Well, well, well, who could have predicted that my first week here has pretty much been hell? Um I could have. I'm not exactly sure what is wrong with me but there's something. This first week has felt like my freshman year at RWU all over again; something I NEVER wanted to experience again. Let's Quentin Tarantino it and go back to the beginning. Thursday, January 6th 2011: Finished packing up late and watched 'Despicable Me' with my parents in their room. No Tears
Friday, January 7th 2011: Packing up the car and last minute things for London, drive to the airport, settle in, eat dinner with mom and dad. No Tears. Time to say goodbye and go through security and get on the plane (terrified) but still, not really any tears.
Saturday, January 8th, 2011: Arrive in London, extremely jet lagged and confused. Caught a ride with a random study abroad car for only 20 pounds. Not bad. No tears. Get to Harrow Hall (where I am living) and we can't check in for another three hours. Exhausted we find a common room and nap. No Tears. Go into town to get bedding and dinner with a nice group of kids I met, no tears—but I did fall asleep at the table in Pizza Hut (not like Pizza Hut's here) and everyone's pizza came but mine, which turns out to be fine because I am not hungry anyways. Go back to our rooms for the night and I burst into tears. Set up my internet as soon as I can and skype with Bob and Izzy, crying.
The next few days were pretty much a blur of exhaustion and borderline emotional trauma. By now I'm thinking, I don't belong here, how much longer until finals, and I'll never survive in a city. I am horrible with public transportation, creating anxiety every time I went into the city—which has been everyday. Luckily, I have a nice group of girls I've settled in with, which has been very helpful. EXCEPT, NONE OF THEM ARE HOMESICK? How are you completely fine with being in a foreign country with foreign money and foreign outlets and different food and transport and words and everything! I chose London because I thought I wouldn't experience any culture shock. WRONG AGAIN! What's worse, two of my best friends from school are here on the same program but they live far from me and have settled into their own groups of friends as well. So it's like we have separate lives; as if I studied abroad alone, which is what I thought I wanted.. what an idiot.
So I was hanging on by a thread, getting through day by day, waiting to come back to my computer to talk to someone on skype, facebook, aim, twitter, email, anything! I'm not sure what I would do without technology because a seven-minute phone call cost me ten pounds, which is like seventeen dollars. JEEZ! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the exchange rate = crap!
Big Events:
On Tuesday, we went to an American bar, "Sports Bar" I want to say that's in Trafalgar Square but I'm not very good at remembering where things are.
Thursday, we had a boat cruise which took us up and down the Thames River, very beautiful but it was down pouring (not a rarity here) and we were extremely over dressed. They called it a "boat cruise" but they should have called it 'Drunk Jet-Ski Excursion' by how wet, drunk and casual it turned out to be. Four hours later, we got off the boat to look for a pub, but everything closes here and we walked for ages in—in heels–until we settled on a pub called Green Man for some grub, right by the Great Portland tube stop. We then proceeded home and off to bed.
Friday, my flat mates—the sweetest flat mates I could have asked for—took my friend Kristin (who is also from RWU) out to a Dub-Step Club by London Bridge. You'll have to Google it to get an idea for it. It's indescribable and is not something common in America, though according to my friend from California, Paige, it is catching on around the West Coast. My flat mate, Becky did my make-up for me (outrageous and very cool) and we left around 10:30. Unfortunately in London, the Tube or Underground stops running between 12:00 and 1:00 depending on the station, so we were bond to take a "night bus" home. We left the club around 3:00 because my other flat mate, Sophia had to work in the morning. Due to the awful night bus, it took almost two hours to get home; a 35 minute tube ride mind you. 5:00AM bed is still affecting me. And my ears were ringing for two full days.
Sunday: This was my favorite day so far here. It was the first day I didn't cry at all (only a week of tears, not bad.) We spent hours sight seeing, which is all I've wanted to do since I got here. We started with Platform 9 3/4 (yes from Harry Potter) and then went to Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye and even parts of where Harry Potter was filmed. We also have a mini photo shoot in a telephone booth and got pictures of the Abe Lincoln statue. Poor Abe, he said he'd never set foot in England, so when he died, they built a statue of him in British soil to spite him. Anyways, we then went to Harrods which is supposedly and experience but it just made me wish I wasn't on a budget and then we proceeded to the Hard Rock Cafe, London. That was amazing because I hadn't really eaten much all week and since my spirits were so high, I was able to eat a delicious burger and "chips" (fries) with hot sauce. Perfection. We then went to a pub to grab a beer and see what the hype was about. By the time I finished my Guinness I was so tired that we went back to our rooms and chilled out.
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