These blogs are samplings, or the "publicly edited versions" from my actual journal. Although it's easier and faster to type on the computer, and certainly more convenient, something about handwritten journals just appeals to me, so I've spent my first week in the UK just writing. Writing about everything. What I see, what I feel, what I think about, etc. I've almost completely filled one journal in the 10 days I've been here. It's kind of bizarre, but I know that when I look back at these journals x number of years from now, I'll have my own handwriting to look at, rather than some print out from the computer, & I'll know that it's written for me. So that's my plug for journaling. As far as my blog name goes, I like the play on words. So there.
Alright... Day 1:
Leaving was a little harder than I expected it to be. Being me, of course, meant that I left everything to the last minute. Packing was done in the late hours of the night and wee hours of the morning. I thought I had consolidated everything to one suitcase, but said suitcase was 80 pounds upon weigh-in, so it's very good that I thought to bring an empty suitcase to the airport "just in case." It would've saved me a lot of frustration (and $ upon my arrival here) if I'd simply packed two to begin with, but what's over is over. Mom bought me lunch, and we sat in the airport while I ate my bagel & drank my smoothie. We both did pretty well with me leaving, or at least we both did pretty well as I was walking through security.
Due to the snowy conditions, getting out of Cleveland was a little rough. The plane was late in arriving, the gates had changed, we had to de-ice, etc. Fortunately, I had a long layover in New York, so it was actually better to wait a little longer in Cleveland. The plane was teeny-tiny, & I had both a window AND an aisle seat, which was actually the same seat, so you get the idea of how little the plane was. I started to notice how many other study abroad students were flying out this day too. I was very tired, & was able to instantly conk out & slept most of the ride to New York, only waking up once we were landing, managing to get some pretty neat shots of the coastline.
Wifi in JFK was locked, which I thought was pretty beat since it was free in Cleveland, but I occupied my time with eating McDonalds (last gross fast food) and thought that I'd get a kick out of getting carded for alcohol one last time, but, to my disappointment, failed to get carded while ordering an amaretto sour. So much for that plan. I was glad that I decided to bring my phone with me, if only to play with it while in the airport. I didn't bring any books with me, so it was nice to have something else to distract my mind with. As it got closer to boarding time, people began rushing the line, which was kind of annoying, and the stewardess was getting a little testy on the loudspeaker, but we all boarded without any significant issues.
My seat was two rows from the back, & I didn't sleep on the flight, at all, primarily because sitting across the aisle from me were the chaperones for the group of about 20 English students going back to the UK, so there were high school-aged students chilling beside me for basically the entire duration of the flight. At least the person sitting beside me was cool. The food was decent too, as were the in-flight entertainment options. Not a bad flight at all. However, when I went to get off the plane, I noticed that my bookbag was all wet & sticky. I asked the girl in front of me, who had also flown from Cleveland with me, what happened, & she replied that she had "gotten sick & spilled ginger ale at the beginning of the flight. Whoops." No apology. Cooooool. So sticky bookbag in hand, I finally got off the plane and into the UK.
Customs was cake, which I was very happy about, & somehow my luggage managed to make it off the plane first, so I was all ready to go within a half an hour of the plane landing. I waited for about an hour for the other three girls from the program, Kimberlee, Danielle, & Kaitlin, but eventually gave up on that & went to the end of the line to see if I'd missed them. I ended up finding another girl that was going to St. Mary's, and shortly, the other three arrived, and we camped out until the 10 am pickup time.
And so my first day of my adventure began.
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