Jan 4-5: Transit and Arrival

Nothing like a personalized bag.

Greetings from London! I will be using this blog to journal my experiences abroad. Please feel free to comment or ask questions about what is going on with me. Now, on to today.

On Jan. 4 (Friday), in Philadelphia, I woke around 11:30am EST (yes, I know...lazy) to finish my final prep work for my 5 month stay in London. I ended up only packing 3 bags (a large suitcase, a larger travelers backpack, and a school/laptop backpack). It makes me feel odd that most of my life can fit into 3 bags.

Anyway, the day went by too quickly once again and, after a wonderful pizza party with my family - my Mom (Cinda), Dad (Tom), Sister (Bridget), Brother (Jimmy), and Dog (Rufus) - my Dad and Bridget drove me to the airport, which we arrived a little before 6:30. I met up with my always-lovely Girlfriend (Katie), who will also be studying at the University of London: School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) this spring. I gave my Dad and sister hugs goodbye, and soon I was through security, through waiting around, and sitting on a plane.

Then, of course, the fun began.

My flight was at 9:10pm Friday, with a 9:25am Saturday arrival (5 hour time difference, 7 hours flight). I won't bore you with the details, but as you can tell from those flight times, the idea is to sleep on the plane. Katie did. I was not so lucky - perhaps maybe getting 45min-1hr of sleep total, due to a number of factors (a surprising amount of children in my area being one of them).


Soon, though, we landed and paid (dearly) for a cab ride from Heathrow Airport into London, right to the front door of our dorm building, Dinwiddy House (you can't make up some of these English names).

This is how I felt at Argos: Purely Lost

We got our keys, dropped our stuff, and immediately went shopping for two essential items that we did not pack (due to bulk): bedding and towels. We walked the surrounding area, down a long street to a place called Argos, which upon entering, I realized was like walking into the internet. There were a bunch of computer catalogs, which I had to write the 7 digit item numbers of things I wanted to buy down on a little slip of paper, where I handed them to a man who punched those numbers in, and people in "the back" ran through and gathered from their inventory. Interesting process...very inefficiently done by Katie and myself, as we really had no idea what to do at first and were running on fumes from the flight. It was...an experience.

This should look better soon. Or maybe worse. Who knows.

A compact, yet effective bathroom.

Nonetheless, we got what we needed, staggered back to our dorms and immediately passed out for roughly 3 hours. It was excellent.

My room by the way, is a pretty nice space. I am lucky enough to be in a single room with my own bathroom, which is just excellent. The bathroom is a little cramped and weird (the shower floor is the same floor as the sink and toilet), but hey, its better than having to be like George Costanza and memorize all the prime restroom locations.

For dinner, Katie and I went to a restaurant called "Thyme" (Yes, I thought of this whole time) and it was pretty good. I had Fish and Chips (which I will probably be having a lot of) and she had Calamari. Now we are both unpacking/writing/contacting.

Tomorrow is SOAS Orientation, so I will have much more to report then. Till then - Cheers!