Finally Here!

After a long day of travel, a very long, long day of travel, I finally arrived in London at 6:45 AM (12:45AM US time) AM June 1st! My trip began with a very stressful 15 minute lay over in Chicago, but I fortunately made my international flight (barely) and then I was off! My dad somehow was able to score me first class seats, so having a seat that turned into a bed and a five course meal for dinner definitely helped rest my nerves! After arriving in London I was supposed to meet some friends at Heathrow airport, but I got confused on where to meet them and ended up missing them, so I was completely on my own to find my way from the airport to my apartment. Now lonely, frustrated and lost, I was on the verge of tears, when I spotted some good friends from KU! It was exactly what I needed! After riding the tube with them for about 20 minutes they got off at their stop and I continued to ride for another 20-30 minutes until it finally stopped at King’s Cross. I was finally here…sort of. I got off the tube found my way to the street and froze. It was the busiest street I had ever seen. Everyone seemed to be walking a thousand miles an minute and I was lugging 88 pounds of luggage around central London…great. I pulled out my map and started walking…in the wrong direction…twice. So finally I gave up and hailed a cab. He was very helpful and took me straight to my apartment, where I checked in successfully and met Erin and the boys. So moral of the story…if you ever get lost, just call a cab.

Nido (my apartment complex) is much more glamorous online then in reality. The lobby, café and floor kitchenettes are the only air conditioned areas in the building. Since it does not get too hot here, it shouldn’t normally cause a problem, but it was hot on June 1st. We unpacked, got some dinner and toilet paper at a local store, took a shower and went to bed.

Today we got up and made our way to Ciné Luminére near Hyde Park. We had a two hour presentation about London tips and our placement. After our presentation they gave us a scavenger hunt to complete with sights all around London! Our little group only got to the Kensington Garden and Hyde Park attractions…but it was totally worth spending some extra time there! We took so many pictures and were definitely well traveled by the end of the day. Everyone from EUSA met at a pub near Nido at the end of the hunt and had a pint!

A pretty eventful couple of days, but it only gets better. Tomorrow I have my interview with my supervisor at Baby Creative, so wish me luck!

Cheerio!