I woke up Thursday morning and got everything organized and underway. I checked and double-checked. According to me, everything was going smoothly. That was of course, until my cat Medusa decided he wasn't going to show up. Typically this wouldn't be a big deal, but no one would be there to feed him for the next four days, so I wanted to put him in the house. Adam came over early to pick me up and he and I spent the next 20 minutes walking around shouting for Medusa. To make a long story short, he ended up walking across the neighbor's yard at the exact moment as Adam and I were backing out of the driveway. It was a mad dash to put him back in the house and make it to Groome Transportation on time. Thankfully I made it: I was the next to last passenger to get on board.
The ride on Groome went well. I spoke with a woman named Kim who was raised in Columbus and now resides in Washington, D.C. We arrived at the airport and everything there seemed to be going well. I waited for what seemed and eternity in the Lufthansa line behind some people who were having trouble checking their bags. What happened after their issues were solved? All of the Lufthansa baggage check people left for 30 minutes until 12:40, and then came out and started checking luggage. When we (that is, the people on our trip) tried to get our stuff checked in, guess what? No ticket. We were told we had e-tickets, whatever those are, but apparently that was wrong. So, our site director, Dr. Barron had to run to the Delta terminal (across the airport, mind you) to get our tickets. Finally, she arrived and we managed to get our luggage checked.
After grabbing some Arby's at the airport ($9 for a sandwich, some fries, and a water), we waited an hour and a half to finally board the plane. The flight went quite well, and I must say that Lufthansa is an excellent airline. The stewardesses on our flight from Atlanta to Frankfurt were awesome. They served us dinner (rigatoni with sun-dried tomatoes), breakfast (some ham-and-cheese thing I didn't eat and some shortbread cookies; thankfully I had brought a Nutri-Grain bar with me), as well as all the drinks you can handle (alcohol included). We waited about an hour and a half in the Frankfurt airport, which is one of the single most depressing places I have ever been. Not only were their people sleeping on the floor, it was a dark and dull and boring, and their McDonald's served some sort of salami pizza thing.
The flight from Frankfurt was all right. I managed to sleep about a half hour, which was helpful since I was awake for the entire eight hour flight to Frankfurt. Although, the stewardesses flying to London were not as nice. On an interesting note: all of our stewardesses flying with Lufthansa from Atlanta to Frankfurt were blonde haired and blue eyes. I suppose they still take that Aryan thing very seriously.
We got to London, went through customs and got our bags with no problems. We then boarded a bus (coach) and road to our location here in downtown London, which is where I am now writing from (at first I didn't think I'd be able to make this post due to some computer problems with the network here at the college). The rooms they have us in are quaint, I think they'll do well since we won't be in them much. Although, the bathrooms here are quite a disappointment. As you'll be able to see from my photos, the toilets here are 1930s wall-mounted tank toilets. I'm talking serious Michael Coreleone in the Godfather in the restaurant, toilets. The showers are so small that it's almost comical. The fully-stocked kitchens were were promised are not a reality. The only reality to them is that they are small, unstocked, and filled with dirty dishes people chose not to clean up.
We had an orientation this afternoon, which went pretty well. We've got a scavenger hunt planned for tomorrow. The food has been quite delicious here. For lunch I had beef tips and gravy with fried mashed potatos (like a tater tot except with mashed potatos). For dinner I had chicken something or other, which was nice, as well as chips (fries). The chef came and talked to us, and he is one funny, crazy Scotsman. After that we went walking around our area a bit. It's nice, although the people are quite unfriendly. We went to two different pubs in our area (Potion and the King and Queen). The first was kind of trendy and loud, and the second was your ideal British pub. From the pictures of former monarchs, to the unique beer, to the wood panelling, all the way to the British patrons drunkily singing "American Pie". The bartender, Claire, was a nice lady. As I write this a few of my fellow students are still at the bar. I chose to come home and get some sleep. I woke up on Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. and have not really slept since then.
Well, I suppose that is about all for today. There was much to report because so much has been going on. Here are the photos from today:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8494714@N03/sets/72157600435148893/
They're not very interesting, as I didn't want to take a million photos today.
P.S. The weather so far has been a bit weird. It got quite rainy yesterday, though nothing strong, just a lot of drizzle at strange intervals. The sun would be shining and it was rainy. This morning (Friday morning) it is, again, cloudy and a bit cool. I expect it will rain yet again today.
