Well, I’ve made it to London, and thus Harlow, Essex, England. I’m writing this at 3:26pm local time, on Sunday, August 29th using Microsoft Word, rather than using the actual blog. I won’t have internet access in my room until Tuesday, which sucks but what can you do. I do have a computer account in the computer room (of two computers, using Windows XP and Internet Explorer of all things. It’s not even the new Internet Explorer. I’m cringing here until Tuesday!) so I will be able to check my e-mail and Facebook, but that’s about it. There are six of us living here, and two more will be joining us in a week from Political Science. Even though I’m in a single room, I have two beds. I’m tempted to push them together to form a big bed, but it’s unlike I’ll do that as I’m lazy.
Getting to the airport last night wasn’t much rush or trouble at all. I’m a little surprised by that. My checked baggage only came to 44lbs, which is great as now I’ll have room to take some things with me. I stay with Mom, Andrew, Poppa and Aunt Grace (Poppa’s sister who’s visiting from Ontario for a few weeks) at the Tim Horton’s as I drink my last Tim’s for four months. I even got decaf so I wouldn’t stay awake on the plane. We said our goodbye’s at the gate, Mom bawling, of course, and I went through security. Surprisingly, my ankle didn’t set off the metal detectors. I was surprised by this, but I didn’t make a deal about it because that looks suspicious.
I met Alyson, Wendy and Sara at the gate and we’re just hanging out, talking until Madison shows up. Madison’s been there a while, she was just away from us. We were supposed to board the plane around 9:15pm. 9:10pm comes around and we hadn’t heard from Candice or Tiffany. We’re getting a little worried, but they show up. They were at the airport, just around. For some reason, maybe it’s luck of the draw, but the other 6 girls were sitting nearby each other on the plane, while I was up in the front. See, not even off the continent and I’m already being isolated :P. I also noticed that I only had one checked baggage and two carry-ons while the others had two checked and one carry-on. A difference of packing? Some overpackers or underpackers? I’m guessing time will tell.
So we board the plane. I’m in the middle of the row next to a woman from Amsterdam who had a wedding in Montreal and then one today in London and a woman from Austria who was vacationing. They were both really nice, though the woman from Amsterdam slept the entire way. I tried to sleep but failed. Instead, I watched Shrek Forever After. I also tried to watch something else, but couldn’t stay focused.
The flight was bumpy, particularly at first. I was getting a little panicked because frankly, I don’t want to die. But, I was assured that the bumpiness was normal. We hit turbulence as well and I was not a happy camper. Finally, we landed. Yay!
Heathrow airport is….well, insane. If you’ve never been, please don’t go alone. Go with someone who has been there before. We just followed the guy to safety. Before we even got to our bags, we had to get our passports checked and go through the UK Border Agency. For some reason, they took our fingerprints. They just like tough security, I’m sure. The lady I had to talk to was kind of a bitch. She asked me how long I was staying and purpose of visit, like I expected. Then she asked me for the letter saying I was allowed to come. I was taken really off-guard by this. We weren’t told we needed a letter. That’s what the Visa was for, wasn’t it? She stamped me anywhere and warned me that I better have everything with me the next time I travel. Scary.
Next, we make our way to baggage claim, securing four trollies to manage all our stuff. Everyone got all their luggage and we managed to wheel our way out to the main area. I kind of felt like a cow going through a display, with people picking out who was theirs. A lot of people had signs and we eventually found the guy with ours. We followed him through the maze that is Heathrow Airport and finally made it to the car park (or parking lot). We piled everything and everyone into the taxi and we were off.
We were each given Welcome Binders describing our school, important dates and forms we have to sign. I should get on those soon. After a couple of minutes, the majority of the ride was silent. I don’t know if the other girls were sleeping or if they were watching the scenery like I was. As I gazed out the window, only one word came to me: verdant. Everything was so green and there was so much farmland! I watched some of the cars go by: Mercedes, Jaguar, Maserati, and of course there were some Mr. Bean-like cars. I tried to understand different highway signs, but I don’t think I did so well.
Finally, we made to Harlow. Our house is so quaint! The outside door is so small we weren’t sure if we were going to fit in. But we did! Right away, there’s a staircase. On the left, there’s the common room and what looks like a bit of a study. On the left is the kitchen, the cutest dining room in the world and the computer room beyond that. Two bedrooms are downstairs but we’re all up here, except for Madison who’s in the more modern house across the way since she’s staying with her best friend in Political Science. Pictures will be posted on Facebook and probably somewhere else where those readers who don’t have Facebook can see them. Once we got our luggage to our respective rooms, every single one of us clonked out. It was probably about 10am before I fell asleep. I woke up again around 1:30. Soon, everyone else was awake and we started to put our luggage away. Now, people are trying to decide what to do, clean-up, shower, etc. I know I’m hungry, but we might try to go to the supermarket to buy some food.
I can’t believe I’m here! It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but I’m here. This is going to be awesome. Now to find out what the plan for the evening is. Talk to you later!
Part 2:
Well, here we are to blog number 2 of the day. I’m going to try if I can alter it so that it appears that I’ve written these on the actual day instead of copying and pasting them after.
This afternoon, we decided to do a little bit of exploring. We wanted to find Tesco but knew we’d get lost. We asked these kids and one of the girls said “we ain’t got one”. So rude! However, the boys were more helpful and directed us to Tesco and to the small supermarket. We made it to the small one and found that it’d be open until 10. We decided to go find Tesco again, but realized most of us were way too hungry. There are a few pubs around so we stopped in this one called the Marquis of Granby or something like that. The prices were really good and the food was good. Looks like we’ll be going back there again soon!
After we ate, we continued our trek to Tesco but failed. We learned from other people that that it’s closed today so there was no point, but we just wanted to find it. We never did. It’s probably best that we go look for it when it was opened and see what’s inside then.
Now, people are putting the finishing touches on their rooms. Not really sure what’s going to happen tonight, since some of us are way too tired to go do anything. Still haven’t figured out which cord is my internet cord. Either way, my next quest is to find the thermostat. This room is freezing! Then it’s probably shower time.
Good night all.
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