Oh My Goodness Gracious!

One of my first view of London

I am in LONDON!

But first, some lovely travel stories because we all know how much everyone loves those.  I have to be quick because we've got a lot of stuff going on.

I can't believe I'm away from home.  Saying goodbyes were weird.  It's weird to think that I won't be able to come home from London every day and tell my family what happened.  That's why I'm resorting to this blog I guess.

All packed and ready to go!

The first airplane was all right.  When I went to Alaska last summer I felt horrible the whole time but I didn't have any problems with being sick.  My ears and legs were miserable but my stomach was happy and that was the part of me I was most worried about.  I didn't get any sleep but I read one and a half of my textbooks and watched a lovely movie with Hugh Jackman in it.  I'm not entirely sure what it was about since I missed most of it for various reasons but, well, the man is attractive.

We got to Washington D.C., trekked across the airport, and then settled in for our layover.  I spent quite a bit of it talking to my family of Facebook to let them know I'd survived the first part.  Unfortunately the plane was delayed for over an hour so we were worried about getting to London on time to catch our bus.

Games in the airport

The worst part was that one of the girls lost her passport and we had to leave her in DC.  None of us even knew if she was going to be okay there.  We all just had to get on the plane and hope for the best.  Luckily she had some friends there so she was able to stay with them.  They found her passport on the other plane and everything's fine now.  Phew.

I was pretty worried getting on to the second flight but, wow!  It was amazing.  I watched whatever I wanted (Phineas and Ferb, Harry Potter, Rio, and something else I can't remember).  Getting your trash picked up is much more glamorous when people with British accents are saying, "Rubbish?  Rubbish?"  They served a meal that I was pleasantly surprised by.  I expected it to be awful but it wasn't.  I didn't sleep because I was so uncomfortable.  I gave it my best shot and, well, still didn't sleep.  It was kind of fun though.  They also took shortcuts to get us there in less time.

Loading up the coach

My first view of London

When we got to London we all piled off the plane, the flight attendant laughed at me when I struggled to pull my carry on down from the compartment (Hey--that thing was full of textbooks!), and we headed to customs.  Most of us were nervous about this part.  It wasn't as scary as they made it sound.  The lady didn't even say anything to me.  She took my passport, landing card, and the letter BYU had sent explaining why I was there, stamped my passport, and gave it back to me.  I had to ask her if I could go because I wasn't sure.  Apparently one guy was asking what their favorite time period was and things like that.  Next was baggage claim then on to the meeting area.  We had some trouble getting our coach (read: bus) and figuring out what to do but eventually we left the airport and were on our way to our first glimpses of London.  One of them happened to be palm trees.  Wasn't expecting that!

There were a few scary moments when, because of the opposite driving side of the road thing, we were a little worried but it was fun to drive through and look out.  I kept gasping and saying things like "Wow!" and "Beautiful!" even though it was just roads and houses.  Roads and houses are beautiful in London.  :)  By the way, the weather has been fantastic.

Home sweet home!

My bed

And then, wonder of wonders, joy of joys, we arrived at our very own BYU London Centre!  My room is way at the top so I had to lug my suitcases up four flights of stairs.  I was so thankful when one of the boys took one of my bags.  Maybe I'll knight him.  Oh, speaking of the boys.  They've been fantastic with solving problems and trying to make sure everyone's taken care of at their own expense.  I'm so grateful for people like that!  We all unpacked, moaned about how tired/sore/hungry we were and then explored a little (the doors in this place are so thick!  The whole place is like I just walked into a movie where the main character has just been transported to a fantastic new world of... well, I don't know the term.  Just AWESOMENESS!)  or just hung out.

Cool street signs

Tour of the neighborhood

We all met in the classroom for a brief going over the most important rules and then we headed out for a walk to introduce us to the neighborhood.  We probably looked like a bunch of crazy tourists.  Probably because we are.  I stopped to take pictures of phone booths, significant stores, a few pubs, a double decker bus with a Harry Potter advertisement on it, awesome ancient looking buildings, things like that.  The whole time I wanted to cry because I was so happy.  I've wanted to come here for so long but never thought I could.  I can't believe I'm going to live here for a few months!

Giant Christmas tree in the mall

My new street

Speaking of pictures.  The internet here is pretty bad so to save boredom, time, and frustration of myself and others I'll try to add them in next time I visit McDonalds or somewhere with free internet.  I'll just edit them in so you'll have to come back and check.

I am so tired.  I feel like I've been awake for days.  Oh yeah, that's because I have!  So, if there are any spelling mistakes/things that don't make sense... blame it on the airplane.  We'll have an early dinner in an hour or so then we're headed to see Voldemort and to have our first experience using the Tube.

I am so happy right now.  :D