Arriving in London

So I made it! Mom and Dad drove me to Detroit early and my flight left around 11am for Chicago. Once there, I putzed around the airport and made some phone calls before flying out to London Heathrow around 4:30pm. I rode a 777, which I think is the largest plane I've ever been on! My window seat was also really fun since I could watch as we flew over Michigan and the places Up North that I recognized (we flew over the Ludington area towards Saginaw with the sun setting over Lake Huron and Canada). I think the food made me a bit sick as I didn't feel good til I ate some not-flash-ovened food for breakfast this morning. I also didn't sleep much since we had a crying baby across the aisle and I watched an in-flight movie.

Anyway, we got to Heathrow around 5:30am local time and had to ride a bus from our plane to the terminal. I got through immigration easily and, upon checking my passport, realized that they hadn't given me the stamp specified by BUNAC as the correct stamp for working in Britain. I asked my immigration officer but she assured me that hers allowed me to work here and that it was fine, all in the attitude of "stupid American, I know what I'm doing and don't want to be here this early so go away." I was apprehensive but proceeded on since I didn't want to get stuck in rush hour tube traffic with all my luggage.

After I had gotten my bags, rearranged them, and put them on a trolley, I found the tube station and somehow got my bags through the turnstile. The tube ride wasn't too bad and I think I missed rush hour by a bit since it wasn't standing-room-only by any means. I had my morning workout by lugging my bags up the stairs from the platform since there wasn't an escalator. Ugh.

Upon arrival at my hostel, a brief walk from the tube stop, I found out that my room wouldn't be ready til 2. My dream of a brief nap before orientation crushed, I settled instead for a shower and free breakfast before hiking over to the BUNAC Office. There I found out that, though the stamp error was clearly not my fault, I would have to go to France (leave and re-enter the UK) to get it fixed. I also nodded off a few times during my orientation, which luckily regurgitated most of the program handbook that I'd already read.

I left orientation and headed back to the hostel, stopping for a hot chocolate along the way and in a terrible mood due to the lack of sleep and exacerbated by the France and bad plane food situations. Luckily, I didn't have to wait much longer for my room, gathered my bags, and promptly passed out from exhaustion on my bed for a 2.5hr nap. I met some new friends for dinner and have then embarked on the quest for train times to Calais and cheap internet.

Despite the challenges of today, London has been friendly, fascinating, and with the potential to be quite fabulous. I get to go to a castle tomorrow in Dover (as I'm determined to do more on this new boondoggle than simply buy cheese in France) and will then be able to get a bank account, one of the steps to getting a job. I'll have a couple of pics to add soon!