First Day

Our Kitchen


My room

Seething Wells (the dorms I'm staying in)

The River Thames (pronounced Tems)

A cool street in the town (heck every street is cool!)

Today was my first day in the UK. And it was wonderful!!! I love it here. The houses are small and very cute, and the shops by where I'm staying are also small and adorable.

So when I arrived in England I was about 2 hours late because the plane was having some issues back in Detroit, but they got it all fixed (which was good!!). Overall, the plane ride was good. The food was not good, but the ride was. The worst part for me is the descending/landing part. It makes my head and stomach feel all weird. After I got off the plane, I headed to customs where the guy in front of me was visibly wasted. He had bought a bottle of Captain before he boarded the plane and drank almost the whole thing on the way to England. He asked me about three times where I was going and each time he said, "Me too!". Well...customs did not like that so they put him in a waiting area. I don't know if he ever did make it to Kingston. From customs I went to pick up my luggage and meet fellow Kingston students. Then we all hopped on a bus that took us from the airport to our dorms.

We arrived at Kingston, checked in, got our room keys, and were showed what building we were in and what flat we would be staying in. I also got to meet my roomies, who are all very nice. My room is pretty nice. I have a bed and a desk and my very own bathroom. The only problem I have with the room is that it does not have ac :( In fact when I walked around the town the only place that had air was the grocery store. But besides my room being a little stuffy, I like it.

After unpacking I went on a walking tour of the town and got some groceries. And there is a 99 pence store, which is like a dollar store (kind of exciting). Other than walking around I didn't do much but soak in all the culture and try to remember to look the correct way when crossing the street. For now, I am headed to bed to get some rest for orientation tomorrow.

Partay!

This past week has been filled with fun and goodbyes. I had a party at work filled with all sorts of good desserts and lots of laughs. I'm going to miss all of my work peeps. Then yesterday I got together with some of my girls and we got manicures and did facials. I then had a party with my friends. We got all dolled up and went out to dinner then out to Grand Haven. It was a wonderful night spent with great friends all having a good time :)
These next few days will be all about packing and getting prepared for my journey to the wonderful continent of Europe. I will be spending 4 weeks in England, right outside of London in a town called Kingston Upon Thames. During that 4 weeks, I'm going to head up to Scotland for a weekend and hopefully catch a glimpse of the Lock Ness Monster. After that I will head to the Emerald Isle with my cousin (can't wait cousin!!!) for a week. Then to France for 1 week and to Italy for 1 week. I will admit that I am getting a little nervous for these next 2 months, but I know that this is a great experience and I can't wait to get to London and meet all of my fellow study abroaders.