I'm Finally Here!

Oops. So its been like 2 months since I last posted on this. Once again I've proved that I'm bad at maintaining a blog. But I'm finally in London! So I plan on doing a lot more of it for those who want to follow my adventures! Plus I woke up this morning to my mother Facebook messaging me wanting to read my blog. So I suppose that's the best reason.

I've now been in London a bit over 24 hours and its just starting to seem real. I meant to start this blog yesterday with the details of my arrival but between the jetlag and being many thousands of miles away from my mother, I was a bit overwhelmed and teary.

I flew in on Kuwait Air, arriving yesterday. Despite being mad at them for delaying my luggage (I still don't have it, but I'm working on it), they were a relatively decent airline. The in flight entertainment was lackluster but I mostly listened to my audiobooks and fell asleep. The food was actually amazing for airline food. I would actually define it as food! Plus, they fed us both dinner and breakfast, so lots of points there.
I was seated next to an elderly man who appeared Arabic. I don't think he spoke much English but we got on well enough. He seemed very keen to help me and did a lot of passing me things from the flight attendant.

By the time I got through customs and out of the airport, I was absolutely exhausted. It's amazing how long a tube ride can seem when your body says it's 4 in the morning and you've slept about 3 hours on a plane. But I managed the tube ride and even found my residence without getting too lost. Once I figured out that the street signs were on the side of the buildings, I made use of my map (Thanks Dad!) and did relatively well. Even better, I happen to be living in the building where we all had to pick up our keys, so I didn't have to drag my luggage very far (though I was in fact missing half). So I found my room and put everything down. My roommate was no where to be seen though her luggage was here. I was infinitely less embarrassed about having packed my stuffed red panda when I saw the stuffed bear on her bed.

Despite my hope for a nap, I found a schedule on the bed indicating that I had some checking in to do at the FIE office, Foundation House, which is about a ten minute walk from my residence, Metrogate. However, I found the computer lab downstairs and checked in with my mom and Facebook to let everyone knew I arrived safely and headed out.

The trip to Foundation House was pretty uneventful, I got checked in, got my Oyster card which is how we get around on the tube, and was able to sign up for a pay as you go cell phone plan. It will be difficult to get used to not having a smart phone, but that's probably good for me. We took a brief walking tour of the area to get a feel for things. So I was able to figure out where to do the grocery shopping and where classes will be held (Foundation House). Once we got through the tour, I wandered to Sainsburry's which is along the lines of our Wal Mart in selection and relatively inexpensive.

Since my luggage was delayed, I had to pick up a towel as well as something to eat for dinner and breakfast. Also, since our beds were pretty plain, I picked up a blue duvet cover that is serving to make this feel much more like home. Probably silly in retrospect, but my exhausted, over emotional brain wanted to feel like I was taking ownership of the room.

Once back at the room, I had a couple hours before my hall orientation meeting, so I got the wi fi figured out, and discovered something interesting about England. Signing into Netflix gives a rather different selection of media than back in the states. Not any worse or better, just different. For instance, I was able to watch the 4th Pirated of the Caribbean movie and saw a lot more recent Disney than I have access to at home. I don't plan on spending a whole lot of time watching Netflix of course, but it's really nice during down time.

At this point, I also met my roommate, Sammie. She is also a Temple student, an advertising major. After living alone for a year and a half, I was a bit worried about having a roommate but so far so good.

After a brief nap, we went downstairs to our Residence Life orientation meeting, where we met our Resident Life Supervisors or RLS's. So far, life seems pretty much what I expected here except that they enforce quiet hours after 11 PM. Which is not all together a bad thing at all. Apparently, since we are staying in Kensington, a very posh area, they like to keep things quiet.

Beyond that, I tried to stay awake until a reasonable bedtime, but couldn't help dozing off around 10. Which isn't an unreasonable bed time, just felt awfully early. However, it was probably good because we had to be at a meeting at 9:15 this morning for our proper orientation. My main comment about this orientation is that it was unfortunate that they didn't feed us or provide coffee or anything because I know almost everyone was dozing off very quickly.

However, we got out for lunch at around 12 for an hour and a half lunch. My roommate and I found a cute cafe with her friend Morgan where I got a coffee with EXTRA espresso so I'm actually functioning now. After eating, we met up with two girls from American University who were eating next to us and wandered around for a while.
We then returned to the meeting for a lecture on student life and such, where we found out about how things are run (more on that as it actually happens). And the meeting even let out an hour early, so Sammie and Morgan and a few others of us went to Sainsburry's to pick up some groceries, so I now have decent meals for a few days.

And now I'm relaxing before our reception at 6 which is right across the street. They're providing free food and drinks and will have a few things we can sign up for and all that, so it should be a good time. I'll be sure to let you know when I find out.

Fun fact: Prince William and Kate and George live a few blocks from me in Kensington Palace and before the baby, Kate could often be seen walking to dogs in the park and Harry still frequents the stores around here!