The Story Begins

The Study Abroad Office can never tell you everything. That is what I've learned this week.


First things first. Here's the promised pictures of my flat - well, my room at least.

First example of "not telling you everything" - the shower. That is it, on the left. The drain is the middle of the bathroom floor, there's a curtain. That's it. Very small little space to take a shower - which, to this shower lover, is unfortunate. I will survive though.

The ordeal of getting a cell phone (a "mobile" as they call it here) is another thing that no one really explained. After deciding to go with Orange, I made the walk to the nearest store to get a phone and pay-as-you-go plan (12p per minute, 12p per text).  I quickly learned that "walk" was an inaccurate term and that "hike" was much closer. After 45 minutes and a couple miles, I finally made it to the shopping area at Canary Wharf, the financial district of East London.

And got a mobile. Hallelujah.

In other news...


It is Welcome Week at QMUL - a time that could be renamed "Freshers Party While International Students Are Frantic Week."


I guess I had forgotten what it is like to be an incoming college freshman: away from home for the first time, you stay up later and reach a level of loudness that only other freshmen can tolerate. In Britain, this also includes more alcohol than an old lady like me can fathom, cigarettes (and pot), and complete disregard for said old lady flatmate who is suffering from jet-lag. The amount of alcohol these Brits consume is astonishing and it boggles my mind how different my first experiences at university are from theirs. I'm sure the party-go-lucky attitude will slowly expire as classes start... I hope.


Now, the frantic part. I've had a number of induction meetings for the study abroad programme, the English department, and the History department. Information from these meetings has been helpful, but overwhelming and has failed to calm the little nerves I have for classes next week. We shall see. The approach the departments have to things like timetables and reading lists puts a lot more responsibility on the students to do their own research, check Blackboard (like Ashland's Angel) and email to search for vitally important information, and just wait until class starts to find out what you actually need for class. For one who normally gets their books on amazon or half.com weeks before the semester starts, this is all quite frightening. The wait is almost over though. The clouds shall part and classes start....


It has been comforting to find that other Americans have been having the same issues as myself since our arrival. I've met a few that are quickly becoming friends and we've begun our traveling with a visit to the West End today. We took a tour of Buckingham Palace's State Rooms and Garden, which is fantastic if you ever get the chance (About 16GBP, book online the day before). It is quite stunning inside, as expected, and I shall be very happy to live there when I marry into the royal family. There is a Fabrege exhibit there now, but more importantly, Kate's WEDDING DRESS was on display (along with her tiara, veil, shoes, earrings, bouquet, and the wedding cake). It's GORGEOUS and it was wonderful to admire it from close up. No pictures were taken inside of the palace, much to my chagrin, due to security regulations. If interested, google it yourself to see the Throne Room, Ballroom, Dining Room, Grand Staircase, Green Drawing Room, Blue Drawing Room, White Drawing Room, etc. 

Outside of Buckingham, after our tour - Kelsey from USC and I.

In the Gardens

The Front Gate.

After Buckingham, the four of us who went out site-seeing headed over to Trafalgar Square for some pictures and a bite of lunch. Trafalgar has a great atmosphere and it was pleasant to just walk around out in the sunshine for a little while.

Lord Nelson!

The Olympic countdown! 310 days.

The adventure of this morning and afternoon was perfect - a real release of the tension that surrounds life on campus right now and a reminder of why I'm in London. After this period of hassle is over, I'll be reading and traveling, seeing new places and learning new stories. And the stories are what matter. So no more worrying about bank account here - this my story and it will be in the United Kingdom for a year and it will be exciting and real and full of life.

First Days

The plane was very full, but before I left DTW, the kind Delta people offered to move me from my center-center seat to an aisle seat. I happily agreed. Then, as I was just about to take said aisle seat, the guy at the window seat asked if I would mind trading with his wife so they could sit together. His wife had the dreaded center seat, so I recovered the o'-so-glorious privilege of sitting between two strangers who would not appreciate my 1. leaning on them to sleep or 2. waking them up to ask them to get up so I can walk down the aisle. It was not a comfy ride, to say the least.


I made it safely to London at precisely 7:20am yesterday morning, but the hard part hadn't begun yet. Heathrow is a devil of an airport for a young woman with 2 huge suitcases, a carry-on, and a backpack that weighs more than her. The trolleys for luggage are free, so I was happy - until I learned that one cannot take one's trolley on the train to the main terminal. How cruel. But wait, there aren't trolleys in sight when one gets off the train at the right terminal! At that point, I was already sweaty from the exertion of carting all these bags. Only a few huge ramps (going upwards, of course) and the busy central airport area to traverse until the end was in sight. I did easily find the QM group waiting for the shuttle, only to learn that I may or may not make it on the 9am shuttle and may or may not have to wait for the 10:30 one. Well, you obviously know already which shuttle I got on (10:30), but I did have a nice chat with a fellow American coming to QM in the meantime.


After arriving on campus around 12 and collecting my room key, I unpacked, enrolled, and bought some dishes (used plates, silverware, and a pot for 4 GBP. Not bad. I then hopped a shuttle from QM with a few of the Americans I met and headed to Sainsbury's for some groceries. Sainsbury's reminds me of our not-so-beloved Walmart - it has everything for what you think is a good, cheap price, but that could be not true. Anyways, I had bread and fruit and orange juice and cereal, and that's all that really mattered. I also had to buy a new hairdryer seeing as I almost started mine on fire after my post-airplane shower.


My flat is pretty nice, about the same size as my "sleeping closet" at Ashland's Andrews Hall, and I have a bed and bath all to myself. Pictures to follow. I've met all of my flatmates, I believe, which include an American turned Londoner, a Prague-ian (yes, I made that up), and students from England and Wales. Our ages range from 18 to late 20's, so it's quite a mix. Most are starting their first year at QM, even if they're my age or older. I've learned that the British have a much different approach to going to college - it's more of a "when you are ready" idea, instead of a "you've graduated from high school, now you go to college" outlook.


Last night there were some events for the Fresher's Week program, but I, having been up for over 30 hours (honestly, I cannot sleep on a plane to save my life), couldn't bring myself to stay up. 


This morning, I did yoga (it felt wonderful to stretch) and had a bite to eat before setting out to turn in forms, get a gym membership, buy a three-pronged adapter plug for my laptop, and fetch a few more items from the grocery store (Budgens this time - much smaller, but quiet and a little cheaper I think). Orientation sessions start tomorrow, classes on Wednesday (I believe - still haven't quite worked that out...).