Surviving the first week in London!!

     I can't believe I'm finally here in London!! After a year of planning, its so strange to be sitting in my flat in London!! Its been a crazy five days since we arrived Monday morning.  Sunday was a day of traveling, and my first flight left Omaha at 6am, went to Chicago, then DC, then New York.  My flight from JFK left at 730pm so luckily I had plenty of time to figure out that airport because it was massive and very confusing.  Nothing like our humble Eppley... An overnight flight later we're in London around 8am.  We were taken to our place of orientation at the St. Giles Hotel off Tottenham Court Road. (Harry Potter 7, anyone?!)  After getting a cell phone and some lunch from the grocery store Sainsbury's, I took a nap at noon, intending to sleep until 2. Four hours later, I woke up for dinner at a local pub with all the fellow IFSA-Butler travelers.  After a traditional English meal of shepherd's pie and a dessert of spotted dick, a few of us went to a pub near the hotel called The Rising Sun.  Honestly, we were all too tired to really appreciate it, but it was pretty cool to see how old some of their bars really are.

     Tuesday was all orientation with IFSA-Butler where they proceeded to scare us into safety and studying so as not to be mugged or fail classes. Useful tips, I guess. That night we took a tour around Convent Garden and Camden Market area. We walked through Trafalgar Square, saw where the Harry Potter premiere was, where they filmed Gringotts bank in the first Harry Potter (is there a theme here?), and major points of the West End district.  We went to see the play The Woman in Black, which personally, I've never been to a thriller/suspense/horror play, so imagine my surprise when I'm jumping out of my skin throughout the performance.  Very unexpected, but very good! We walked the 30 minute back to the hotel for bed.

      Wednesday was our first meeting for Queen Mary, which was short and equally frightening in terms of what is expected of us class-wise.  We don't get credit for showing up to class or even participating, like in the States. Instead, its based purely on academics - one or two grades throughout the semester and maybe a final exam or a big paper.  After that we had a free afternoon, so several of us walked to the British Museum, which was only a few blocks from our hotel.  Its free to the public, except major exhibits, and they have an amazing collection of ancient artifacts from Egypt, Greece, and the Romans. It was brilliant.  They also have a great Asia exhibit that has a small tea room on display as well as their famous tapestries. Unfortunately, it cost money to see the Egyptian Book of the Dead exhibit, so we missed that one. I hope to make it back sometime this semester if I watch my bank account!!  From the British Museum, we walked about a mile or so through the city to get to the London Eye, which essentially is a huge ferris wheel that takes you 135 meters above the city. You can see for miles around London and the surrounding areas.  We managed to navigate the tube (or underground) to get home, rather than walk, which was a very interesting experience. We ate dinner at this charming little French restaurant called Cafe Rouge, which made me want to speak French/go to France. It was a perfect little place to eat.

     Thursday was a very exciting day because we got to move into our flats or dorms at Queen Mary.  One flat holds 8 or 9 rooms along a long hallway and then all the flatmates share a kitchen. The view from mine isn't very picturesque but I do get to see light rail trains pass every ten to fifteen minutes which is pretty cool. We get our own bathrooms and a fridge, which is nice.  There are two other American students that I know of living in my flat, and the other students have yet to return.  Term starts Monday, so they should be arriving in the next day or so.  Today was a maze of trying to figure out scheduling and classes. It is a very confusing process but I proved successful!! I'll be taking two history and two political science classes, so it is a good mix of subjects.

     This afternoon has been particularly exciting because we have been without internet since we arrived. You had to pay for internet at the hotel and at the school, you need a user ID and code, which we got today. Even then, I need an ethernet cable to get internet in my dorm.  I guess I always took 24/7 wifi for granted!! Luckily McDonald's is pretty classy over here and they have free Wifi, along with small coffee shops!
 This weekend I am meeting up with a fellow Rockhurst student who will be in London and we will do some exploring!!  Sunday the school is hosting a bus tour for the international students, along with a Thames River boat cruise on Monday.  That will let us see the sights and get to know fellow students!!

    Bravo and thank you if you made it through that long monologue of my life for the past few days!!  Hopefully I will update soon with some more exciting stories from the weekend! Until then, here are a few pictures of my dorm and some places I've been to thus far (more will be posted on Facebook throughout the semester so check there if you want to see all of them! :)

I'm in front of the Parliament and Big Ben which is across the River Thames.

The London Eye which is situated on the banks of the River Thames.  The capsules take 30 minutes to make a full rotation along the wheel!

My dorm room...this is pretty good living for the middle of London, which can be comparable in pricing to Manhattan in New York City.  Next to my closet in the back is a door to my own bathroom, which is an adventure all on its own!

     Okay!! I'm all out and my fingers are getting numb! Its freakishly cold in these dorms!!! Last night I wore a long-sleeved thermal, a long-sleeved t-shirt, a sweatshirt then long-john type pants covered by pajama pants to bed and I was still freezing!!! I thought I knew cold but it just gets right to your core and you won't know you're cold until you start shivering uncontrollably!

...Now I'm really done!! :) 

Megan