‘Ello, govenah!

I am in London. I am here! I can’t believe it. But let me start from the beginning…

My journey began in the car with Mom and Dad on our way to the airport. I, being the baby that I am, began to cry when I saw the airport “this way” signs. I can’t believe I get this homesick all the time. I just love my parents and my family and my friends so much that it’s really difficult to leave them! So after my little breakdown, Dad dropped Mom and me off at the terminal. I got my ticket, did a little currency exchange, and got ready to go through to security. I said goodbye to Dad and Mom, shed a few more tears, and I was on my way to London.

Security didn’t take long and soon I was sitting at the gate with my roommate, my TA, and three other girls in my program. We sat there for probably two and half hours and then we boarded the flight.

The flight itself wasn’t too bad. We each had our own little TV, a pillow, a blanket, and some nifty gifts from the airline (a pen, a little toothbrush and toothpaste, a sleep mask, and socks)! It was pretty cramped in our economy seats – we were in a four-person row with less leg room than a SmartCar. But I slept most of the trip and we even got a complimentary dinner and breakfast.

It took us about 7 and a half ours between boarding the flight and leaving the plane in London. We then walked for 15 minutes to the UK border. We were not officially in London yet! When we got to the border, we stood in line and waited for an agent to open up. They asked us for our questionnaire (a little card thing we had to fill out for a speedy exit), our passport, and our letters of intent. Luckily, I had all of my paperwork in my backpack so I didn’t need to search long for what I needed.

Once we were officially in the UK, my group and I waited for our luggage to be brought out. That took about 20 minutes. But immediately after, we walked through customs (by walking through the exit gate you are claiming that you do not have any illegal food stuffs, like meat and dairy, in your luggage … if you walk out of the exit and your hidden food is discovered it will be destroyed and you can be arrested or fined … it’s pretty heavy). We then walked out to the bus stops where our bus was supposed to be waiting for us. It wasn’t there.

So our TA took us back inside and asked the bus services desk and information desk if they knew anything about our group or the bus service that would be taking us into the city. They said they had no idea but we should call the bus company. Of course we didn’t have the phone number – only a vague idea of the company name and where we would meet after our flight.

We all made suggestions. Let’s call the Hotel and see if our group had arrived without us. Let’s call the Professor’s phone and find out where they could be. None of us has working phones and our TA was pretty set on getting us to our rooms. So she decided that we take the Underground into the city and find the hotel after that.

The one thing we didn’t think to do was to see if their flight was on time.

So we take the tube to Russell Square and find our hotel in no time. We get to the lobby and come to find that our group was not there! Without a way to contact our advisor, we sat in the hotel lobby for an hour and a half hoping our group was on their way. Around 11:15 AM, our group and the sociology group show up. Their plane had been delayed and they had waited for us in our terminal for almost two hours. Our professor’s wife chewed the TA out but everyone was just glad to check into the hotel. The bus driver was kind enough to take us to our flat (which is so nice, pictures later tonight) and give us directions to and from the hotel (for future reference).

All in all it was a crazy and stressful morning, but well worth it.

Advertisement