First Day in the City

Despite my insane nervousness all day Saturday, once I boarded the plane last night, I felt rather calm.  Since my stomach had finally ceased doing gymnastic-inspired flips, I glanced around the plane to see who I would be sitting by for the next 8 hours.  The woman sitting next to me started talking to me before I even had a chance to sit down.  She had this flaming red hair, cat-eye glasses, and a raspy, drawl-y voice.  In a matter of moments, she volunteered her entire life story.  She's from Arizona, going to London to meet up with her husband, who's already there on business.  She loves traveling and has made a lot of trips with her husband and family.  A self-proclaimed fidgeter, I knew she and I were very compatible seat-mates.  Across the isle was a family of 5--the mom and dad were trying to wrangle their three sons, all under the age of 7, into their seats.  I had a suspicion they might be noisy the entire time.  But the as soon as we started to take off, I instantly forgot about them.  Taking off is my favorite part of a flight--all pressed back again the seat, the increasing wind whipping by competing with my lone iPod earbud.  Soon comes that fainy light-headed feeling, then that little "pop" of instant relief.  Then I looked out the window and saw all the city lights, some glaring off the wings. Funny how those skinny tin-y airplane arms hold up the entire plane.  Then a yelp from the boys brought me back into the cabin.  "Yay!  Alright! Woohoo!"  And all I could think was "My sentiments exactly"! 

The rest of the flight was long, boring, and for the most part sleep-less.  Enter this morning, and the incredibly long line to get through arrivals...the line that I did not have to wait in but did so anyways.  Why?  Because I did not see that there was a special "first time students" line at the FAR end of check in, the sign to which was blocked by a pole.  But luckily, the woman who sat next to me on the plane, saw me in the long line and told me to switch.  I only got semi-lost at baggage claim, waiting at the wrong carousel for about 15 minutes before realizing that the sign I was standing under was just the over-all directions sign, not the sign for the carousel.  After that, I found my luggage, met up with the people from Westminster who were supposed to greet me, and took a taxi to my hall of residence. 

After I no longer had the assistance of my mom, the cart from the airport, or the taxi driver to help me lug my three wheel-y suitcases and computer case across London, I managed to half pull, half kick my bags into the halls of residence reception area.  There I met a very kind father of a student who was going to Marylebone too--it is her first year at Westmisnter too.  They helped me carry the rest of my things to the lobby, where I checked in and found out that my room is on the top floor....that's the 20th floor to be precise...and was promptly told that the elevators had  been on the fritz all day.  Naturally.  However, I was lucky and got to take the elevator once before it completely broke down.  So I didn't have to carry my bags up 20 flights of stairs, but I did climb up and down a total of 3 times today for various reasons.  Unexpected European work-out routine....check.

After I plopped all my things in my room, I did some exploring.  I discovered that the kitchen is the place to be, apparently, because there I met all of my flatmates throughout the day.  So I spent time with them, talking, getting groceries, having dinner, etc.  That was nice.  But by 6 p.m. London time, I was completely exhausted, having only had about 2 hours of not-so-restful sleep in the last 24 hours.  So I decided to unpack and turn in relatively early since tomorrow I need to be up and at my orientation by 8:45 a.m., and it's a 25 minute walk away.  Oh, how I now miss the roll-out-of-bed-and-into-jeans habit for the 2 minute commute to S.A.C. already.

And now here I am, posting all this before my computer battery dies.  (My power cord is three-pronged, my converter plug only accepts two prongs, needless to say, I need to find a new converter plug tomorrow.)

I took pictures of my room, but I will have to post them later.  So until then, good afternoon (your time) to everyone at home!