I've officially been here for a week and SO MUCH has happened! Right now we are in the middle of our orientation week and I feel like I'm back at Interlochen again, except there is air conditioning!
I left Portland on the 17th at noon, said goodbye to my wonderful parents, cried, laughed, got my protein powder through security without anyone thinking it was cocaine and got on a plane to dallas fort worth. Upon landing, I immediately broke my flip flop... ( why did I think flip flops were good traveling shoes?) I shuffled around the airport for about 30 min looking for flip-flops, shoes, someone to carry me around, anything. I ended up with a pair of fuzzy purple slippers. Good enough.
My parents at PDX
"Shoes"
On the 9 hour flight to London I sat next to an older lady named Vita. She was on her last "big adventure" as her health was going to keep her from traveling in the future. It was just her and her grand son going to adventure through Norway. She had a purse that was made form specially material so no one could steal your credit card information. We had at least a 20 min conversation about it and then I passed out for 6 hours. (sleeping those 6 hours on the plane were curtail to my "being able to stand up and function" capabilities for the rest of the week. )
Dinner!
Smallest Breakfast Ever
Also on the plane was Joe, one of my classmates. I waved at him when he got on the flight but didn't actually meet him till I got off the plane. Joe & our classmate Matt, who came to meet us, are rock stars and I would not have made it without them in the hours after landing.
Joe & Matt a.k.a THE BEST!
Above are Joe and Matt. Joe and Matt saved my life and I love them forever and ever. Between the three of us we took my 200 plus pounds of luggage and Joe's 3 suitcases on a 2 hour adventure through the tube. This adventure included many flights of stairs, escalators, grumpy people, and a upward climb when we finally reached the Debden station where we are now living. (Not in the station. I have a house. Don't worry.)
We contacted Katie and she helped us the rest of the way with our stuff.
Katie is also a Rock Star!
I could not move into my flat (Fancy english word!) till the 21st so Katie was so lovely to let me stay with her. She let me sleep in the bed for 3 nights wile she slept on the floor, i did try to switch with her but she wouldn't have it... because she's wonderful! Katie is living with a family and they are amazing. The land lady Jan is a rock star! (She repelled off a building, for charity, last week! Plus she has my favorite kind of dog, a bulldog, named Bells.)
We contacted Katie and she helped us the rest of the way with our stuff.
Katie is also a Rock Star!
I could not move into my flat (Fancy english word!) till the 21st so Katie was so lovely to let me stay with her. She let me sleep in the bed for 3 nights wile she slept on the floor, i did try to switch with her but she wouldn't have it... because she's wonderful! Katie is living with a family and they are amazing. The land lady Jan is a rock star! (She repelled off a building, for charity, last week! Plus she has my favorite kind of dog, a bulldog, named Bells.)
That first day Katie kept me up till 11 at night, to help my jet lag. My communication skills were.... not so good at this point. I was SO tired. We met up with some people from our program at the pub down the street and I was reduced to a lot of tired smiling and non sensical comments till I gave up and went to sleep. I woke up at 5:30 in the morning because of the time difference and saw the sun come up. It was worth it to be up and see that. New life, new friends, new beginning and there was the first sun rise of my time here. Thankfully I did fall back to sleep, if I hadn't fallen back asleep I probably wold not feel as warm and fuzzy about seeing the sun rise.
Comment:
Awful, awful, AWFUL, things happened at the Tower of London. People were hung, drawn and quartered on the regular for being traitors. A persons religious beliefs were atop the endless list of things that a person could be convicted of as a traitor. Being in the place where so many men and women were given the chance to renounce their God and live or stand on their beliefs and die ,was chilling. It was the most powerful realization, for my life, of how fortunate we are in America to have the freedoms we have to say and believe what we choose, what ever that may be. Alot of What happened in the tower led to us having these freedoms... 'Merica.
Bonus Comment:
I defy anyone to not be amazed by the Crown Jewels, they are incredible!
As long as there are ravens at the tower the crown will be in power. so there are always at least 6.
Awful, awful, AWFUL, things happened at the Tower of London. People were hung, drawn and quartered on the regular for being traitors. A persons religious beliefs were atop the endless list of things that a person could be convicted of as a traitor. Being in the place where so many men and women were given the chance to renounce their God and live or stand on their beliefs and die ,was chilling. It was the most powerful realization, for my life, of how fortunate we are in America to have the freedoms we have to say and believe what we choose, what ever that may be. Alot of What happened in the tower led to us having these freedoms... 'Merica.
Bonus Comment:
I defy anyone to not be amazed by the Crown Jewels, they are incredible!
These buildings were built for Ann Boleyn, she never saw them finished.
Where poor Ann was Executed along with 5 others.
Inside the walls of the tower because they were Close personal friends of the king...
How beautiful is this Armor! (Henry the ...5th?)
The saddle is made from bone and from the Germans.
This gun was made by Tiffany's
The chair from the last execution at the Tower
Ouch
At one point 126 or more people were thrown in this room and left to die... suck fest 1760
Prisoners would etch there names into the walls of there prisons, some of them may have been able to hire people to do them wile they were in prison.
below is the room where Henry IV was stabbed wile praying.
TOWER BRIDGE!! AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!
On Friday one group of students held a potluck dinner at their apartment for everyone who was here already. What did I learn? My classmates are cooler than your classmates. It's just a fact. I'm surrounded by people who have fought to be here and are super nice, caring and FUN to boot. I couldn't be in a more amazing situation. I'm so excited every day.
On Saturday I got to move into my apartment!!! Jenny King is my roommate and we get along swimmingly. Our place is rockin' as well. Beautiful back garden and everything is new and clean and I have two closets! Plus being a 3-5 min walk away from both the school and the train station is superbly convenient.
Jenny is from Waco, Texas, was a dance teacher and was a the mascot for Baylor university. There are other amazing things about Jenny... but she was a mascot... she's the coolest! You will all hear lots about her in the coming blog posts I'm sure cuz...SHE'S THE COOLEST!
I took one day to un pack and settle in to the place and then on sunday I went with Jamie to "The Brick Lane Market" in London. It's a really amazing street fair in a super cool part of town with loads of graffiti everywhere, vintage shops and lots of food venders! It was a little big of an adventure to get there and back because the trains were down but it was nice to see the city and I road a double decker bus so that was awesome!
At one point during the week I needed to get BandAids. I asked a gentleman at the store "where are the Band Aids?" his response "What? What's that?" "Oh... well they are for wounds, you put them over wounds.... they are sticky?" Nothing, so he sent me to someone else and I repeated the latter. Her response "Oooh! You mean pasties!?" ... Band Aids are called Pasties here... hilarious.
LOVE YOU ALL!
LOVE YOU ALL!
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