First, a rant about domestic baggage fees! I had to take a United claustrophobic regional jet from Phoenix to Los Angeles. I had looked up the bag fees for my main flight on Air New Zealand to London and was expecting to pay about 80 dollars for my bags being overweight. However, United (note: they were airline of the great weather crisis in New York...so now I hate them even more!) said that they had to charge the fee's for the most restrictive carrier and they charged me $350!!
Anyways, besides that large amount of money spend on nothing (!) the flight and journey over was actually quite pleasant. On my long flight I had a empty seat next to me and was able to sleep a little bit. When I arrived (and went through customs- which took forever!) I was met by Jessica from Mountbatten who had a car service to take me to my new London flat! I was the only one they were picking up so we were able to leave right away. On the drive there I had my mini orientation where they basically handed me a giant envelope to read at a later time. We also drove near the river and I got to see Big Ben, the eye, and other amazing London landmarks.
My flat is very nice! Its huge...and having a actual living room, kitchen, sofas and cable makes a huge difference! I love the area of Islington...it's in the heart of the finical district with lots of restaurants and shops and walking distance from work.
Upon arriving I was dead tired but I managed to get through the entire day. We attended a mini orientation at the Mountbatten office and then I was able to start unpacking. I was planning on retiring early but I decided upon some persuasion from my other late arrival buddy (hi jackie!) to treck it out to Primark to buy pillows and other needed supplies. We also immersed ourselves in culture by eating a lovely meal at Britain's finest- Subway. All of my roomates were traveling for Easter weekend so I didn't get to meet them until Tuesday...I was very excited to meet them all but it was nice to have the weekend to get organized and get my room set up.
My large project was buying a nightstand and a desk for my room. We have a cheap warehouse store about a half a mile from the flat. It felt like a very short walk on the way there...however, when I was dragging a large desk in a box it felt VERY long. I started with the night stand...it was a smaller box and I managed to get it back okay. I didn't realize that so much assemble was involved though. I have seriously never assembled anything in my life. At the store they told me that it shouldn't require any skills to assemble but I found a couple things very true:
1) Good quality tools make a big different. When you buy a 20p plastic, cheap ass screwdriver from the minimart your hands get cut up and you can't actually get the screws in all the way.
2) British directions vary just enough from how American directions would to confuse the hell out of you.
3) Sarah is not a good handy-woman. However, with 3 hours I did manage to assemble my night-stand. Sure, the draw faces come off sometimes and I didn't actually manage to nail the back piece on...but it looks nice and its functional!
The desk was much heavier and harder to get home. My arms felt it on the way home and every British person gave me a funny look as I dragged a box about the size of me down the streets of London (20 feet at a time) But I made it! Then I took my crap screw driver and killed my arms for about an hour enough to get the screws in about half way...which by the way when the screws aren't in all the way the desk
wobbles...a lot. So I went down stairs to grab something from the minimart and the night watchman was down there...and I asked him if he had a screwdriver that I could borrow. He asked he is could help and in 2 mins had the screws in all the way and my desk perfect..wish I had saved myself an hour and just asked in the first place!
Well...after that I had a wonderful weekend meeting people and exploring the amazing city of London. We went out in the city and walked through all of the major attractions! Lovely day. We also had a lovely lunch in a pub and drank ciders (It took us quite a long time to find too). On Saturday I meet up with a friend who I studied abroad with and we went to Portobello Road market and ate lunch at Borough Market...we walked along the South Bank and went to Tate Modern.
Easter Sunday was a wonderful and relaxing day. Some of the girls in my building organized a Easter dinner and people made mashed potatoes, ham, carrot cake, and delicious salad! There were about 10 people who attended and we had wonderful food with wonderful company. We all toasted to the amazing experience that we were about to embark on and all the wonderful friends we were bound to meet!
I guess from getting I was chasing my big I'm In London! moment...but it never really came. I later realized that this was because London is a place that truly feels like home to me. I feel this great connection with my study abroad experience and the home I made for myself here. I am so excited to be back and have been given the opportunity that i have.
It's going to be an amazing journey...
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