First Post from the UK!

Hey everyone! I've been in London since 10:15 am or so yesterday morning (UK time). I flew into London-Heathrow airport- it was about a 6 hour plane ride- but I made it safe and sound! During the flight, around midnight U.S. time, we were given a full meal on the plane. I had beef with a roll, carrots, green beans, a salad and brownie. About two hours before landing in London, we were given a small breakfast of fruit and a croissant. I only slept about 2 hours, but I was happy to get some kind of sleep. The chairs were not too comfortable to sleep in and they kept turning on and off the lights and would make occasional announcements so it kept interrupting any sleep I was trying to get. I was flying Continental on a 757 I believe, and all of the seats had small screens on the back where you could watch tv shows, movies, listen to music and play games. I watched The Office, Friends and listened to some music during the flight too. Once we arrived at the airport, we had to turn in UK border agency cards that we filled out on the flight with all of our information including passport number, our local address, how long we would be there, where we came from, etc. We gave this to customs, along with our passports and immigration letters, and I got the first stamp in my passport!

We took a bus from the airport to our new home in South Kensington. Entering the bus was a little different since the driver drives on the right side of the car instead of the left. The trip took about a half an hour and we finally arrived, received our keys and starting unpacking in the rooms. The building I live in, the Metrogate House, is on a very nice street in Kensington. It is a very rich, affluent neighborhood- a lot of Jaguars, Porsches and other nice cars. This isn't typical of a lot of London but the area is very nice. The house itself has a variety of different rooms including singles, doubles, triples and even 4 person rooms. I live in a suite-style room. Once you walk in the door, there is a bathroom on the right, a bedroom right in front of you, a closet to the left, and a door leading to another bedroom on the left. Both bedrooms are doubles, and I live in the one on the left. I'm rooming with my friend Catey, and my 'suitemates' are Kelsey and Amy. I've had classes with both of them, and all three are really nice. I think we got pretty lucky with our room styles/locations too. We only have to go up one flight of steps (we're on the 1st floor but it's really on the second level), and our windows look out at the street, Queens Gate Terrace, which is a nice view. Some of the other rooms in the building have a view of the back of buildings and the views aren't as attractive. Also, other rooms have bunked beds and are a little smaller. I even have more room than I did in Crossings, including closet space! I was able to fit all of my clothes in there. There are two beds, two nightstands, two closets, and a mini-fridge in our room. I even have milk, orange juice and some snacks now- we went to a grocery store called Sainsbury's last night.

Yesterday after we got here several of us just passed out on the beds and left everything packed on the floor. After an hour or so of sleeping, I started unpacking and organizing everything. At 6 pm we went on a walking tour of Kensington led by one of the Residential Life Supervisors (RLS) and we found out where the local places are including Imperial College (we have a student card there to use the Imperial College Union facilities), Boots Pharmacy, Barclay's (bank) and other local restaurants and stores. The rest of the night was ours, and I went with 5 other girls to an indian restaurant for dinner. My first time using pounds and pence! European currency is a little confusing to use so far but I think I'm getting the hang of it. After dinner, we went to the grocery store and then my friends and I stayed in for the night, although some of the other kids went out to a bar nearby.

Today we had a Student Life and Academic orientation this morning in a lecture hall at the neighboring Imperial college with other universtities. Each university has a custom-made study abroad program. Some schools are only doing internships, some have classes and internships and then Drexel only has classes. I think we also have one of the shorter programs because the other schools are on the semester system and go til mid-December. After orientation, I went to get pizza down the block from our residence. I forgot the name of the place but it used to be Princess Diana's favorite pizza place apparently. Then we ventured over to Hyde Park which is BEAUTIFUL! It's a little like Central Park in NYC but it is much more open and just lovely. Kensington Palace and gardens are located in Hyde Park too and we walked around the exterior but didn't go inside to tour around today. We sat down on some steps in front of the opera house for a while and then I went with two girls to the bank, phamacy and grocery store to get some extra food for dinner. Things are rather expensive here so I've been trying not to spend too much money on food and other things so far.

Tonight we are planning on going out to Piccadilly Circus which apparently has a lot of bars, clubs and pubs. My first time being able to order a drink here (since the drinking age is only 18 and if you are taller than the bar counter you are basically served)! I'm looking forward to going out and hopefully meeting some british college-age students!

I've been trying to post pictures on here but the internet connection is really slow so i'll try to put them up as soon as I can! Cheers!