Claire and I arrived at the airport and went over to the SkyCap just to find out that our first flight would probably be canceled. My first thought was that I thought it would take longer than 30 seconds to run into our first travel problem. Anyways, after a very long line we had our itinerary switched up a bit but into one that made a little more sense to me anyways (SLC to Chicago to Boston instead of SLC to LA to Boston). Claire calmed down about missing the canceled flight once we got rerouted :)
Once we got into the terminals we saw a few people from our program and all got to congregate. I am quite pleased to report that I really rather do like the people in my program. Claire and I had the same itinerary as Robert from our group and we all got to head off together.
*Dull travel stuff* People in Chicago dress rediculously well; aren't heels on a plane dangerous anyways? *Dull travel stuff* People talk funny in Boston. *Dull travel stuff* And Claire is about 30 seconds better at me in Bananagrams.
So then we got to London! (It was about 10 their time when we arrived)
We smelled and after a total of about 11 hours in the air all we wanted was to get to the college. I slept about six hours total on the airplanes, Claire didn't really sleep at all. Everything went fine at customs and soon we were entering the trainstation. We bought our tickets but not without incident. While at the ATM withdrawing money I was given the option of EUR or GBP, not knowing what a GBP was and not having slept much and thinking 'oh well I'm in EURope' yes I did withdraw a hundred Euros on accident. Turns out GBP is Great Britain Pound :P Oh well, could have been worse. So I have a hundred of those sitting in my suitcase but Robert offered to buy them for his trip to Ireland once we figure out the exchange rate so no harm, no foul, though everyone keeps checking with me which kind of currency we're using (jerks).
First the trainstation and then the tube. It went just fine, no wrong turns. Here they have two little doors that open to the tube, rather than turnstiles, when you insert a ticket and other than the doors closing on my rolling suitcase and the ensuing wrestling match the trip to Baker Street was uneventful.
Our tube stop is the Baker Street of 221B notoriety. We managed to get to Regents Park where our college is located perfectly fine it was navigating the stupid park that turned out to be a problem. Around the park is a circular road which enters into the park about every 500 feet. Inside the park is a road with a stream on its inside. There used to be two bridges to get over that but luckily for us the one we had been instructed to take was closed for maitenace. After that there's a gate around the college and there was only accessible entry for us without our swipe cards (waiting inside). Now it was only a park and we always knew where we were but it probably took us 45 minutes longer than if we had known the way and we got to shlep our luggage with us the whole way. My hands are still a little red but no more shleping for 5 weeks.
We unpacked (Claire and I are roomies, yay!), showered, and I even got a little jog in (I swore to myself I would on that six hour plane ride). Then Claire, Robert, and I got to get our first go of fish and chips.
A piece of traveling advice: never allow them to bring you mashed peas. It's like baby food. Although, it is fun to watch everyone take their first bite and make a face. All in all, fish and chips are terribly greasy and decently delicious but not my favorite.
We had a brief orrientation which has mostly succeeded in blending together the few areas of the college that I can navigate with the hundred that I can't. There are a lot of hallways and staircases and floors in this not altogether large building but I made it back to the computer room this afternoon without a terrible amount of trouble.
So now we get to the Diamond Jubilee Celebration.
After one tube and two trains we made it to Windsor. I got to see my first castle!! We had some good gelato and we severely overdressed for the pageant.
In honor of Queen Elizabeth II's 60th year on the throne (which only the first Queen Elizabeth had reached previously) they threw a pageant on the grounds of Windsor Castle. More of a horse show really (eat your heart out Mary :P) A LOT of horses. The program consisted of a few British celebrities narrating the Queen's visits to many countries around the world and then each country gave a demonstration of some of their talent. The New Zealanders did the Huka, the US sent rodeoers catching bulls running through the arena, Pakistan has a sport called pole tenting (I think) where riding a horse at full tilt they catch a card of paper on the end of their spears. We saw Inuits dancing, Native Americans singing, Africans doing both; it was a very cool cultural experience. Of course the French had a single guy making a few white horses do some pretty tricks to same really awful music (to which there was a general girly sigh) though Russia definitely took the cake with their horse tricks. Basically everything that Legolas did in LoTR on a horse I saw done last night without CG. I also saw a man holding a flag standing on the shoulders of two men standing on the backs of three horses that ran across the arena. Very cool stuff. We saw all the Queen's race horses and carriages which was...fascinating...and finally the cold forced us to leave. Although, I did get to hear as we were walking away an arena go "long live the Queen." For me it was an intriguing commentary on the continued presence of royalty and display of needless extravagance. It just makes you wonder, if the superfluous Queen of this country decided to use her vast fortune to combat the death of African children to starvation what could she do to change it? Instead she uses it to breed million dollar race horses that we all paid 80 pounds to see paraded around. Interesting thoughts.
Claire and I were working on not having a full night's sleep since Wednesday night and were pretty dead. Aspen could tell because we stopped talking. The funny thing is as we were taking the train home even more people were taking the train in. It was midnight but people were still showing up in eight inch stilettos to hit the bars and parties. London's nightlife is amazing. The public transportation system is as crowded at midnight as during the day. Everyone else was much more awake than us though. I was starting to nod off and I'd been feeling unsteady on my feet for a few hours.
We got back to school and got ready for bed. Claire and I started gabbing again as we were getting ready for bed. It occurs to me that I've never had a room mate before (ever) and I'm curious how that's all going to work out. We'll probably have to start going to bed an hour early to get the gabbing out of the way. Sleep may have been the best part of the day. We slept for eight and a half or nine hours and woke up with smiles. Well that's all for day one. I'll update later. Be well :)
No comments:
Post a Comment