Second week in London....as I'm writing this I am now 22!!! :-D

The picture to the right is of me and my friend Sunny standing in line for Windsor Castle.

It's already my second week in London!!! At times it only feels like I'm here on vacation and that I should be coming home in couple weeks to start school. Then I have to remind myself that I'm staying here for school. It's a weird feeling but....
I am so excited to be celebrating my 22nd birthday in London!!!! How fun!?! As I'm writing this I have officially been 22 for about 10 minutes London time!!! I'm not sure what I want to do tomorrow to celebrate. Maybe we can all go see a show or something!?! I'm not sure right now but I'll think of something fun!!! :-D It's kinda weird though because I don't feel 22 at all. It still feels like I'm only 18 or something but I'm exicted though!!! I just called my dad a few minutes ago and wished him an early Happy Birthday. So dad, when you read this, HAPPY BIRTHDAY :-D!!! Do something fun!!! Love you lots!!! :-D
Anyway, 9 new people moved into the flat yesterday. 6 girls and 3 boys. I have only met them all once but they seem really nice and I'm excited to get to know them better. 4 of the 6 girls are also taking courses at the London College of Fashion. The difference between them and me is that they are taking design classes(one of them being Corsetry) and I am taking marketing and merchandising classes. But at least now there are people in my flat taking classes at the same college as me.
Yesterday was my first Fashion Buying and Range Planning class. It was very interesting and really fun!! We learned about the three different types of buyers, things buyers need to know, how to identify trends and what are some present trends. Then we divided into groups, looked through some fashion magazines and had to try to identify some common trends. After that, the class went down town to some shops. We were given a list of shops and our job was to try to go into each one and identify common trends among each store. Some of the stores we went into were Juicy Couture, Dolce & Gabana, Burberry, Armani, DKNY, Gucci, and a lot of others. It was a lot of fun!! After we were done, we met back up on New Bond Street, discussed a little of what we found and then class was done for the day. How cool is that!?! Another thing too is that the class only meets one day a week!! :D
After class I just came back to the flat, caught on the blog and did other stuff the rest of the evening. Some of the other people in the flat went over the Redcliff house, played cards and hung out for a while. It was a relaxing evening to a perfect day.
Tuesday.....I am officially 22!!!
The next morning we all had to be down to City University by 11:30 for a lecture. We got up and ready and headed for the Notting Hill Gate station. When were arrived at our platform, the tube wasn't as crowded as it usually is which was nice because we actually found a place to sit. We made it to the class on time and the Professor who spoke to us talked about our freedoms, safety, and terror. It was a pretty interesting class although I did not agree with a lot of his views on certain issues. The class lasted about an hour and then there was time for questions afterward. When we finally left for the flat, it had started to sprinkle a little but nothing major. After a few minutes though it began to come down a lot harder. The frustrating thing about this was that I did not have an umbrella. You see what happened was that I forgot to pack my-of all things to leave behind-and hadn't gone to buy one yet over here either. I ended up trying to share an umbrella with my room mate Amy which didn't really work and I ended up getting really wet. It was not fun. I eventually found a store on the way back to the flat that sold umbrellas and went in and bought one. It was kind of expensive but I didn't care. I just needed one really bad.
When I got back to the flat, I changed out of my soaked clothes and started working on my two short papers that were due Wednesday. We were all required to write some sort of journal entry about our home-stays and also write a short paragraph about the types of people we have observed in London so far. They were both really easy. After that we had an internship interview advice meeting downstairs which gave us pointers and tips on how to hand an interview. The meeting was pretty helpful and informative. I also asked the teacher some questions specific to my interview and his advice was very helpful and reassuring. I also found out today that my interview date has been moved up to Thursday at 10 am. instead of on Friday and my interviewer is also someone different two. I was going to be interviewed by the CEO of the Courtalds but now I my interviewer is going to be one of the designers in whose department I could end up working in. I'm pretty excited about this interview and am pretty confident that I will get the placement. After classes tomorrow, I am going to spend the day learning how to get to my internship, reading through more company information, as well as come up with more questions to ask my interviewer. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I better get to bed since it is almost 1:30 am. here. Bye for now....

My home-stay weekend

This past weekend was so much fun!! I'm back from the home-stay and finally have time to write about it so I'm gonna start back at the beginning. Also the picture in the top left corner is a picture of St. George's Chapel.
Arcadia arranged for all the study abroad students to do a home-stay with a British family. We all had to fill out forms about our hobbies and interests as well as write a letter to the British family telling about ourselves and our family. Arcadia then took that information and used it to try to match us with families that had similiar interests and hobbies. Well like I said in a previous blog, we found out on Wednesday who we were going to stay with and what town we were going to be in. Friday morning came and my room mates and I all slept in late and didn't get up and around until 11 a.m. It was nice actually because it was one of the first days we didn't have to be somewhere really early in the morning. After we all got dressed, we packed our bags for the home-stay so that we would be ready to go when the coach came to pick us up at 5:30 p.m. My room mate Amy and I then decided to do some shopping at some local vintage clothing stores we seen when we would walk to the Notting Hill Gate tube station. The first one we went into ended up being a lot bigger than we first thought and it had a lot of really great stuff. We each ended up buying a shirt. The second store we went to was really small and didn't have a good selection so we didn't buy anything. After that we headed down to Queensway so I could try to find a store that sold hair straighteners. On our way we went into some really cute shoe stores but no, I didn't buy anything :). I eventually found an inexpensive straightener at a pharmacy called Boots. We got back to the flat with a half an hour to spare before the coach came. When the rest of our things were ready we went outside to wait for the coach. It was supposed to be there by 5:30 but it didn't arrive until about 6:15. From there we stopped to pick up one more group of students then headed out of London. The trip to Woking(Surry) took about an hour. The picture underneath on the left is me in the coach on the way to Woking.
When we arrived in woking our families were there waiting for us. Another girl, Sara Sorret and me were staying with the same family. The lady we stayed with was Mrs. Erica Scammell of 7 Woodend Close, St. John's, Woking, Surrey GU21 7RJ. She was retired, owned a cat and her hobbies were gardening, reading and swimming. She also had children who are grown and married now. Some live in the United States while others still live in the United Kingdom. She picked us up in a little blue car and it only took about 5 minutes to get to her house. She was a really sweet lady, very talktative and I knew we would have no problems getting along or feeling comfortable in her home. I road in the front seat on the way to her house and it was kinda weird because I sometimes felt like we were going to get hit by other cars. I'm not used to the them driving on the opposite side of the road or sitting in a passenger seat in the front that is on the left side. It's just a really weird feeling. The way people drive over hear is pretty crazy too which makes it all the more scary. People weave in and out of traffic like crazy and a lot of the time they drive in the middle of the road. Then, at the last second, they swerve back over into their lane to avoid the oncoming cars. Anyway...we finally arrived at the house. It was a small cottage with a picket fence, a little garden, a garage, a shed and the front door was painted a pretty navy blue. The inside of the house was small, narrow and most of the downstairs rooms, which consisted of a kitchen, living room and dining room, were painted peach. The second floor had three bedrooms and a bathroom and the third floor, where I stayed, had two rooms and a small landing in between. I stayed in the room to the
right of the landing. It was a small room with a twin bed, two short, small bookcases, a nightstand, a small dresser and one window which overlooked the front garden. The room was comfortable during the day but got pretty cold at night. Because of this I slept with an extra blanket and a sweat shirt on. But that is to be expected in old english houses because most do not have a central heating system nor do they have central air. Most rooms have only individual wall heaters and if you want the room to cool down you'll have to open a window.
After we got settled in, we went down to have dinner. Erica had fixed spaghetti and salad with fruit for dessert. The food was really good and all throughout dinner we talked and just basically got to know each other. We ended up talking until about 11 p.m. then decided to call it a night because my roomate and I had to be up and ready by 9 a.m. the next morning. Arcadia had planned a trip for us all to Windsor Castle the next morning. We had to be at the bus by 10 a.m. and the plan was to stay in Windsor all day until 4:30. Then the bus would take us back to Woking were we would be able to walk around downtown for an hour and then our host families would come pick us up at 6 p.m. I was kinda surprised when I found out that we were spending Saturday at Windsor instead of doing something with our host family. Actually, we didn't get to spend that much time with our host families at all because we had to turn around and leave Sunday morning at 9 a.m. I was pretty disapointed by that because I was looking forward to getting to know them better.
The next morning, Erica gave us cereal and toast for breakfast and also made us a cup of tea with milk and sugar in it. It was really good and that is now my new favorite way to make tea. After breakfast we headed into town to meet the coach that was taking all of us students to Windsor for the day. I really enjoyed seeing Windsor Castle again. These two pictures below are of Windsor Castle.

We got to see Queen Mary' s Doll House, walk through the state apartments as well go through the Royal Drawing gallery which featured many drawings by Leonardo DaVinci. The doll house was a really cool thing to see. Everything was made in miniature and meant for looks not to be played with. This picture is also Windsor Castle.
Also everything in the doll house was made to function just like a real house. It is wired for electricy which works and it was wired for plumbing which also works. There is also dishes in the dining room of the miniature house that are pure silver. It's really an amazing thing and if you ever get to go to London it is something everyone should definately see. The State apartments were also absolutely beautiful! The rooms were all lavishly decorated and painted. The furniture was very ornate and beautiful as well. It's hard to describe how lavish and amazing these rooms were and I wish I could have take pictures. Unfortunately they do not allow people to take pictures inside the castle but I do have a lot of pictures of the outside :-).
We also got to go inside St. George's Chapel which is also inside the gates of Windsor Castle. It was really beautiful inside the chapel and I wish I could have taken pictures but again I have pictures of the outside :-). These pictures below are of St. George's Chapel.



After we were done touring the Castle we went down into the town of Windsor and walked around the streets and went into some of the shops. We also went into the town of Eaton, visited the shops, and went down to try to see if we could go into see Eaton College but unfortunately is was not open to the public at that time.
We met back at the coach at 4:30 pm. and headed back to Woking. Then we walked aroung Woking for an hour until our host families came to pick us up at 6pm.
When we got back to the host family house, we just talked and visited until dinner was ready. For dinner we had sausage, potatoes and vegetables and for dessert we had strawberries and whipped cream. It was actually really good!!! After dinner we watched a movie, talked for a while and then went to bed since we had to be up early to get to the coach by 9 am. Overall, it was a really fun weekend and I hope I get the chance to do something like this again in the future.
Bye for now...:-)

Week one is almost over....

It's hard to believe that my first week in London is almost over. They say that the time will go by fast and it kinda is but sometimes it doesn't; you know what I mean.....Thursday was the first day I actually didn't have to be ready to go by 9 a.m. I didn't have to be at City until 2 p.m. and that was the only required thing I had to do. It was really nice to sleep in. When I finally got up and around my room mates and I got ready and went to get some lunch. We ended up eating at a place called Tuk Tuk Thai Noodle Bar. I ordered Phad Thai with chicken and it tasted really good. The food was pretty inexpensive but I had to pay extra for the take out box(which is called a take-away box here). When lunch was over we had to practically run through the tube stations to make it to City. We were running late and it's about a 45 minute tube from Notting Hill to City. The home-stay briefing meeting ended up being really boring and hard to stay awake through. The teacher was talking about how we needed to go about writing our homestay paper and he was also giving us backround information about the "family." After that was finally over I headed back to Palace Court with my roomates. Amy and I decided that we wanted to spend the evening walking and reading in Hyde Park which is right up the road from our flat and Stephanie, my other room mate decided she wanted to go take pictures. We changed into warmer clothes and headed up the street to Hyde Park. It was the first time since I'd been here that I got to walk through Hyde Park during the day time. It was absolutely beautiful! There were people everywhere walking, reading, riding bikes, having picnics or just laying in the grass relaxing. We never did sit down to read at all but just walked all around the park and took tons of pictures. Some of the cool things we saw were the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain , The Albert Memorial , the Peter Pan statue and the Italian fountains. After walking around the park for a few hours we headed back towards Bayswater road which is the main road that Palace Court is off of. We were getting pretty hungry by that time so we decided to find a place to eat. We ended up going to this pub called the Black Lion which is right on Bayswater road. I ordered fish and chips and it was so good!! I ate almost all of the fish and gave the last part to Amy to finish. She had never tried fish and chips before and ended up loving it!!! After dinner we decided to do some shopping down Queensway which is another street off of Bayswater road. This is the road where most of the shops and grocery stores are located. Our plan was to get some food for breakfast in the morning but we ended up going into a ton of souvenier shops instead. Buy the time we made it down to the grocery store we wanted to go into it had already closed. We ended up having to go to a store that did not have a good selection of food and had to buy some granola bars that didn't taste that great the next morning. But we had a ton of fun in the souvenier stores and I bought several gifts for my family which I hope they will like :-). Well I better sign off for now since it's getting late. Homestay is tomorrow so I don't want to be tired. By for now.....:-)

Day 3....

It's still kinda hard to believe that I'm actually in London. Sometimes it doesn't seem real. I absolutely LOVE it though!!! Well day 3 was pretty much like day 2. We had to go to more orientation stuff at City but instead we talked about our home-stay and were able to sign up for some weekend trips that Arcadia had planned. For the home-stay we are all traveling to the city of Woking which is in Surrey. The person I am staying with is Erica and she is retired has children, a cat and her hobbies are gardening, reading and swimming. I really hope that she is nice. I also found out that there will be another student staying at the same house as me. Her name is Sara Sorrett and she lives in the Redcliff house. I think having another student staying in at the same home-stay place as me will make everything a lot more comfortable. The only thing that I'm not to happy about is the fact that we don't leave for our Home-stay until 5:30 p.m. on Friday and then we have to head back for London Sunday morning at 9 a.m. I really thought we were gonna be staying longer with the family. It's dissapointing that we will have to leave so soon.
Well like I said we were also able to sign up for some weekend trips. I was able to sign up for the weekend trip to Scotland which is October 9-11 and I signed up for the day trip to Bath which won't be until November 7. I also wanted to go to the day trip to Birmingham as well as go to see The Nutcracker at The Royal Opera House but both of those trips were full so I was put on the wait list. Hopefully a spot will open up so I can go.
After all that was done I went to my first class at the London College of Fashion. It was Europetan Fashion Marketing and started at 2 p.m. and went until 4:30. Me and two other girls headed over and made it in plenty of time. We found the classroom easily and sat in the back of the room. I really liked the class a lot as well as the teacher. We talked about what Marketing is in the fashion world, the differences and how to go about the marketing research. It was really interesting. I know I'm really going to enjoy the class and get a lot out of it. One thing that is different with the London College of Fashion is that they do not teach from text books and there are no tests throughout the semester. We are taught in a more hands-on method and get to go outside the classroom to learn things as well. Since there are no tests we are graded (or marked as it is called here) by a couple of group projects we do throughout the semester. I really like this way of learning more because we get to put into practice what we are learning right away and of course who wouldn't like not having to read text books and study for tests!! The first class went really well though and I look forward to the next one. Another thing I like about the fashion college is that my classes only meet once a week for a few hours each time. It really makes it nice because then I have most of my week free to go travel to others places and see other things.
After class we all headed back to our houses because there house meetings at 5 p.m. The meeting was really boring and totally pointless actually because we just went over a bunch of house rules again that we already talked about in a meeting that happend back on Monday. The meeting was over by 5:30 which left enough time for me to get ready for the play we were going to see at 7 p.m. at the National Theater. The play was called the Pitmen Painters which was set in 1934 and was about a group of miners who hired a professor to teach an evening art appreciation class and from there eventually the miners became great painters. I thought the play was actually really good. The actors/acting were fantastic and it was a good story line. The only was that I sometimes had a hard time understanding what they were saying because of their accent and I also had a hard time staying awake since I didn't get much sleep the night before. At intermission my two roomates and I went out to the concession stand and bought chocolate bars to try help us stay more awake for the second half. But all that aside, it was a great play and a really fun evening. After the play my roomate Amy and I headed back to the house while other people went walking around town. I really wanted to walk around town but it ended up getting really cold that night and I didn't have a jacket with me so I was freezing. I'll have to go walking around another night and from now on I'll always make sure I have a jacket with me.
Well it's getting late so I'll have to write more later. Bye for now....

London, Day 2

Well day two was much busier. We had to be up and ready to go by 9 a.m. this morning to go to our orientation at City University. Our graduate resident, Philip Godfry, was the one who went with us, showing us how to get there along the way. It took us about an hour to get over to City this morning because the tube was so crowded & also because the tube wasn't working quite right which caused it to stop a few times which slowed us down. Also it was really hot inside the tube and the tube station. There is no central air system so it got quite stuffy and warm. One thing that I noticed when you ride the tube in the morning was that no one talked at all. It was totally silent which felt kinda weird. Our graduate resident explained that no one really talks in the morning because they do not want to be going to work and because they are all tired from the previous weekend. I guess it makes sense but it was still sort an awkward silence. It was pretty easy to get over to City University though. We just took the Circle line from Notting Hill Gate to King's Cross St. Pancreas, transfered to the Northern line and got off one stop up at Angel. From Angel it is about a 10 minute walk over to City University.
When we finally got to City, I was surprised at how small and how old the campus looked. The classrooms were a lot smaller and older looking than I expected too. The rooms were also pretty hot and stuffy as well because they also do not have central air. I think that probably most of Europe doesn't have central air. It's definitely something to get used to though. Also another thing that is different over here is that there is no screens on any of the windows. I'm not really sure why it's like that either. Anyway....It is not big and beautiful like most college campuses in the U.S. There is only a little area outside behind the main building where students can go to sit, study, eat lunch or just do whatever & in the middle of it is a Gazebo. We asked one of the Arcadia staff why the college doesn't spend any money on fixing up the campus and they told us that they would rather spend the money on the actual education part rather than making the campus grounds and buildings look good.
The orientation finally got underway and we were all introduced to the Arcadia staff. Next they gave us more information about our programs as well as talked about adjusting to the culture and safety and security tips. When the first part ended we all took a lunch break and walked to some local sandwhich shops down the street. I ordered a salad but it wasn't very good. It tasted really blanned and plain. After lunch we headed back to City the Current Affairs Panel Session. Three members of parliment came in to meet and talk with us and answer any questions we had about the U.K.'s current affairs. It was really interesting to here what types of problems their government is facing as well as their views on our government, it's problems and our current president. I didn't agree with all of their views on certain things but overall it was very informative and really interesting. After the current affairs session was over the people taking classes at The London College of Fashion had to head over there for another orientation while the other students taking classes at City University went on a little tour of the area and then stopped at a cafe for tea scones.
Me and four other girls plus an Arcadia staff member headed over to fashion college and arrived about an hour early. It took us about 45 minutes to get there from City so we stopped at Cafe Nero for coffee and smoothies to kill time. The stop we got off at for the fashion college was Oxford Circus. The college is in a really nice area of town on John Princes Street. There are a lot of expensive shops on Oxford street and when we walked out onto the street from the tube it was extremely crowded with people! A lot of the shops were ones that I had never heard of before either but they look like they have some really cute stuff and I plan on going back to shop there later!!!
The orientation took about an hour during which time we all got signed up for the classes we wanted, were given class syllabuses, and were told about campus rules for study abroad students. I was able to get into all the classes I wanted which were: Fashion Speed Sketching, European Fashion Marketing and Fashion Buying and Range Planning. Two of the three classes I signed up for are in the building on John Princes Street. The fashion buying class is in the building on Davies Street which a little was up from John Princes Street but still in that really nice part of town. All of the other girls that were there from Arcadia were al really nice and a few of us have classes together. I am really looking forward to my classes and hope they will be fun!!
After the orientation was over, I took the tube back to my house for the first time by myself and it actually wasn't that hard. I was a little nervous at first but once I was on the tube I felt totally safe and comfortable. Another thing that made it easy was that I didn't have to transfer to another line in the process of getting home. All I had to do was get on at the Oxford Circus tube station and take that line all the way to Notting Hill Gate which is only 5 stops up the line. It was so easy and now that I've done by myself I feel totally confident!
Later that evening after I got back my roomates and I all decided to go out and explore the town! It was a fun evening! We went down to Piccadilly Circus and walked around for a bit. Piccadilly was a really neat place! There were huge t.v. screens in the middle and it made me think of New York City. There was also a big fountain and a cool statue of some horses there too. Piccadilly was also really crowded. Then met up with the students who live in the Redcliff house at a place called The Sports Cafe. Also right next to the Sports Cafe is Her Majesty's Theater which happens to be the place where my dad and I went and saw The Phantom of the Opera when we were in London 4 years ago. Anyway...It was a really crowded but really fun place! We stayed there for a little while and some of us girls went out and danced on the dance floor. We had so much fun!! Afterwards we all took the tube back to Redcliff house and on the way stopped at a Kebab place. We eventually got to Redcliff and just hung out there for a while and eventually decided to call a black cab for a ride back to Palace Court. We would have liked to have taken the tube but after midnight the tube is closed and doesn't open again till morning. The cab ended up being kind of expensive but at least we all got home safe. It was a long night but a fun one! I'll write more later. Bye for now....

My 1st Day in London...

It was such a great feeling to finally get off the plane and walk on solid ground! It still hadn't really hit me though that I was actually in London. It kinda felt like I should have landed at the Nashville airport to get ready to go back to school at Belmont. Once I got off the plane at terminal 4, it was quite a long walk to get to the customs area and the airport was really crowded. It was kind of confusing to figure out where to go because there was a lot of construction going on and everything was changed around. I eventually found the right line to stand in and had to wait about 25 minutes to get to the customs counter. I was hoping I would get a nice person to check my passport and visa but I ended up with a really grouchy lady. She asked me some questions about why I was there, if I was traveling alone and if I had my sponsor letter from Arcadia stating that I was actually doing what I said I was going to do. Well I didn't bring the letter with me because I wasn't told I would need to. When I told her this, she gave me a pretty grouchy stare and I thought for a moment that I wasn't going to get in but she didn't say anything and just let me through, thank goodness. One thing I found strange though was that when I went through customs was that they did not check my carry on bag. Maybe they don't do that anymore, I don't know, but I just thought it was weird.
By the time I got through customs and down to the baggage claim almost everyone else from my flight had picked up there bags and mine and a couple others were the only ones left. Thankfully the airport had trollys I could put my luggage on other wise there was no way I would have been able to wheel my bags through the airport because they were so heavy. I finally made it to terminal 3 and found the Arcadia group who was meeting me. There were also a lot of other students who had arrived as well and when we were all there we headed out to find out coach.
After our bags were loaded, we headed through the streets of London to our different flats. My flat is in the burough of Westminster, which is in the city of London and the nearest tube station is Nottinghill Gate. On our way to the flat, we passed through many different parts of London that I never saw before. Everything was so pretty and the architecture of the buildings was awesome. Everything was really old and really close together. The roads are all really narrow here compared to what we have in the U.S. and the cars are so close to each other on the road that if feels like your going to brush up against them while your driving. People drive like mad over here too. Everyone, especially taxi drivers are always weaving in and out of traffic and people are constantly honking there horns at each other. There were tons of people walking down the streets too. They were just everywhere. You could tell that some were coming or going to work or lunch and that some were just out running errands or shopping or something. Everyone walks everywhere over here because it's so much cheaper. It's really expensive to own a car over here so a lot of people don't have one.



Well we finally arrived at our flat and brought in our bags. It was not easy getting my luggage up the stairs. I had to drag each bag one by one up 4 flights to my room on the second floor. After dropping off my bags, I went with the my roomate and some other people in the flat to get some lunch and walk around. We ate a restaurant named ASK. The food was really good. Then we walked around and looked at all the shops nearby so that we knew what was in the area. Right down the road from my flat is at least 3 big grocery stores and tons of other shops. Also just down the road a bit and across the street my flat is Hyde Park which I plan to spend time in just reading, walking, or doing homework. It is really nice. Afterwards we all came back to our flat and most of us began unpacking our bags.
I was really surprised at how big our room actually was. Even though it is an older building, it has been fixed up pretty nice and is has all new bedroom furniture.

There is not much closet, or wardrobe as they call it, space to hang your stuff. Thankfully I have two drawers under my bed where I can store stuff otherwise I would not have had enough room. The beds are all twin size and we each have a desk. Our room also has its own sink and mirror which is really convenient for getting ready in the morning. At 4p.m. we all had to go our house meeting downstairs in the common room where Philip, our graduate resident that lives in the building and some other Arcadia staff went over house rules, safety and other stuff about our schedule. After that we went on a tour of the town with our graduate resident and bought sheets and towels. The only sheets that the store had in my bed size were an UGLY color brown. I ended up having to get them because that was all they had :( oh well......
After the tour with Philip, we just walked around town some more and ended up going into a local pub called The Champion which is right down the street from our flat. It is a pretty cool place and we plan to go back again. After leaving The Champion, we walked a little ways through Hyde Park. It was really pretty walking through it at night and I can't wait to go back during the day.

Well it's getting pretty late so I will write more later.
Bye for now....

Leaving for London...

I am finally in London & I am so excited!! Well today is actually the second day of my being here but I figured I should start back at the beginning....All last week I was busy getting ready to leave. I packed up a little bit of my things each day so that I would be ready to go by the end of the week. Well, finally on Saturday night everything was completely packed. I decided that I should close the suitcases & weigh them to make sure I wasn't over the limit. That's when problems set in. I tried and tried to close the bags but they were too full! So I asked my dad if he would go to the store to get me a bigger duffel bag. While he was gone, I decided to try to take out some of the stuff I probably wouldn't need. I ended unpacking everything! I took out about half of what was there and decided I didn't really need it and repacked the rest. This time everything fit perfect and I was able to close the duffel bags. On Sunday morning, I got up, had pancakes for breakfast and added last minute things to my bags that I had forgot to put in. I also stopped my mom's house for about an hour and a half to visit her and my brother before I left. I finally got back home, put some more last minute stuff in my bag and then my dad loaded everything in the truck. We got to the airport and walked right to the counter because of course there is never a line at Bishop Airport in Flint. Anyway, when I weighed my bags, I found out I was over the weight limit which was changed from 70 lbs. down to 50 lbs. So we ended up paying one hundred dollars total in overweight fees. Next time I'm gonna see if I can upgrade my ticket and then I will be able to avoid the fee altogether. With that done, I headed for security, said goodbye, and went to wait to board the plane for Detroit.
After getting off the tiny puddle jumper plane in Detroit, I headed toward the A concourse through the underground tunnel to find my gate. On the way, I stop and ate McDonalds and went to exchange my money for pounds; which by the way was terrible because I only got 184 pounds for my 344 dollars I exchanged. I found my gate A-28 and sat down to wait. There was quite a bit of people waiting to board and some were already standing in line. I only waited about 20 minutes and then I was able to board. It was a really big plane and each seat had its on t.v. I sat in the middle in row E-21 which was the last seat in the row & I was right by the isle which was nice because I had more room. I had to get someone to help me put my carry-on overhead though because it was too heavy for me to lift myself. The plane took off on time actually, and I started watching t.v. right away. They had a pretty good selection of shows and movies. A while later they brought us dinner. The choices were pasta or chicken and of course I chose pasta. It kinda tasted like the four cheese cannolis from Lean Cuisine. The meal also included a salad, bread roll, crackers & cheese, and a brownie. I ate pretty much all of it and kept on watching t.v. About three fourths of the way through the flight though, I started to feel really nauseated. I kept standing up and walking because that made me feel a little better but the feeling returned everytime I sat back down. Eventually, I started feeling better and was able to sleep for a few hours, but I couldn't wait to get off the plane. The flight attendants were really nice though and kept checking on me throughout the night to make sure I was feeling o.k. It felt like the longest flight ever and that it was never going to end but eventually it did and I woke up to watching the sun rise over London!

<span style="font-family: webdings;"><span style="font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I am finally in London & I am so excited!! Well today is actually the second day of my being here but I figured I should start back at the beginning....</span>All last week I was busy getting ready to leave. I packed up a little bit of my things each day so that I would be ready to go by the end of the week. Well, finally on Saturday night everything was completely packed. I decided that I should close the suitcases & weigh them to make sure I wasn't over the limit. That's when problems set in. I tried and tried to close the bags but they were too full! So I asked my dad if he would go to the store to get me a bigger duffel bag. While he was gone, I decided to try to take out some of the stuff I probably wouldn't need. I ended unpacking everything! I took out about half of what was there and decided I didn't really need it and repacked the rest. This time everything fit perfect and I was able to close the duffel bags. On Sunday morning, I got up, had pancakes for breakfast and added last minute things to my bags that I had forgot to put in. I also stopped my mom's house for about an hour and a half to visit her and my brother before I left. When I got back to my house around 2:20 pm, my dad was out power-washing our back deck. I thought it was kinda weird that he had decided to do that since we had to leave for the airport in 20 minutes. It kinda seemed to me that he was trying to do something to distract himself so that he wouldn't have to think about me leaving. Almost every time something was brought up during the past week about me leaving or if we were talking about the trip I noticed that he would get tears in his eyes and I knew he was going to miss me very much. It was hard to look at him in moments like that because I knew that I would start crying too. So I would just try to look away or walk out of the room and try not to think about the fact that I was leaving. Not that I wasn't excited about going but I knew that I was going to miss my family. </span>