Arrival and Adventures!

Phew.  So this is the first time I have a chance to update this since leaving, and let me just say, it's been AMAZING so far.  I'm genuinely loving every second of it.

The plane ride was all right - I didn't get any sleep, partially because I have a hard time falling asleep sitting upright, but mostly because I discovered I could watch Season 2 of Downton Abbey on the plane (pre-flight, I was halfway through the season; post-flight, I'm all caught up).  After we (we being myself and another LDA student on the flight with me) landed and went through customs and immigration, we met up with the LDA students who had already gotten in.  Most of us didn't know each other, but everyone was really friendly, so we were all fairly comfortable with each other in no time.

Once everyone expected had arrived, we took a bus to Atlantic House, our dorm building for the semester.  Following our arrival, we settled into our rooms, then had housing orientation.  After that, the day was ours.  We split up into groups, and most of us wound up roaming Kensington High Street, which is essentially the main road in Kensington.  We discovered that there are many similarities to America, but also a lot of subtle differences.  For example, they have T.K Maxx, which has the same logo as T.J. Maxx, but no one's really sure what the J or K stand for.  While out, I was able to add money to my phone that Megan so graciously provided for me (thanks again, Megan!).  We got back at around 7pm, but since I hadn't slept in 2 days, 7pm wound up being bedtime.

Today, we had to head over to the Fordham campus at 11am for a walk with the program director, Ellen.  We took the tube to Hampstead, and let me just confirm that the rumors are true - the tube is A LOT nicer than the New York subway.  There's also a much higher social code of etiquette on the tube.  Whereas the subway essentially has no rules, the tube is governed by the unspoken law of "Don't Speak Above a Whisper."  Also, we found out today that once the doors start closing, they don't reopen, which means that if you are the last one in a group and you can't get on before the doors start closing...well, you better figure something out.

Our tube ride led us to Hampstead Heath, where we took a walk.  Or perhaps "walk" is took weak a word.  Maybe "hike" is more appropriate, because the mud we walked through made the whole walk an adventure to remember - my shoes have been given a muddy welcome to London!  However, it was beyond worth it, because the heath itself was beautiful, and we got an amazing view of the city from a hill.  I'm still kicking myself for forgetting to bring a camera today, because there were so many great photo ops in the heath as well as throughout the rest of the day.  Finally, we had tea in a small tea shop inside the heath, which was a nice way to end our outing with Ellen.

Ellen showed us to the tube station, but once there, we were on our own to get back to our dorms.  Luckily, we were able to figure out the tube without much difficulty; it's like we're Londoners already.  Tonight a group of us decided to try out a pub on the high street.  The place was really nice, but since the drinks were a little pricey, we decided to see if we could find a cheaper pub.  To that end, we decided to take the tube a few stops to South Kensington, where we embakred on an adventure to find a pub we liked.  Sadly, the journey ended in failure, but we were able to walk around and see a lot of places!  We also made the discovery that Londoners are REALLY helpful if you don't know where you're going - at least three different people gave us directions to different places, one even walking with us to the pub before turning around and heading back.  Overall, it was a very exciting two days, and I can't wait for what comes next.

A few things I'm noticing about London.  The first different thing I noticed was that traffic lights turn yellow before red AND before green.  I'm not sure whether that's an English thing or a European thing, but I had never heard that before, and I thought it was neat.  Also, the exchange rate is TERRIBLE.  I'm trying to double the price of everything I buy so I don't overspend, which I'm probably in danger of doing.  Another funny little thing - I've noticed that they sell wine in small bottle you could literally slip in your pocket.  Maybe I've just been oblivious, but I've never seen wine sold in that size in the States.  Why don't we do that?

As for the kids in the program, they're AMAZING.  There are 21 of us, and we've spent the majority of the time we've been here together (or at least in smaller groups), so I feel like I've gotten to know them fairly well already, considering most of us met less than 48 hours ago.  Those of you who know me know that getting along with my roommate is important for me, so you'll be pleased to hear that I'm getting along well with my roommate, Noah!  As you could probably guess, he's also in the program, so it's gonna be convenient that we'll be on the same schedule more or less.

I feel like this post is just a boring list of things I did, but hopefully it's possible to get through!  Hey, if you made it this far, I guess it is.  Well, that's all I have for now.  Bye!