The Adventure Begins!

Welp, Wednesday began the great adventure across the pond and today begins my adventure in blogging!

It was a long drive to Houston to catch our afternoon flight to the Motherland, but we (meaning my travel buddy Kaitlyn and I) made it bearable by watching Les Miserables, counting cows, and stopping off for a snack break at the Nestle Tollhouse cafe...yum!

We finally arrived at the airport and parked in the correct parking garage only to be cut off at the elevators as full ones kept passing us by. Little did we know that the twenty minutes (yes, TWENTY) we stood waiting could have spared us four hours of waiting. But oh well. We finally found a semi-empty elevator and made our way to the bag drop-off. When we arrived we were greeted by a sign similar to this:

Awesome. But never fear, we were soon placed on the next flight out and given food vouchers to ease the pain. I was all over that! So 4 hours later, after a possible Randy Jackson sighting, a lot of people-watching, plenty of snacking, a good half-hour wishing I could be the British 3 yr old redheaded girl sitting next to us in the terminal (who, at three, proved that the English are indeed better at grammar than us: "Mum, shall I go over here or shall I go over there"), and another hour of playing "Spot the Brit" in the Terminal (it's harder than you think when you throw in those blacks and asians!), we finally were able to board, take our tylenol pm, and sleep soundly on the empty rows of seats.

The border control found us harmless and let us pass. Our bags made it through as well. We were worried about where to meet, as we were almost 2 hours past our original meeting time - thanks BA. But because my wonderful brother had lent me a phone at Christmas, I was able to contact our professors and find them waiting for us outside of the baggage claim. We boarded the bus of tired-looking students, who had been waiting hours for us (whoops!), and made our way into London.

We then made it to our flats, unpacked, walked around a bit, grabbed some lunch, had our orientation meeting (my fav!), walked some more, bought some essentials - like a converter that doesn't work, grabbed dinner, and then went exploring and later crashed.

Today we grabbed breakfast from a shop down the road from us and then went grocery shopping with the group. I then was left by said group and was forced to find the way back on my own. Luckily I'm good with landmarks. Also, groceries are heavy! Note to self: next time, bring rolling suitcase. Don't worry, all the locals do it.

I haven't taken many pictures yet, as yesterday we were all kind of in a daze and getting used to the cold (which isn't as biting as I imagined, though it hasn't rained yet). But I do have a few of our room:

Welcome to Suite 113, complete with mail slot!

 When they say "mini" kitchen, they mean it.

 It's a good thing we aren't giants. The beds are a little small, but comfy.

 Bathroom, complete with towel warmers!

I suppose that's all for now. We're going on a Neighborhood Walk with one of our British profs (his name is Dr. Rumblelow - can that be any more British?!) and then we're seeing our first show of many - Les Miserables! Not too shabby for a day in the city. Thanks for reading and I promise to be less boring next time. Cheerio!