The First Two Days

Greetings,

Well the first flight went very fast. We arrived in Chicago so early that we sat on the runway for a good 20 minutes before disembarking. From there we had to run to British Airways to catch our flight and we were the last two on the plane. We arrived into London on time on Friday and were able to catch the coach into London without an issue though it took a little bit to find our way from terminal five (which is quite some distance from the rest of the terminals) to the coach station.

It was interesting to see how similar the houses all looked when we were flying in. It seemed very well planned. When we arrived in Central London, at Victoria Coach Station, our hotel was only a short walk from the station . We checked in and left our luggage and proceeded to Lloyds. Unfortunately the bank told me I had to register for an account in Manchester so I'm going to try to take care of that tomorrow.

After that we headed back up Victoria street and stopped at a place called "The Shakespeare" for fish and chips. Have to say its going to take some getting used to. And "tap water" sounds so different with a heavy accent. After several agonizing attempts to figure out if we were supposed to tip or not, we paid and headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we got up, had a spot of tea and then went to the bus station. The bus ride was uneventful but it was filled with Manchester United fans heading to Manchester for the match against Tottenham. We arrived around 2 and took a taxi from the coach station to Angela's dorm and dropped off her luggage and checked in. The guys at the desk made some comment about how it used to be only one bag of luggage and one carry on that students were allowed to bring. Once we figured out where her room was she dropped her luggage and we grabbed a taxi to my place so I could drop my stuff off. It was already getting dark which seems a bit odd but it must be farther north or something so that there is less daylight. My campus is quite a ways south from the main campus so I am trying to move further north.

After we dropped my luggage we decided it was time for a bit of a taste from home and went out and got some Subway. It was interesting to note the differences in menus. There were options that seemed healthier and they did not seem to push the foot long as much as it is in the states. The food nevertheless tasted as good as we'd remembered from home. Afterwards we explored a bit to try and find the accommodation office so I could look into transferring housing as well as just getting a feel for the campus.

After it got a bit later we went for some McDonald's because of the lack of local places to eat close to campus. We were still in a bit of culture shock and it was nice to have something we understood. The cheeseburgers were wonderful and with that I walked Angela back to her dorm.

The first two days were filled with quite a lot. Getting used to which way to look for traffic as well as the side of the sidewalk to walk on is going to take some time. It seems lots of places do not have public restrooms or the ability to give out a cup water. Its also quite interesting to come to the realization that there is absolutely no water fountains anywhere. This makes it a tad difficult to get water some times but we're getting by. The other oddity is trying to figure out the power here. Its also odd not having easy access to the internet everywhere via wifi or over our phones. The first two days were a bit of an experience in isolation from the states without the things we were so used to.

Well here is to the first two days and lots more of learning and opening our eyes to a whole different culture. Cheers mates!