LONDON | LONDON | LONDON
January 18, 2003 - 3:18 pm
So, I've been in London, England now for 3.5 days. I haven't had that much time for internet usage, given the fact that I do not have internet access in my room. I have to go to the NYU campus in order to use it, and the lab closes at midnight. Anyways...
My experience in getting here was quite an adventure. Tuesday, January 14, my mom, my aunt Bonnie, and my grandma drove me down to the Kansas City airport. It was really sad leaving, more sad than I thought it would be. My mom started crying A LOT. It was really adorable. Then my grandma started crying. Tears, tears, tears. I finally got taken off. After an hour, the flight landed in St. Louis, Missouri, and then about 20 minutes later, after I transferred planes, I took off again towards New York City. I was so worried that there would be delays. My NY flight was supposed to land at 5, and my London flight was supposed to leave at 7:30 pm. So, I only had 2 and a half hours. Not much time for any mistakes. Luckily, the plane landed a little early in NY. I still had to get to a different terminal though. So, I hurried to get my bags, and caught a free shuttle to terminal 1. As soon as I entered the terminal, the flight information TVs had the word 'CANCELLED' flashing next to a few flights. I suddenly got a bad feeling. Yep, it was my flight, cancelled! So, I lugged my heavy bags over to the information desk and waited in line. The stupid people at Virgin Atlantic were so slow and rude. They all looked like they were about 12. I was getting really pissed off. Finally it was my turn. The earliest flight they could put me on was the 11:10 pm flight. They gave me a voucher to get something to eat within the airport. I went to get my bags checked in. They were so many weird people around me. I was already in a bad mood, so these people were making me even more mad. They smelled weird and they were just odd in general. Argh! When I got to the head of the line, the customs guy gave me a hard time. He accused me of not packing my bags myself. He was very suspicious of my prescription medicines. He even asked me, in a very rude tone, if 'Tonya Fleetwood' was my real name. I was SO unbelievably pissed off. I tried to keep my cool and not give the guy attitude though. I figured that would have made it a lot worse. Finally he let me go. There was a sign posted that said you needed to take all undeveloped film out of your checked bags, because the security machines would ruin it. I had SO much film too. I had to get it out really quickly because there was a long line behind me. In the process of digging through my bag to get it, I bent my middle fingernail all the way back. It hurt so bad, I thought I would cry. Luckily the lady at the desk was very nice. I got my bags checked in and then I went and called my mom. My finger hurt so bad. After I talked to mom for a little bit, I went to find a place to eat. I ended up at McDonalds. What I wanted was only a little over 2 dollars, but the voucher was for a lot more. The people at MickeyDs said that I wouldn't get any change back from the voucher, so I had better get a lot now. I really didn't want anything else, but they gave me more anyways. I didn't even order it, but they still 'gave' it to me.
After that I still had about 4 hours left (probably more than that), so I went to the bar. =) I sat down and started talking to the bartender. He wasn't particularly good looking, but he was someone to talk to. I ordered several drinks, enjoyed the English boys sitting next to me, and then went and called my mom again around 9. I was SOOOOO bored. After calling Mom, I decided to just go and wait in the gate area. It didn't take as long as I thought it would to get there, so I still had tons of waiting time. I read a little bit, and then the stupid flight got delayed, and then delayed AGAIN! Gawd, I was mad. I called my mom again to complain. Coincidentally there was another bar right next to my gate. So, of course, I went and had a beer. I had nothing else to do. Finally at about 12:30, I got to board. The plane was extremely nice. They gave you tons of stuff. Each seat had their own television too. I'd never flown on a plane with TVs before. I ended up sitting next to the English boys I'd been sitting with at the first bar earlier. They turned out to be rather immature though, so I was slightly disappointed and annoyed. The meal was amazing too. There was SO much food. You had three choices to chose from. I had the chicken with barbecue sauce, even though it didn't really taste like BBQ sauce. Then I tried to sleep, but couldn't. I watched a movie, and then another movie. Finally, we were in London at 11:30 am (London time of course).
After deboarding the plane, I had to go through the passport place for a stamp. The guy gave me the wrong stamp, but it doesn't matter too much. I went and got my bags, and then barely made the NYU shuttle. My residence was the last stop.
I was almost the last person to arrive at the Bedford Place Residence. Apparently, my building is the nicest one of all other NYU in London housing. I must agree, it is INCREDIBLE. There is only 26 residents in the whole building, so we are all really close. Each floor is one apartment. There isn't an elevator though, which shouldn't be a problem since I live on the third floor (2nd floor by British standards, but I don't want to confuse anyone). It was hard getting my bags up the stairs though. There is two bathrooms in my flat. One bathroom has a shower, the other one has a tub (both have toilets and sinks). This building is brand new; this is the first year NYU has used it. Everything is SO clean and new, it's so wonderful. All of our dressers and beds and furniture and kitchen stuff is BRAND new. We have a HUGE common room. It's so spacious, even though we have a full (new) kitchen, a full size fluffy couch and matching loveseat, a full dining table set, and a television. Have I mentioned how nice my flat (apartment) is? I am so happy.
My roommates are awesome too. My room is a triple, and then we have two other suitemates. My roommates are Lisa and Sara. The suitemates are Joanne and Tanya (yes, it's pronounced the same as my name). My roommates and I have been hanging out like everyday. They really are great. I thought it would take some time to meet people and make friends, but I was so wrong. I am friends with pretty much everyone in my building. It's really nice to not feel alone.
I'm still getting used to the money difference. I can't quite figure it out yet, because it constantly changes, but I'm sure I'll eventually get the hang of it. I bought a phone card so I could call my mom. The phone card I bought is extremely reasonable. It only costs about 5 pence a minute to call the United States. I've been calling home everyday so far. Calling home is definitely going to be a priority to me. I couldn't imagine not talking to my family anyways. It just isn't an option for me.
So far, I've been going out every night. This Asian girl I met, Katheryn, and I hit it off really well. The other day, after we went grocery shopping, she asked me if I wanted to go to a bar that night. How could alcoholic-me turn her down? =) We went to a pub called The Bloomsbury. All the pubs here close at 11 pm, so the bartender told us of a place to go that was close by. It was a club called AKA. It was extremely trendy and posh, definitely out of my element. The drinks were very expensive too, so I stuck with something I was familiar with rather than experiment and risk wasting money. Katheryn and I sat down on one of the many couches and drank our beers. Several guys started talking to us. We ended up leaving while they went to the bathroom. They weren't weird or anything, it was just easier that way. It was a lot of fun.
Last night the fire alarm went off in the whole building. It was an accident, but the whole building (all 26 of us) piled outside. We aren't supposed to do that, because a Duke and Duchess live across the street from us, and they like to complain if they see anything that resembles college-esque. We called our RA (we only have one), she was at the computer lab on campus. She came, and handled the situation. We all decided it would be fun to go to a pub together and get to know each other a little better. It was beyond fun. Such a bonding experience. It's so great that everyone likes to go out to pubs and drink and just have normal fun. I really think I'm going to enjoy myself here. We told each other our classes, and I have so many classes with these people. It's really great. Oh, and speaking of classes. My Shakespeare class teacher met with us yesterday, and informed us that we are already going to Stratford next Saturday to see a play. I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited. Stratford was pretty much the indirect #1 reason that I came to London. (Stratford is Shakespeare's hometown and burial place)
There's so much more to tell, like my experiences with the English food, the £, the people, et cetera. I'll have to write about that later. My fingers are starting to cramp up from typing so much already. Plus, the keyboard here is slightly different than the keyboards back in the United States.
So, I shall taulk to you all latah! (I'm working on my English accent)
