London- Day 1

Cheerio!

Melissa here! It's about 1045am Sunday Morning. I woke up about 45 min ago and Jess is still fast asleep, so I'm starting this off for the two of us. We'll try to post as often as possible to keep everyone updated on our lives over here.

So far, London feels just like any other big city, especially at night. Lots of lights and big crowds of people. We live right on the West End, and walking past a theater last night as it was letting out felt just like trying to walk down 45th at 11pm. Honestly, the biggest differences so far are the water pressure (HORRIBLE!) and the traffic (soooooo scary!). Everyone in our flat tried to shower at relatively the same time last night, I was only the second one in and, as I said to Jess, I could have drooled on my head and gotten the shampoo out faster! The traffic is even scarier than everyone said! Thank G-d the corners actually tell you "Look Right" or "Look Left!" You should see us trying to cross the street! There are almost no lights, so crossing is really hard to do. And London drivers... worse than NY! It's going to be a long semester of hopping backwards!

Aside from the bad shower and scary traffic though, we had a really good (exhausting) first day! The flight wasn't too bad. I slept about 5 broken hours, Jess slept about 2 1/2 maybe (an hour of which I was her pillow). The plane food was gross. I only had breakfast, but I heard about dinner from Jess ( I slept through it. I also slept through take off!). Anyway, we landed at Heathrow at about 8:15am, so 3:15 NY time. Customs took about 2 seconds and our luggage came right away! Seriously, we were ready to leave faster than we would have been landing in NY after a Jet Blue flight from Orlando!

So, we met up with our program advisor, Emily (who Marley, if you're reading this, looks just like your mom!) and another man, Ryan (I still don't remember what his job is), and they took us by coach to our flats. Didn't really see anything on the way, the most English thing we spotted from the window was Harrods which, ok, was really exciting! Our flat is really nice! Jess and I are sharing a room, but we somehow got placed in one that was supposed to be a triple, so I have the single bed near the window, and she's sleeping on the top bunk of a pair of bunk beds (she's very excited about this having not have been allowed them as a child!). Best thing about 2 people in a room meant for three? More Closet Room!!!!  We have three closets and three sets of drawers for the 2 of us, thank G-d! Aside from that, there is a triple room for our 3 roommates, Amanda, Adrienne, and Sarah. There are 2 bathrooms, each with a sink, toilet, and tiny, horrible shower. The living room has 2 couches, a TV and a big kitchen table, and is connected to the kitchen. The kitchen isn't too bad, has all of the essentials, it's just old, but perfectly usable. The building by the way is really nice, but really narrow so each flat is on a different floor. Luckily, we're in flat 1, so there's only one flight of stairs to ours (you should have seen the girls in flat 6 get their luggage to their rooms!). 

The area is really nice here. As I said, we're right on the West End, so lots of theaters around us. Emily and Ryan took us on a short walking tour of the neighborhood (which felt really lond because we were starving!), and we have a pretty good sense already of where things are. There's a Sainsbury's market and a Boots where we were able to get all of our food and toiletrees yesterday. Also, the phone store is right on the corner basically so I can "top up" my phone! There are pubs on every corner, and a lot of other little restaurants, as well as small shops, including an umbrella store that's been here since like 1730 or something!

After our walking tour, Emily and Ryan took us all out for lunch at a place called Pizza Express which would not have ever been labeled "express" in America. The service was really good and fast, but it was not fast food! Basically everyone had individual, fresh made pizzas, and they were delicious! I was thoroughly impressed! We then came back for a brief safety orientation and were let on our own for the rest of the day. 

All of the girls in our flat decided to go out for the essentials- phones, straightening iron, shower stuff, and food- and then came back to unpack and shower. We then met up with about 12 other people and went out to the pub! Jess and I had our first Fish and Chips and Beers in England! It was wonderful just ordering a beer and not even being ID'd! She had a Cronenberg(sp?) and I had a Stella. The fish and chips were amazing! And the Pub atmosphere is so much better than Sports Bar! Oh, and of course I look up halfway through dinner to see Dustin on the other side of the pub! Of all of the pubs in London, we wound up in the same one last night!

So at around 11 we all made our way back to the flats completely exhausted and all passed out! That's basically where things end for today. Jess just woke up, she say's "'ello!" Ok, fine, I said that for her, but if she were at speaking capacity yet I'm sure she would! We've got the morning to kill and then are heading out at around 1:45 for a bus tour of the city!! I can't wait to see everything!!! Please feel free to call or write, all of my contact information is in facebook notes.

 

Love to everyone!!