First Day

Well yesterday was definitely one of the longest days of my entire life.  I apologize in advance for how long this post is going to be, but so much happened and I want to fill you all in!
So I left my house about 5:45 pm on the 3rd to go to the airport.  My parents, my brother, and his wife all came to the airport with me to say goodbye. Patrick and I got all checked in and our bags weighed (mine was 50 pounds on the dot after I gave Patrick one of my sweatshirts to put in his suitcase).  We went through security and then had to wait almost 2 hours to start boarding our plane.  Once we started to board the plane it actually hit me that this is happening.  I'm spending the next 3.5 months of my life in a different country.  So exciting!! The plane was pretty big but had super uncomfortable seats.  I tried sleeping but I would wake up every 45 minutes or so.  The flight was supposed to take a little longer than 9 hours but ended up only being about 7.5 because of the wind direction.  BONUS!  Ok sorry for boring you with flight info but it had to be done. On to the exciting things, I promise!

Once we landed at Heathrow, it took us a while to get off the plane and make our way to immigration. Then, we found our bags and made our way to the area where some of our program directors were going to pick us up.  Then we had to wait, and wait, and wait, until everyone in our group got to the same place so we could go outside to where a coach bus would bring us to our school.  Once we got outside we waited some more.  SO. MUCH. WAITING. We were all so exhausted and wanted to get to our school as quickly as possible.  Finally the buses showed up and we had a 45 minute bus ride to our student center.  I took a few pictures on the way and will post them soon. Once we got to our school, they gave us some food to eat and some orientation packet info.  We were then allowed to roam the area around our school.  A lot of us decided to get a phone so we can communicate with each other throughout the semester.  It ended up being very cheap and we got a good deal.  On the way back from getting our phones, Patrick, Joe, and I did what any first-time visitor to London should do.  We immediately went to a pub!  The beer tastes amazing here.  After that, Patrick and Joe wanted to try a different pub.  I tagged along and they each tried a different beer than they ordered at the other pub.  After the pub experience, we walked back to our school where they had taxis waiting for us to bring us to our homestays.  My roommate Kari didn't arrive until today so I got to chat with the taxi driver for the 30 minute drive home.  He was really great and explained some of the areas that we drove through.  We finally made it to my house at 325 Alexandra Park Road :)

So I am living with a homestay mom, Janet, and her 15 year old daughter, Jennifer.  She has another daughter but she has her own place nearby.  They are awesome!! Both of them are super nice and helpful.  Kari and I each get our own room which is also nice.  The first night it was just Janet, Jennifer, and me so we had some dinner and watched British television!! It's weird hearing everything in a British accent but i'm already starting to get used to it.  My room has some pretty cool views and it's about the same size as my room at home.  One different thing about British homes: their washing machines are in the kitchen! I also couldn't find the lightswitch in the bathroom for a good 5 minutes, and then realized it was on the outside of the bathroom by the door. 

That was pretty much everything noteworthy that happened yesterday.  I'm going to write another blog soon about today's adventures! Miss you all :)