Huh, I'm in England. Never thought I'd be able to say that. I've actually been here for over two weeks, but just recently decided to/found the motivation to make a blog. I kept wanting to design the blog in Dreamweaver, but then I realized I had no way to really host the thing, so there went that...
It's been an exciting two weeks here in Canterbury. This whole trip has been exciting, really. It all started off with my very first plane ride. Ever. That's right folks, I had never flown before, and I chose the almost 4000 mile journey to England as my first trek through the air. Going through security at O'Hare Airport in Chicago was terrifying. I had nothing to hide, of course, but I was still nervous that I had packed something I shouldn't have, put too many liquids in my bag, etc. I actually had to take two pairs of shoes out of my suitcase in order to meet the weight requirement. Oh well, just made those my personal item for the plane ride!
We had gotten to the airport quite early. The person from our school who was coordinating everything wanted to make sure we were ready and had all our questions answered before we left. No biggie, just meant sitting in the terminal for an hour or two. Once I was through security, most of my nerves went away. I was texting my girlfriend as much as I could, since I wouldn't be able to talk to her as easily once I left. I even bought a coffee and ate some skittles that my girlfriend had given me (that's true love right there), which helped keep me calm. I didn't start to feel nervous again until we were on the plane and taking off.
Turbulence? No idea what it felt like. I was scared. The realization that I was about to be in a metal tube 30,000 feet in the air was terrifying. I had my friends sitting around me though, so I knew it wouldn't be too bad. The takeoff was quite smooth. I felt a little dizzy whenever the plane was turning, but nowhere near as bad as I thought I would be.
And so began my eight hour flight over the ocean. I had my headphones in for most of the trip, but I couldn't fall asleep. It probably didn't help that I had a kid behind me who insisted on slamming the tray against the back of the seat the entire ride. Curse you, french child, curse you. The ride went by slowly. The occasional episode of Through the Wormhole helped pass time. Thanks, Morgan Freeman.
I was beginning to think the trip would never end, but as we began our descent through the clouds, into the wide morning sky over London, my hope was restored. We landed with the biggest smile on my face. I did it, I was in England! I also hadn't slept for almost twenty-four hours. But whatever, a problem for later. They told us it would probably take us an hour or so to get through the airport once we landed. They lied. We got in line for customs, and then proceeded to slowly move up through the students line over the course of almost three hours. When we finally got near the front of the line, we noticed the rest of the giant room was empty. All the other lines had been cleared out ages ago. On that cue, they opened up our line and let more of the customs officers deal with us.
When my turn finally came, I was asked two questions before being accepted into the country. Wow, three hours for that? Could have at least given me a little sass, made the wait understandable... Oh well, I was through! But wait! I hadn't gotten my suitcase yet.
We moved on as a group, finding our way to the baggage claim of Heathrow. The place was almost empty. There were scattered groupings of suitcases no one had claimed. A few of our group found their belongings easily enough. Others, myself included, had to search through the entire baggage claim area before finding them shoved in a corner, on the opposite end of the room form where they were dropped off.
Heart attack over, we made our way to where our cab driver was supposed to meet us. We quickly found the very, very patient driver and began our journey to Canterbury Christ Church University. At long last. The drive was about two hours long. Some of us fell asleep. I wasn't able to. I kept seeing the rolling green hills, continuing off into the morning fog. I was amazed, astounded, absolutely astonished.
We were being driven to our accommodation, where we'd be staying for the length of our trip. We finally reached Parham Road, only to be greeted by the super chipper, not sleep deprived student staff form the university. We all moaned and groaned as we saw them standing there with their stupid, spiteful smiles. We quickly got our things unloaded, got the keys to our flat, and began to move in.
The flat was small, but it fit our uses. I would have loved to get some sleep, but it was only early afternoon. The worst thing I could do was sleep and screw up my sleep cycle on the first day. And so we stayed up. Our group ended up going to the ASDA down the road, a Walmart store, for a few groceries to help us get through our first couple days. Later on, we went to the Student Union, the campus pub. It was nice, but when part of the group took he shuttle back to Parham, I was quick to join them. I had been up for almost two days straight, last thing I needed was a late night out.
I got back to the flat and finally got some sleep. I'll end this post here, rather than ramble on about the rest of my week. I'll save that for another post. Hope you enjoyed the read, cheers!
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