Keep Calm and Carry On

I can't believe three weeks have already gone by since I boarded the plane in Boston on New Year's Day and arrived in London on January 2, 2012. I also can't believe all that I've done and all that I've seen in that short amount of time. I already love London, because I don't think a lifetime here would be enough time to do everything, but I'm sure going to try :)

My very first day here went by in a blur, it took be over two hours to get through customs, and by that time my driver that was supposed to take me to Bloomfield Court, my housing, was long gone. I randomly selected a man holding a sign to pick someone else up to ask him if he knew the driving company I was looking for. And to my surprise, and luck, he worked for the company! So I waited just a few minutes before I was picked up! It was my first time driving (as a passenger of course!) on the left (wrong) side of the road. I arrived at my housing sometime around noon and we had a welcome dinner around 6 p.m. I ran around trying to gather everything I needed from shampoo to a cell phone. And after lasting at the dinner for no more than an hour, my social skills were at an all time low, I went to bed at 8 p.m.

Amusingly, I woke up at 1:30 p.m. London time the next day, meaning I slept 17 hours. This small coma that I took made me miss my orientation and first class at AIU. I woke up very confused at what time it could possibly be, and then realized that I missed the last group that left at 12 noon to head to school. My class started at 2 p.m. and goes until 6:45 p.m., so I knew that I should probably still try and make the second half at least. Strangely I didn't really panic, but instead got ready, and ran out of my apartment. I had no idea what bus I was supposed to take to the tube, so I just power walked there. Not really sure where it was, I hoped that I didn't walk by it, but at last I came across Holloway Road tube station. I asked the worker where Marylebone High Street was. He told me I needed to get on the central line, and get off at Marylebone station. This was not right.

I ended up getting off there, walking around quite a bit, hoping on a bus, and walking around even more. I was wondering on Weymouth Street, and then asked a door man where Marylebone High Street was, and he pointed me in the right direction. I finally found my school! I caught the group of girls in this class on break, and was so thankful I did because we apparently had switched classrooms.

Needless to say, I haven't traveled by myself to school since.

Here's my room!