Sunday, 10 January 2010

Arrival

Hi everyone!

First off, welcome to my blog. This is the first blog I've ever written, although I considered creating one to document the thrilling summer working as Dad's assistant. Anyway, this will probably get pretty detailed, so feel free to read, skim, or skip whatever. And let me know if anyone is interested whose email address I didn't include.

The trip began with a 6 AM flight on Wednesday morning. I spent all of Tuesday running around - setting up bank accounts, buying converters, etc. Toss in a heavy cold, and it was quite the fun experience. Sandwiched around packing, I also was cramming to finish working on the book revision for Mom. The 2 hour break to watch Extract (bizarre, by the way) with Dad probably didn't help with timing. My cab was scheduled to pick me up at 4:15 AM, and I finished packing/editing the book at exactly 4:19 after multiple calls from the cab driver asking where I was. I shoved off for the airport hoping for the best and that I hadn't forgotten anything too important.

My picturesque day of travel continued as I labored in the airport with 2 large duffel bags, my backpack, and a hiking/travelling extra-sized backpack (after having been up all night). I checked the two bags, and then (for the first time EVER) was asked to put the large bookbag in the mock-compartment to see if it would fit in the overhead. It didn't. I went back downstairs and was told I could check the third bag for a cool $150. Great. I went back to where I had dropped off my duffels, and asked for the smaller one back in the hopes that it would fit. The woman informed me that this wasn't allowed, but eventually she made an exception (with a kind warning that that bag probably wouldn't fit either). Luckily, I squeezed it in and eventually made it to my gate and onto Chicago, where I met up with Jillian.

The flight from O'Hare to Heathrow wasn't noteworthy, except for the baby sitting a few rows ahead of us who cried for literally 7 hours, the little boy who liked the run in the aisle next to me and stop to caress my arm (but only mine...?), and having the luxury of sitting in the middle row of seats.

We arrived in London about 30 minutes late around 11:15 PM, happy to finally be there. Ha. Immigration took three hours, the line for cabs took another 30 minutes, and we finally made it to the dorm (dark, empty, and locked) around 3:15 AM having dished out 80 pounds for the cab.
Welcome to London.

We had an emergency number for the off-duty warden, who begrudgingly came to the door and let us in and gave us our room keys. Because we arrived together, they put us in the same flat, but more on that later. Our beds were just that - beds with no linens, so the Snuggies Jillian's mom gave us before the trip were of more use than we had ever envisioned. We were told orientation information would be available in the rooms, but it wasn't, and UCL's website was (of course) down all night. Jillian vaguely remembered reading about an 8 AM start, so we set an alarm for 7, and settled in for a nice 3 hour nap.

We woke up a couple hours later, still clueless, and eventually went down to the Schafer House (where we lived) office around 8 AM. They gave us linens and an orientation schedule - it didn't start until 12:30, so we went back upstairs for a nap.

Orientation was about what we expected - a couple welcoming speakers before we headed over to the Psych department to meet our "tutor" (head of the program). The system for signing up for classes is not electronic, and the process is pretty terrible actually. Because I want to take two of my four classes outside of my "home" program of psychology, I had to go meet with the other programs' tutors to get info/permission. Easier said than done when the campus is pretty spread out and you have no idea where you are. The weather has also been unseasonably cold since we've been here - even with some snow. The British are completely incapable of dealing with the snow, as the tube and buses shut down, and people in generally are in a mild state of panic. I don't know how they managed to do it, but for the first 3-4 days the sidewalks were covered in a inch-thick sheet of ice. The newspapers have even gone as far as to say the weather has been "an Arctic cold front." Somehow 30 degrees doesn't really qualify in my mind. Needless to say, we've seen several people go tumbling; no falls for either of us except for Jillian (inside, though) who fell right on her butt walking down some stairs during the very beginning of orientation. Always graceful.

But my classes are more or less in order now - I'll be taking developmental psych, psychology and education, a Renaissance art history course that is mostly held at the British Museum of Art, and international security. Thursday and Friday were pretty much spent going to orientation and meeting with advisors.

Yesterday we were finally able to sleep in... without an alarm clock easily visible we actually slept a full 12 hours: 2-2. Waking up at two when it gets dark at four makes you feel a bit useless. But we are almost completely settled in now. Internet was a major pain - they have ethernet jacks in every room, but we had to go buy ethernet cables and wait until Friday to get the codes needed to log in. My MacBook Air also doesn't have an ethernet port, so we were going to walk to the Apple Store about 15 minutes away to get an ethernet-USB adapter, but instead, per Mom's advice, tried out a router instead. We returned the ethernet cords and got the router, which didn't work. So the next day, we headed out to the Apple Store (which was HUGE, and on Regent Street, a really active and lively street) to get the adapter. On the way back, we went to exchange (again), but this time in reverse - router for cords. But the store closed 10 minutes before we got there. Today, we finally made the exchange.

Other than that, things have gone pretty smoothly. We are in a great location, with restaurants and stores everywhere. We've found a couple really good grocery stores, and although restaurants are pricey, the stores are actually cheaper than in the U.S. (but with a smaller selection.) We've started cooking now, after early meals at Pret a Manger (really popular sandwich place) and a Thai restaurant (very good). Our kitchen is really nice, and we bought some cheap plates and silverware to use. The flat itself has a front door, which leads into a hallway. On one side are doorways leading to 5 single bedrooms, and on the other are two doors: one to a full bathroom with a shower, and another with a half batheroom. At the end of the hallway is a big kitchen with a fridge, table, stove, etc. The bedrooms are nice enough - dresser, big cabinet for hanging clothes, desk, sink (really nice to have), and a bed. All in all it is MUCH nicer than my room freshman year at Hill.

Our flatmates are very nice - it's four girls and me. Most flats appear to be co-ed. Two girls are from L.A.; one goes to Scripps and one to WashU. The 5th girl didn't show up for a few days, but finally arrived and is a British freshman who requested a room change between semesters. We haven't seen much of her but I'm sure she can help us out with any problems or questions.

Anyway, class starts tomorrow, but I only have class on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (some things don't change even in Europe, eh?).

This entry got pretty lengthy, but I knew some of your would enjoy a thorough background. More interesting posts to come in the future. Perhaps about campus or how classes differ over here.

I hope all is well back home. Time to get ready to watch some football. I'll be rooting for the Ravens to knock off the Pats, of course. Go Colts.

I figured I'd end every post with an interesting cultural difference. So to start, this quote from orientation that thoroughly confused me at first:



"You might not be able to speak to the tutors right away, as they usually have 2-3 surgeries per day as part of their jobs."

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