Talk About Your Long Days

Traveling by far is the most tedious and horrendous activity known to human existence, the payoff, however, is worth the hassle. So after rearranging my bags to accommodate the 50 lb. limit (yes, I was over on the one bag), I had the pleasure of traveling to the airport with Alissa's mom and step-father. After making numerous mom jokes the entire time I've known Alissa, I can continue to boast that "Alissa's mom has got it going on."

We met a nice couple from Stow at the airport and chatted with them about Chipolte and then went and had some nasty airport food while we were waiting for our first flight to Detroit. Quickest flight of our lives, 24 minutes....this after Alissa continually made a fool of herself in front of the stewardess (he was male, what do you call them then?).

We then carried what seemed to be our 400 lb. carry-ons like a mile to our next gate - Detroit's airport is huge! After 3 hours of reading, listening to music, and playing the people watching game, we finally boarded and made our way to the very back of the plane where we spent the next 7 hours. It's really, really, hard to sit that long and even watching the numerous movies provided didn't really help.

We got to Gatwick early, but that was derailed by the fact that we waited at immigration for about an hour, all the time, I had to pee like a race horse. The lady was very friendly and in her English accent, she gave us our student stamp and we were on our way to convert our money and watch in shock as our $200 quickly became 94 pounds. Everyone told us that living in London was ridiculously expensive, they were right.

With luggage in tow, we made our way to the train station and after some initial confusion got on the Gatwick Express headed for Victoria. It was here that I got my first real glimpse of England. Gatwick airport is 35 minutes outside of the city, so the countryside provided some nice views. The weather here though is rainy and chilly, as predicted, but we made do.

The next stop on our journey was taking the Taxi to our residence hall, in all reality, it's a fancy hostile. The man who drove us was just starting his first day, but he did fantastic and got us here in no time. He was quick to point out though that he didn't understand American Baseball, a rather humorous conversation..you had to be there trust me.

We couldn't check in until 2 p.m., that's five hours ahead of all you in the states, so we sat around in the common room, completely drained of any energy. My roommate, Alex, is part of the 6 of us from Kent State, so my fears of getting some strange person are over. He seems cool, we should have no problems. The room is tiny and dormlike and the bathroom quite funny. The flusher for the toilet is on the wall and when you do flush it, a tinny hurricane ensues...it's crazy the amount of pressure that tiny lil' porcelain seat can produce.

After a nap, a shower, and some unpacking, Alissa, her roommate Megan (also from KSU), Alex and I decided to venture down the street and see what Chelsea (the borough we're living in) had to offer. The shops are amazing, but it was a late Sunday night, so nothing was open, not even any restaurants....my first meal in London had to come from McDonalds. :( The BBQ sauce isn't the same FYI.

Our night sort of finished there, we're all tired and well, I at least, was getting cranky. Tomorrow we have a walking tour and we're going to start planning where we want to visit and what we want to see. I'll fill you all in later.