Sunday, January 30, 2011

First Few Days in Brighton

Hey Everyone!
So I'm here! Everything went fairly smoothly, only a few little bumps along the way, and now I'm here in Brighton! I left SFO at 5:50pm (PST) on Thursday afternoon, and had a 10 1/2 hour plane ride to London Heathrow airport. My family all dropped me off, which was very nice for me :) They walked me into the airport and through the checkin line, where we discovered, to our surprise, that my checked baggage was .3 lbs  under the weight limit. GO TEAM! It was very exciting. So then we walked over to security... which was too short of a walk for my mom. She was not okay with me leaving her that quickly. But after some tearful hugs and goodbyes, I picked up my duffel bag to head over to the security line, and... the strap broke. We pretty much died laughing. So that made the goodbye a little easier, but it was still sad. I got to my terminal about an hour before takeoff, and met a British guy named Toby who was very nice and really helpful. He told me about a bunch of places that I should go while I was here. It was nice to have someone to talk to.

The plane ride was uneventful. I was lucky enough to be in 4-seated row with only two people in it, so both of us got to spread out onto two seats. I didn't sleep much... There was about a 4 hour period of time where I was trying to sleep but would wake up about every 15 minutes or so. I gave up after that. When I landed, I followed the crowd to the baggage claim area, where I freaked out a little bit after not seeing my bag for a while. It was the second to last bag to come out of the plane. Figures. Once I had my bags, I walked for FOREVER to get to the bus station, only to find out that I had missed my bus by 2 minutes or so and had to wait for the next one in an hour. I sat in the freezing cold bus station for that hour, and thanked God that I had packed a hat and scarf in my carryon. The bus ride was about 2 1/2 hours, during which I listened to my iPod and took in the scenery. I got off at the very last stop on the route, where I was left to fend for myself for the first time.
This was the only time on the trip I ever felt out of my depth. This little Sebastopol girl had to find a taxi. Not only had I NEVER had to hail a taxi in my entire life, but I didn't see a single taxi around me. I grabbed my bags and took off for the main street, where I asked a nice British lady pushing a stroller where to find a taxi. She pointed up a long, steep, cobblestone lane, and I set off, huffing and puffing as I went. After passing a couple of drunk old British guys, I finally reached the top of the lane. This was where all of the taxis hung out. I walked up to the nearest one and asked if he could give me a ride. The driver looked at me like I was crazy and said "No. You have to go to the front of the queue (American translation: line)!" Embarrassed at my apparent ignorance, I ran up to the front of the queue and climbed into that taxi. After telling the driver where I needed to go, I realized that he didn't know where my destination was. He had to look it up on a map, but we finally headed out towards my final destination. Just my luck, about 5 minutes into my supposed-to-be-15-minute taxi ride, we hit traffic. 15 minutes had turned into 30 by the time we reached my dorm.
At this point, it was 5:30 in the afternoon. I was stressed, tired, and to top it all off, the desk I was supposed to check in at wasn't open. There was a phone number on the door, so I pulled out my iPod to try and skype the person to give me my key, only to find that I couldn't get internet on my iPod. I was about to cry when I remembered that one of the girls who was already here had posted her flat number on facebook, so I set out to find her. Luckily, she was home, and she and another girl helped me get out of the cold and into a better mood.
Since then, things have been fantastic! More and more people are arriving every day, and I haven't met a single person that I didn't like. Everyone is so nice, and we all seem to get along really well! My days have been spent shopping for things to make myself more at home here, such as sheets. Fun fact about England: They only have bottom sheets on their beds. Fun fact about my bedroom: The bottom sheet I was given wasn't fitted. It was a top sheet that was tucked under the mattress, which was not what you would call clean. Yuck! Needless to say, I went out and bought myself a fitted sheet.
The next few days are going to be pretty busy. I have orientation on Tuesday, registration for classes on Wednesday, and a day trip to London on Thursday! I'm very excited to see London! All in all, it should be a fun week!!

Things I'm Loving: Fish and chips, Making new friends, Having a phone again (!), Getting internet for the first time today, Double decker busses, Being able to order a drink with dinner :)

Things I'm Not Loving So Much: Uncomfortable mattresses, Sheets that don't stay on my bed, How expensive everything is!

Things I'm Learning: No matter how much fun I am having, It is always good to take a little down time for myself, How to translate Celsius into Farenheit, That I really do need gloves, That British people are just as interested by us as we are by them!

American to British Dictionary for the Week:
Parking Lot = Car Park
Sweatshirt/ Sweater = Jumper
Line = Queue
Bus = Coach
Yield = Give Way
Elevator = Lift
Shopping Cart = Trolley
Throw up = Chunder (I CRACKED UP when I heard this one! Example: Brian had too much to drink, so he went off to have a chunder.)

I'll write again soon! Love you all!!
~Jenn

Thursday, January 20, 2011

One week to go!!

Hey Everyone!

Sooooo... Here we go! One week from now, I will be in a plane on my way to London Heathrow airport for the experience of a lifetime! I'm still in a complete state of disbelief, even with it being this close. I still have so much to do! I haven't started packing yet, I have a few forms that I need to fill out, and things like that, but I think I'll manage. I can tell my family is getting sad that I'm leaving, but I can't help but get more and more excited as the days go on! I can't believe it's finally here! After signing up for this program last March and counting down the days (Literally. Back in March, I counted 300 days until my departure), the time has finally come!

So I guess I should tell you all a little about my destination:

Brighton is a city with about 156,000 people (that's about 20 times the size of Sebastopol!!!), which is located on the southern coast of England, in East Sussex. It is really famous for it's piers which, from what I understand it, have a lot of cool little shops, and stands to go look at. It is also very well known for having a large gay population (leave it to me to study abroad in the gay capital of England. Typical.). I will be attending the University of Brighton, which has about 21,000 students (about 1 1/2 times the size of Chico State), and will be staying in the dorms on the Falmer campus (one of the five campuses that are part of the university).

I have a 10 and a half hour flight, which leaves on Thursday evening at 5:50 from SFO, and should be arriving at LHR at around 12:20pm London time. It'll definitely be an interesting experience, considering that I have never set foot on a plane by myself before, let alone flown internationally by myself. When I get off the plane and through customs, etc., I will be taking a 2 and a half hour bus ride to the bus station in Brighton, and then a taxi ride to my dorm, where (if I'm lucky enough to get there during regular business hours) I should be greeted by someone who will help me figure out my rooming situation. My program directors have been a huge help, giving me directions as to which bus and taxi to take, and where to go once I get there, but I am still a little nervous about the journey from the airport to my dorm in Brighton.

I am lucky enough to have been able to communicate via facebook with some of the other people that will be on my program with me! My friend Madison, who is also a theatre major at Chico, will be going too! I am so happy to have one person that I know there. Everyone else seems really nice! There are people from all over the country (and some from other countries!) who are going on this program, too! I am also incredibly fortunate to have some friends who will be studying abroad in other European countries while I'm there, so I am in the process of making plans to go see all of them and take in as much of Europe as I can! So far, my list of countries to travel to includes Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and France, but I have DEFINITELY not limited myself to that list!

I'm so excited to be going on this adventure, and I want to thank my parents for giving me this opportunity! I know it will be the experience of a lifetime, and I am so glad that I can share it with all of you, even if I won't be able to see you all until I get back! Feel free to comment on my posts and I'll try to answer you when I have time! I would love to hear from all of you!

Goodbye, all! Next time I write, I'll be on the other side of the pond!!

Bon Voyage!
~Jenn