My new neighborhood & First two days

Its indescribable. Words cannot describe how wonderful the city of London is! I have been here a short (although sometimes felt long) five days. I will give a recap of everyday so far…

Thursday 1/21 – This was flying day. I felt excited, anxious to get there, and a little nervous about classes…kinda like a kid about to go on the biggest roller coaster of his life. My flight was scheduled to leave at 5:05 pm. Before the flight, I met Stephanie, who I had met previous from facebook (Lee, the study abroad director gave us the names of people also in our ASA group on our flight) in the terminal. So, on the plan we chit-chatted a little. The flight was brilliant; I had my own row of five seats, with a personal TV and a big flat screen TV in front of me. It was the first row of the last section, so I had a tons of foot space. We arrived in London at about 7:30 am. Me and Stephanie waited for our ride to regents college, which took about 45 minutes. At this point, it was about 3:30 am Chicago time. An allnighter was ahead for me! although, so worth it!

We got to the campus, which is breathtaking beautiful. It is literally in the middle of Regents park, a royal, famous park, in London. I cant wait to see it transform come springtime. After a brief time at campus to get ID’s and paperwork, we waited for cabs to take us to the Landward apartments. They are about a 5 minute drive, and 20 minute walk from campus. I will have to get used to commuting that way. After unpacking in my decent sized two person room, Lee took us on a short tour of stores and stuff around the apartments.

About the apartment:

My apartment is one block off a semi-busy road. So, I walk one way, and it’s a cute little neighborhood of London filled with adorable flats. I walk the other way, and it’s a busy street with EVERYTHING from stationary stores, grocery stores, restaurants (a million middle eastern food), coffee shops, internet cafes, anything you can think of. Its amazing to walk out, and be able to walk to get anything! I walk another way about 6 blocks, and it is one of the most popular and expensive places to shop in London, called Oxford street. The flat has 3 bedrooms. One single, one double, and one triple. Im in the double. The triple only has 2 girls in it for now. So, there are a total of 5 girls. There is a kitchen, and living room/dining room.

The rest of the day consisted of eating, exploring the neighborhood a little, dinner, and a short pub trip across the apartment lead by the RA. *First pub experience

Friday 1/22- The second full day in london started off with some hefty regents college orientation that mostly included trying to stay awake. We also had an orientation with our study abroad director. After that (about 4pm), a group of us 5 explored the area near our flat (apartment). We decided to eat dinner in the refractory for the first time for dinner. The food is a little different from what im used to at home and Olivet, and surprisingly somewhat good. We then did “Jack the Ripper” tour, went out for pizza at this little joint by our flats, then headed to bed for a big touristy day to follow.