Getting to London

I am at the end of my second day abroad – though only my first in England. Right now, as I’m typing this, the time for you in the States in around 2PM but for me it’s about 7PM. Still too early to go to sleep if I want to be synked into London time but it’s very tempting to just stop typing and go to bed since this is the second attempt at typing this note. I am soooooo exhausted, though, so if you notice any grammar mistakes or spelling mistakes ignore them. Be picky tomorrow.

I guess I’ll start from the beginning: I left Pendleton with Mom yesterday leaving Dad to sleep off his back spasm from the day before. It was sad to leave him alone in the house, especially since it was Mom and Dad’s 33rd Anniversary. * HAPPY ANNIVERSAY, MOM AND DAD!* On the drive to the airport I finished the book White Teeth by Zadie Smith. It’s about multiculturalism in England, though that’s just the basic theme. It’s much more wonderful than that and I recommend it to anyone who likes to look deeper into a society’s culture. It’s beautifully written.

Anyway, once at the airport I didn’t want Mom to go. I was suddenly very sad to see her go, especially after she gave my lemur BJ a hug so every time I hugged him it would be like hugging Mom. If I wasn’t weepy then the hugging the lemur would have done it! Mom followed me through the line on the other side of the line tape as far as she could before we had to give each other one final hug and say goodbye. I was now on my own. I wasn’t worried about Charlotte to be honest. I had been through it twice on my own. It was Munich I was worried about – it was the unknown in the middle of my voyage to Heathrow. The flight itself was made easier by the fact that I am flying business class the whole time thanks to Mom’s frequent flyer miles. When you use those and you’re getting your tickets last minute, business ends up being your only option; however, because of this I got access to the US Airways/Lufthansa Lounge where I got a complimentary vodka tonic and Sun Chips. It was a good start to a long day.

Once it was close to boarding time, I made my way to the gate and got on my Lufthansa flight. If you ever get a chance to fly Lufthansa, do it. Very friendly people and no nothing’s wrong with them – they’re German! *Don’t mean that to be offensive. Some people will get that joke and some won’t. Two words: Faulty Towers.* Business class was an exciting and awkward experience. I had never had a seat on a plane that became a bed or gave you enough room to make you think for even a fraction of a second when you’re waking that you might even be in a bed. Business class seats on the other hand are another thing altogether. They not only become bed-like but they are wider to allow tossing and turning or to allow - those of us who find regular seats uncomfortable – more room in general. Getting to the point where my seat became bed-like took about an hour, though. There was even a button with a picture of the seat as a bed. All I had to do was push and not let up until it was just like the picture but the seat goes through a few other positions first and makes a lot of noise before settling on the one you want. It was slightly embarrassing really but I got through it. Poor me, right? Maybe not.

I slept for a little while but the turbulence was pretty bad. At no point was I worried about the plane breaking into two pieces and falling into the ocean near an island no one knew existed but I was annoyed that I wasn’t able to get a good night’s sleep. Because of this my two days have just felt like one long day which is why I’m so tired right now. But hey! It’s 7Pm here. In a few more hours I can go to bed!

So back to the flight. Dinner was served. I had a salad, chicken with risotto and for dessert I had fresh fruit. During dinner I listened to a PotterCast episode and after dinner I watched the movie 17 Again. I had quite a few choices but I settled on something I wouldn’t have to think about too much. It was a good movie. Not the best thing ever but descent. After that I tried to sleep but like I said, it took a while before I could figure my chair out and even then I only slept about three hours and not all at once. It’s amazing the noises that come from a section of sleeping travelers. People have very different ways of snoring. Once it was about 6AM Germany time we had breakfast. I don’t actually remember what I had and I didn’t think to take pictures – sorry, Dad. It was good, though. When we landed in Munich I went to the Business class lounge and tried to use the internet but they wanted me to pay for it so I went and found my gate. The flight from Munich to Heathrow was more like a regular flight whether you’re in Business or not.

Now came the real challenge. The ISA bus was to leave Terminal 3 at 11AM. My flight got in at 10:20AM, which didn’t leave me a lot of time to get from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3. Luckily, I’ve been working out for the last month and I had on my sneakers. I burst out of the airplane as fast as the other passengers would allow which wasn’t really fast at all because some people have never heard of the rule where the slow people get to one side to let others pass and that it’s rude to suddenly stop in the middle of the walkway without signaling to other people about what they’re doing… *deep breath* But I remained vigilant in my ultimate quest for Terminal 3. At customs no one was in line and only two counters were open. I breezed through with no problem; however, at baggage claim it seemed as if I would be thrwarted! It was 10:41AM before our baggage started to come out – we landed at 10:10AM, a whole 10 minutes early! I didn’t have my baggage in hand until 10 minutes to 11AM! How was I going to make it to Terminal 3? “You walk,” was the answer I got from a helpful yet surly Underground worker. Luckily, the signs were easy to follow but they didn’t tell me how much longer my quest would last. I didn’t have a watch on and my phone had yet to switch over from SC time and there was no way, even if it had, that I was going to stop to check. No matter what the time there was no way my short legs were going to walk any faster. I had a book bag on my back and I was lugging a large rolling suitcase with another bag perched on top. A few times the other bag slipped from where it rested and I had to stop to readjust it, all the while cursing under my breathe. * Saying “Frak,” of course. * When I left home I had looked very nice in my jeans and green shirt but now I was all sweaty and tired and almost running to Terminal 3 almost 12 hours later. This was not the time to have taken a picture to commemorate the trip, that’s for sure! Finally, up ahead I saw two signs. One read, “Terminal 3 Stairs” and the other, “Terminal 3 Ramp.” When I got the point where my path split between the easy way – the ramp – and the “you’re gonna look like an idiot carrying your luggage up those stairs” – the stairs – I had to make the ultimate decision. I could see three women with signs that read ISA at the top of the stairs. I was running out of time. What do I do? Take the easy road or make life harder with the stairs?

Of course, I took the stairs because as we all know making life harder for myself is what I do best. As I crested over the last stair the three women look at me and smile and – I’m pretty sure – laughed. “We were hope you would make it!” Maria, the RD, said. I had been in correspondence over emails with her about when exactly the bus was leaving. *No, she is not from Argentina but Bulgaria.* I had made it! And I only had minutes to spare. I was able to use the ATM, grab a Coke Zero, and join the other ISA students – some had been waiting since 7AM England time – and wait… for the bus… which didn’t come for almost another hour. Bitter? Me? Why would I be? Oh, you mean just because I had sprinted with all my luggage about a mile from the plane to Terminal 3 in order to be on time for a bus that I thought was leaving at 11AM but actually left closer to 12PM? Oh that… well, yes. Yes, I was bitter but I was in England and I had done it on my own.

The rest of the day was not so adventurous. Once we got Wigram House we dumped off our luggage – the rooms wouldn’t be ready until 2PM – and walked all the way to the London Eye which is closer than my maps showed me. I am right in the middle of everything! After our little walk, we ate dinner at The Old Monk, a bar near Wigram. I had Sausage and Mash which was wonderful and a cider – Harvest. Afterward, a bunch of us got breakfast things for the next few days and then headed back to Wigram to write this very long blog about how my first two days abroad. So far so good.

I now have about 15 minutes before it is 8PM which is as good a time as any to go to sleep if you ask me.