, grandparents, and Christy and then went off to use up my Macy's giftcards for some new stuff to wear in London (gotta look all posh and metropolitan!). Then I went off to say goodbye to everyone. Five weeks back home really lets you reconnect with people, so it was hard! The next morning I had my final dose of Mexican food and finished my last bit of packing. My dad drove me to the airport and it finally hit me, that I was going to London, ALONE. My 9 hour flight was pretty uneventful, I just slept and watched some TV and ate bad plane food. When I looked out my window as we were landing and saw the English countryside, I got this indescribable surge in my chest that was a lot excited and a little apprehensive when I realized I was really here and really going to live here!
I dragged my heavy luggage to the tube and got to my stop fine. Then I took the wrong turn out of the tube! My map didn't help much apparently. Once I figured out I was in the wrong place, I took a 5 pound cab ride to the place because my bags were just that heavy and I didn't want to go all the way back. I checked in at the same time as two of the other girls in my program, Allie and Ashley who are from So Cal. I met my roommate, Sheena, who is originally from Barbados but has gone to Chico and Berkeley so is pretty much a California girl too. Global Student Experience (GSE) is California based, so that might be why we have such a large percentage of Californians.
I showered up and met the group and the coordinator, Michael, downstairs to quickly go over a few things and get my phone & top up card, maps, and Oyster card (for the Underground and bus system). I LOVE the Oyster card, you just touch it and go. I'll most likely get weekly or monthly passes since they save you money if you use the tube several times a day, like I do. I'll also get a good student discount.
We met up again to go to dinner at a place close by that was quite good. There are tons of restaurants all around, and a Starbucks and other breakfast places on the way to the tube. Afterwards we decided to explore the neighborhood a bit. Up the street a bit is "Angel" which has quite a bit of shopping and restaurants. The 26th was Australia day so we just had to go to "Walkabout", an Australian bar, which was quite happening. We definitely met more Australians than British folks on our first night!
The next day we had our general London Metropolitan University (LMU or London Met for short) orientation where we got our schedules (I'm still missing one class...). I grabbed some pizza for lunch with Ryan, Pat, and Eric where the fire alarm went off for the last 10 minutes or so we were there. Then I rushed back to campus for a GSE orientation. Sheena, Ben, Sebastian, Danielle and I then made a Sainsbury shopping trip for essentials and groceries before heading out to a pub called The Big Chill in our neighborhood and then had an adventure in Picadilly Circus. A bunch of club promoters were there and after Sebastian talked to them, the cover charge that was 25 pounds was suddenly 5...they must have mistaken us for gullible tourists at first. We checked out this place called Metra.
Today we had an IT and transportation talk and then Eric, Alex, Jaime, and I checked out the gym facilities and the student bar. I came home and had lunch and a huge nap and then went shopping at Brunswick for more stuff for my dorm. I still want to get a softer blanket and pillowcase since the ones provided are a bit scratchy and Sheena and I were thinking of looking for some wall hangings at an outdoor market or something to make our (tiny) space more homey. It has a mini kitchenette with a sink, microwave, stove top, minifridge, and water kettle. We also share our own bathroom. There's not a ton of storage space, but we're making it work!
Thats all for now, I'm catching some sleep before another session, bus/boat tour, and pub night in Soho!
