Hey guys!
This past week has been nothing short of crazy! I have traveled internationally for the first time by myself, got very lost in some of the largest airports in the world, met students from all over the world, traveled on the Tube by myself, gotten lost, and bought my own beer for the first time!
It's been a crazy ride so far, but one that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world! Here's to the next 5 months in good ole' London, my new home.
Here is a recount of my week as I remember it.
Day 1 ~ Saturday 5 January
Today is the day that I leave my home, my family, and everything that is familiar to me for a new, exciting place. Like I said in my last post I am excited for this adventure, but I'm so afraid to enter into the unknown. Not knowing much about where I'm living, the people I'm going to be living with, and this new city is so overwhelming. Anyway, this is the start of a new chapter in my life!
I can't believe that I was able to fit my life into these three bags! Purple must be the theme of my trip :)
Dad and I at the airport. I love this man more than he could ever know. It's so hard being away from him already.
Crystal and I. So glad Dad found someone who loves him as much as I do.
Our new family :) Can't wait until they come to visit me in April!
And my journey begins!
Leaving Dad and Crystal to go through security was more emotional than I thought it was going to be. I know that I've said this before, but it really is hard to leave your family, even if it is only for half a year. While I was sitting and waiting to board my flight to Chicago I received a text message from my Dad that really seemed to calm me down.
He texted me saying that he was proud of me :) That means so much to me. With his support I can do anything!
The flight to Chicago from Columbus wasn't completely awful, although there was a foreign couple behind me who had a very fussy baby. At first I didn't mind the baby and it's crying, but once the mother started singing to the baby in a very loud and unrecognizable pitch, I got a tad annoyed. I understand that you need to do what you can to calm down your child, but really? Do you really have to sing THAT loudly and is it necessary to sing THAT out of pitch?!
Maybe it was my nervousness or maybe I just get annoyed quickly, but I couldn't get off that plane fast enough.
If you didn't know, I absolutely love airports! Navigating the Chicago O'Hare Airport was NOT one of those lovely airport moments. I don't know why the city of Chicago feels like it needs to have such a large airport! I seriously got lost after every turn I made. Thankfully, after almost an hour of wondering around and several stops to ask airport personnel how to get to the International terminal, terminal M for which they had no signs, I made it with half an hour to spare.
Not having had a lot to eat before leaving Columbus I ventured off with coat, backpack, and suitcase in tow to find something edible. It was my New Year resolution, along with my best friend Emily, to go completely gluten and dairy free for the year, but once I got to Chicago I realized this was going to be so much harder than I thought.
My edible and hopefully gluten-free "meal".
Just waiting for my flight. There were a lot of people waiting in the terminal so I had to park it on the floor. That's okay because I got a nice view of the cute male Aer Lingus flight attendant! (Sadly, he is not pictured above.)
Finally on the plane and waiting to take off! Thankfully, I got the middle aisle seat because I hate the window seat or even worse the middle of the middle aisle!
Chicago to Dublin was actually a pretty pleasant flight. I started it out by watching the new Bourne Legacy film with Jeremy Renner and eating some banana chips. By the way, I'm a big fan of the Bourne movies, but I really disliked this one. One, because Matt Damon wasn't in it and two, because it made no sense what so ever. The second "film" I watched was Ted with Mila Kunis and Mark Walhberg...which I also wouldn't recommend. Anyway, it seems like I struck out with the movies, but it was a good thing they had television shows as well. I ended up watching two episodes of Modern Family with which I'm now obsessed.
While watching Modern Family our in-flight meal came. We were given the option of chicken and rice or pasta in red sauce with beef...sadly there wasn't a gluten-free option. I ended up getting the chicken and rice which was pretty tasty, but I'm almost certain there was gluten in every single thing that I ate. In the morning for breakfast, which I'm pretty sure was only about three hours later, we were given a ham and swiss croissant with tea or coffee. I'm not going to lie, it was SO good! The Irish certainly do it right. From there all my meal options and decisions went downhill. So much for resolutions, I guess.
Day 2 ~ Sunday 6 January
Today I got off the plane in Dublin, Ireland! I can now say that I have been to Ireland for a whole two hours!
I didn't see much of the Irish countryside because I was busy hurrying to get through the THREE security checkpoints that the Irish felt necessary to include. Three, really? I'm obviously still bitter about it.
After no sleep at all on the seven hour flight from Chicago, the lack of sleep mixed in with the sleep medication that I took and the time change really started to hit me. From the moment that I sat down on that plane to London, I was out. Which was probably a good thing because we ended up having a 40 minute delay due to weather conditions in London. Wouldn't the pilots be used to this by now? It rains like every day in England. Goodness gracious.
Anyway, I eventually got to London and made my way through Heathrow. Definitely not on my list of great airports...yeah so it took me a while to find Heidi who was supposed to pick me up in terminal three and take me to my residence. I then started to wonder in search of her, not having any idea what she looked like, of course. Somehow I ended up finding her, thankfully. From there she took me to Sainsbury's to get some groceries, necessities, and bedding, which was complete and udder crap. Period.
Still hoping that I might be able to redeem my gluten filled breakfast and dinner from the day before, I bought oranges. One because it was healthy, but two because I didn't really recognize any of the other food. This is a lot of change all at once, most of what I wasn't ready for.
My keys to my flat! The circle one is to get into the outer building, the long blue thing tells me what building, flat, and room I am in, such as building B, flat 15, and room 2. It is read on the card as B.15.2. Then the normal key is to unlock my room door. Oh and there is my Downton Abbey keychain :)
Day 3 ~ Monday 7 January
Today, was a very long day. My day started early, at about 10am London time, which is about 5am Ohio time. Which isn't too early, but the jet lag was really starting to catch up with me.
Up and about, ready for my first day in London! Obviously looking really tired, but excited.
I began the day by meeting with the other American exchange students that were living in my complex. We all met outside Reception and I met some pretty cool people from all over the United States. A little while later one of the on-site coordinators of the program, Ibsa, arrived to take us to orientation at Regent Street. This was my first encounter with public transit in London! It took a while for all of us to get Oyster cards in order to get on the Tube, but waiting that one day was worth it for all of the times that I have used it since.
My Oyster Card that allows me to ride the Tube, trains, and buses for a week. Sadly, my week is almost up so I will have to go buy one for an extended period of time.
Orientation was boring of course, but I didn't really expect anything different. We met the people who worked in the study abroad centre and received our timetables. While I got most of the classes that I wanted I was kind of disappointed when I ended up with a Women's history class. Thankfully, I was able to get out of it and into a class about World War I!
My totally cool University of Westminster ID card with my awful passport picture from years ago!
From orientation I wondered around with some of the students that I had met earlier in the day. None of us had mobiles that worked here in the UK and we were on Regent Street so we set off in search of working mobiles. As I look back on Monday today, I'm so glad that we got those mobiles. I felt completely helpless and naked without a working mobile on Sunday and Monday.
My "awesome" mobile that looks like a Blackberry, but isn't.
One of the other kids didn't have bedding and although I had bought some pillows, pillowcases and sheets the day before, I also needed to pick up a few things. While I had already purchased the above items on Sunday at Sainsbury's, their quality was next to nothing. It was the biggest bunch of crap that I've ever bought in my life. Not only did I have to buy a duvet and cover, I also had to replace the crap that I had already bought. Once I got to John Lewis and got what I needed I was no longer in such a grand mood.
My expensive purchases totaling £75, which is about $130. I only bought a duvet, cover with two pillowcases included, and two standard pillows, for crying out loud! I've been robbed!
I learned very quickly that living in London is expensive. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING costs money here! Such a bummer.
I thought I would include a picture of the pounds that I had starting Sunday, because I definitely don't have that much as of right now. Plus, they're just so pretty!
While the day was long and kind of crappy, I think that I made the most of it or maybe that was just the alcohol talking. The same people, Susanna and Austin, that I got my mobile and bedding with went out to get a bite to eat. We didn't know the area so we wondered around for quite a while.
We finally decided on a pizza place that Susanna's roommate had taken her to a few nights before. I was surprised just how good it was even though I just got a simple Marguerita pizza. But I also ordered my first ever beer!
Thought I would commemorate the moment with a picture!
Just like the pizza, I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the beer. I'm not a big beer person, but this was a really good choice. Thanks Spanish, well-versed in European beers, waitress, you were right!
Anyway, we sat, we drank, and we ate. It was a good end to a rather stressful and confusing day. That was until I got back to my flat...
You see, evidently, everyone in the world uses duvets and duvet covers except for the United States, just like the metric system! Thank you so much America for once again making me look and feel stupid. It literally took me half an hour to figure out how to open my duvet cover. That doesn't account for the half an hour it took to try and fail to put the duvet into the cover. I eventually gave up and knocked on my roommates door to ask for help. And of course he successfully did it in less than five minutes. Point one for Denmark, zero points for the US.
Here is the final product! Bed time followed not long after.
Day 4 ~ Tuesday 8 January
Today I rode the Tube all by myself! Yayy! I'm not going to lie, I was really scared. Everyone who knows me, knows that I'm extremely directionally challenged so when you put me onto public transportation and expect me to figure out which direction to go, I get a bit stressed out. Thankfully, it was a success until I got out of the station and got lost trying to find the Study Abroad Centre.
It's a really good thing to know that there is a Great Titchfield Street as well as a Little Titchfield Street. These are not the same streets and they are not by each other. I learned this the hard way. I asked for help from some locals and was directed to Great Titchfield. It took me 20 minutes of wondering up and down the street to figure out that this wasn't like Harry Potter. The building wasn't going to magically appear out of nowhere, no matter how much I wanted it to.
I finally found it, changed my Women's history class to one about World War I (so much better), ate breakfast at Eat, and made my way back to my flat in Shoreditch.
A little bit later Susanna and I made our way back to the Tube and went to meet Austin at the Westminster Tube station to go site seeing. On our way we stopped at Old Dutch off of Holburn and got some authentic Dutch pancakes! They definitely weren't what I was expecting, but it was good none-the-less! When we left Old Dutch and went back to the station we found it to be closed due to leaks. Susanna made it clear that if we were back in Russia there was no way that that would have happened, which I found pretty funny!
We had to walk down to the next station that was about 1 kilometer from Holburn so we decided to look at the sites on our way there. We just happened to pass the British Museum!
Such a beautiful building filled with such history! Can't wait to visit! So glad that I decided to stay in the class that visits all the museums! Yay :)
After wondering around for quite a while we made it to Westminster station and Big Ben! Words can't describe the history and beauty of what we saw there, so here are some pictures.
Houses of Parliament
The London Eye
Shot from the bridge
Houses of Parliament and Big Ben
Classic shot of London: Big Ben and a red double-decker bus
Cool shot of Westminster Abbey from across the street
Houses of Parliament again
Big Ben and some real life Bobbies! This is for you Dad!
Westminster Abbey! Eeekkkkkkk!
Love <3
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey. I was a bit sad that it was so expensive to visit. £16 to be exact.
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey is on the right side and I'm not really sure what is in the background. Oh and that's me too!
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and me!
Thought this was kind of cool! Love all the red buses.
You can't read this statue very well, but this is Robert Peel. When I saw this I said to myself, I actually learned something last semester! Thank you Doctor Harp for making me learn all about 17th and 18th century French and English history! I appreciate it.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill's statue!
After walking around for a bit, we decided to make our way to the Old Bank of England where we were supposed to meet our travel group from CISabroad for dinner. Thinking that it would take a while to find the restaurant we left about two and a half hours before we were supposed to be there. It didn't take long at all and we had two hours to kill. And what happened to be right across the street from the restaurant, you ask? Starbucks! Yes, we spent two hours in Starbucks doing absolutely nothing.
My first encounter with Fish and Chips! They even happen to be gluten-free, which I was extremely happy about!
This meal was so incredibly delicious! I wish that I had some right now. I also got some Organic Honeydew Beer to go with it. Such a wonderful decision. Best beer that I've ever had. Can't wait to go back and get some more sometime soon.
Day 5 ~ Wednesday 9 January
Today I went to a little market and bought some groceries. You can only eat oranges for so many meals. Although, it is surprising how much I have come to love oranges because I didn't used to like them...strange.
Yeah, so today I rode the Tube for the second time by myself. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I kind of liked feeling like I was in control of where I was going!
Later, I boarded the train and made my way to Baker Street to the Marylebone campus for my internship orientation. I left super early because my advisor told me that it was going to take a long time to get there, but I left exactly one hour before it was supposed to start and I made it through the stations, onto the train, switched to a different line, and to the correct building in about 20 minutes. Let's just say I was a little peeved that I had nothing to do for the next 40 minutes. I guess it is always better to be early, but that early? Just ridiculous.
Plus, the meeting only lasted for about 45 minutes then I had to venture back onto the Tube by myself in the dark. Honestly, this whole dark thing at four to five o'clock is really getting old.
Day 6 ~ Thursday 10 January
Today wasn't exactly action packed, but I experienced my first bout with homesickness. I didn't really think that I would go through homesickness, but I was completely wrong. It just seemed to hit me all at once. Everything is so different here and not knowing a lot of people/having friends is really hard.
It's hard when you're one of the only people who doesn't want to go out and get drunk every night. I get that drinking is fun, but to me getting drunk isn't fun and I don't really want to be around that all the time.
Also, not to be mean or rude or anything, but I didn't come here to make friends with Americans. I came here to immerse myself in English culture and meet English people! I get that this is the first week and this isn't how it's always going to be like, but I don't want to invest all this time and energy into relationships that I care about and others don't. I always seem to get hurt.
Maybe I'm over-reacting, but that's where my head was today. Overall, it was just a really tough day. I got lost on the Tube for a good hour, which just seemed to make everything so much worse, but it got better because I got to talk to Dad and Crystal a little later :)
Let me take you on a bit of a tour of my room through pictures, so not to end this bit of my post on a sad note.
My bed, window, and night stand. My room really isn't that big.
Window, drawers, bulletin board and night stand.
Desk, bulletin board, and bookshelf.
And again.
My door, coats, and makeshift John Lewis clothes hamper.
Wardrobe and sink.
Inside my wardrobe. Not as organized as I would like it to be, but it will do.
I haven't bought hangers yet, so I have been using my suitcase and just laying them over it. Good for now I guess.
Day 7 ~ Friday 11 January
Today was a pretty chill day. This week has been pretty crazy so I figured I would sleep in, relax and just catch up on my blog. Well, I certainly got the sleep part right. But in my defense I'm still recovering from the infamous jet lag!
Anyway, I got a shower, made my bed and all those shenanigans, but also watched some Modern Family. Thank you Aer Lingus for aiding my addiction. Good thing there are only two seasons on UK Netflix...I would really be in trouble.
After hanging around and surfing on the web, I figured I should get up and do something productive. So I did. I've been trying to find a store near my flat that sells utensils, cups, and plates so I can eat my food like a civilized person. Thankfully, on my way back from Subway I found one! Oh yeah I found edible food too :)
My classy, yet civilized eating utensils.
The edible and yummy dinner that I just happened to find on my adventures out tonight. It's funny because I don't really like Subway in the US, but it was really good here in Shoreditch...hmmm weird.
Yeah, so I'm just back in my room for the evening, writing my blog post, and watching Modern Family. So much fun going down here! Cheerio for now!
