Hello friends who like me enough to read this blog! As you may have been able to tell from the title, I have indeed gone to London to study abroad for the fall semester (with my one of my very best friends, Lizzie Spence). I've been here for about two days, but I feel like enough has already happened to keep me busy for a week. I'll spare you the gory details and just give you the spark note version of the past 48 hours or so:

Phase 1: The Journey

Lizzie and I at the airport before our flight.

The only reason I look even remotely happy in this picture is because it was taken before any traveling had started. For those of you who know me well, this won't come as a surprise, but I am horrendously uncoordinated. This makes me an awful traveler. I spent basically the whole time in both the Houston and London airports juggling my three bags, plane ticket, passport, and phone--actually, juggling implies that these items remained in the air (they actually spent most of their time on the floor). I made the mistake of looking forward to the flight, because it meant that I didn't have to trip over myself through the airport. However, once I sat down in the center seat in the heart of the coach section, I quickly changed my mind. My knees started to hurt after an half hour of sitting down, I wasn't comfortable for more that ten minutes at a time, and time moved at a glacial place. We landed after what felt like an eternity, and surprisingly baggage claim and customs took about 5 minutes each. It seemed like a good omen, and I thought my bad luck might have been reset by a new country. But then we spent an hour and a half in the cab towards our flat and I was put back in my place. 

Phase 2: The First Day

Lizzie and I were dumbstruck when we finally got through student residences and into our flat. It's massive! It is actually the biggest room I've ever had. The pictures don't do it justice, but I am not about to take a new one in the messy state that it is currently in. Living here really makes it feel like we are living the quintessential study abroad dream. 

Our stoop at 119 Gower Street

Lizzie's (much cleaner) side

We dropped our bags off and left to explore the city so that we wouldn't fall asleep and succumb to jet lag. It wasn't too cold when we left, so we made the amateur mistake of leaving our coats in the flat. We quickly regretted this decision when it started to rain 20 minutes later. Nonetheless, we shopped around, ate, rode the tube, met one of Lizzie's friends in Notting Hill for dinner, and after what felt like a year, finally were able to sleep. 

Phase 2: Settling In 

The next couple of days have been spent settling into our flat, running errands, and attending our respective department orientation meetings (Lizzie is studying Anthropology here, and I am studying Political Science). It was surprisingly sunny the second day, so we took advantage of the nice weather and went to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. The architecture was beautiful, and being near these landmarks was when it really sank in that I am actually living in London. 

(Side Note: I am stealing a lot of these pictures from Lizzie, who is also keeping a blog, which you can find at http://lizziespence.blogspot.com)

There is a lot more that's happened the past three days I've been here (check out Lizzie's blog for details), but I am late for dinner and everything has pretty much blended together anyways. I promise I will be more punctual about posting from now on so that my posts are a bit more detailed. Until next time!