On the first day of my travels, I definitely experienced a whole new culture and travel experience. Not only was I traveling alone, without any parents or guidance, but I was traveling overseas to a country I’ve never been to before! My mom dropped me off at 10am 5/17/2011 at the Pittsburgh, commencing the start of my travels, which lasted until 10:30 am (London time) 5/18/2011. For being such a completely new and foreign experience, both mentally and physically, I did a pretty good job of successfully navigating my way to our destination, while also acclimating and adjusting the new lifestyle pretty quickly and flexibly. Being in London still does not feel real; it has not set in yet that I will be living here for the next six weeks, and I’m actually anxious to see when it will actually hit me. Although many things still feel like home here, A LOT is different. Some things that seem to be the same are actually not. There are the obvious changes like the accents, and the driving on the opposite sides of the roads and then there are the less obvious changes like proper British etiquette/culture and basic living arrangements/everyday way of life. I am so eager to see the things I will learn and the new insights I will gather about these other parts of the world. I am also eager to see if I will fall in love with the city and experience, or if I’ll miss back home more deep down. Right now I’m feeling a combination of both. I guess we’ll just have to take it day by day. To give a little run down, this is what I’ve done/what has happened so far on our trip
Day 1:
I arrived at the Pittsburgh airport where I checked in, went through security, and met up with my travel buddy, Chrissy, who by chance scheduled the same exact study abroad program as I did, Pitt in London Summer Session 1. After arriving at our gate we quickly realized that our flight had been cancelled and we were immediately transferred to a flight to Detroit, where we would experience a longer layover (6 hours) than we would have with our original connecting flight to Boston. But we were able to adjust and went along with the new plan.6:50 we boarded our flight to London where we sat in the very last row, and became friends with a few of the flight attendants. The 8 hour flight was actually not that bad; first we were served dinner, then I watched one of the free movies that was provided on the tv screen in front of us. It was so pretty at different points of the flight where I would look out and be able to see the big bright moon reflecting down over the clouds and the Atlantic Ocean. I managed to sleep about 3 hours or so on the flight, enough to keep me going the rest of the day after we landed. We landed early at 7am and went to customs which took about 45 min-hour. From there we successfully navigated our way to the tube station and finally ended up at the Ealing Broadway station where we took a cab up the hill to our apartment flat at Newman Court. From there we checked in to our flat and then took a tour of the surrounding neighborhood which consisted of many little shops, pubs, malls, and other things like that. Eventually my other roommates arrived, Allison, Rihana, and Melda. Chrissy, Allison, Christian (still hasn’t arrived yet) and I are all sharing the quad room which has 2 bunk beds. Melda and Rihana are in the other room. Our flat is very nice but it’s odd how everything is set up. Everything is closed off with its own door, including the kitchen and living room. It is fully equipped with appliances and basic needs which is pretty convenient.
To wrap up today, we actually had a funny story when we went to go eat dinner. Since it was our very first meal in London, we wanted to do it right and get the typical fish & chips. Needless to say we did not do it right, or moreso, the restaurant did not do it right. Not only was the skin still on the fish but so were the bones! It was disgusting trying to pick through. The chips, or fries, were bland pieces of nasty and the ketchup tasted like duck sauce. Lol In an effort to try to get something else to fill me up, I ordered a piece of roasted chicken, which also turned out to be a fail. Finally I ended up with a plain toasted bagel with cream cheese. Lol The funniest part about it all was the weird and odd service that was at the restaurant. I can’t really describe it but we were the only ones in the seating area and the “waitress” stood at the counter watching us, constantly asking us if everything was okay. All in all it was just weird. Lol
We finally got home at around 8pm where washed up and got ready for bed. Tomorrow we have orientations for class and for the internship, we might be going to central London as well!
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