Jan 24, First Day in London

Alright so i'm about 4 days behind on this posting thing so lets see if i can bring you guys up to date. My flight went really well and actually i met a girl right before we started to board in Minneapolis who was going to London with a different program and we decided to meet up when we got to London to clear customs together! Very nice to have someone going through the same thing. I had an open seat next to me to after about 45mins I was out and slept for the next probably close to 6 hours of the 8 1/2 hour flight! Didn't even watch a movie. However, they did have the new Miranda Lambert and Brad Paisley cd so i def listened to them to pass the last 2 hours. As we were flying into London i noticed a few things that i knew what they were like the London Eye, Tower Bridge, football (soccer) fields, those row boat things that teams race in on the river and some things that i had no idea what they were but i was sure i would found out. I met up with Laura when we landed, cleared customs without any problems, went our separate ways and i found my shuttle desk. I had to wait about 20 mins for the shuttle to come to i sat on a bench and just people watched which was very interesting. The fashions here are so different than back home. My sweats i travelled in i'm sure made me look like a bum but at least i got to sleep 6 hours on the plane :) However, i probably will no wear them to class like i do at NW almost everyday. Driving here is insane! It felt like we were just speeding through town and all of a sudden, SMACK! the brakes work! Maybe thats the way it is in all cities but goodness! Hang on tight!
Right as i arrived at Vandon House door (my home in London), i met a very nice guy, Dan and his dad who helped me carry in my luggage and then Michelle, who helped me find my room. I then followed her back to her room so i knew where she lived...First lesson learned, you need a key to get into your room. So if you leave your key in your room, you can't get in. So i made the first trip down back down the 3 flights of stairs to get the master key, back up to unlock it and back down to bring the key back. After I got back into my room, i wanted to check out the internet situation, so i plugged a few things in and bam! lights out! blew a fuse....back down the stairs to tell the front desk and back up to finish unpacking in the dark! What a great first day! So much learning taking place already! At 5 we all met in the dining room for Domino's pizza, met our director Mark, and assistant director, Beth. They both took us in group for a small walking tour of the area and ended up at our first pub. We decided to fill our Oyster cards (transportation cards) so we could use them Monday. We walked to the first Underground station and it was closed but the very nice lady pointed us in the right direction to West Minster. I saw for the first time Big Ben, London Eye and West Minster Abbey off in the distance! Talk about amazing! It just didn't feel real! St. James Park, however is a little sketch at night, but I assume in the day, it will be pretty sweet! We headed back to Vandon, chatted awhile in the lounge and then crashed. End of Sunday, Day 1.