September 16th
If you know me well, you know i'm terrified of flying. So, the 6 hour flight I had ahead of me was the last thing I wanted to think about. Luckily I had enough distractions to keep my mind off the flight for a little while. Distractions being, figuring out how i'm going to shave off 7 pounds from my overweight suitcases, how much more i can fit in my carry on, and how much i should leave in a box to have sent to me once i'm gone. The amount of stuff (mostly clothing) that I insisted on taking was admittedly ridiculous.
Anyways, I spent my last day in danvers finishing up packing, triple checking my lists, and struggling through hard good byes. Once it was time to leave for the airport, I started to get anxious and excited...fear surprisingly hadn't hit me all day. I was excited for my new adventure and I was ready to go now. I said goodbye to my puppies, my queen size bed, and my own bathroom...the three things in my house i was going to miss most and have to live without for the next 3 months.
So we packed up the car and headed to the airport, stopping at Prince Pizza first with the DelSapios for a quick lunch. My last american meal for three months! After lunch we were airport bound and the butterflies kicked in. Of all the things i could be nervous of, it was only the plane ride that had me worried. Not to mention it had just finished down pouring which didn't help the fear of being up there in the sky for 6 long hours. Then it became time for my suitcases to distract me again. Ron and my dad dropped us at the door with our combined 6 suitcases and left us to manage them inside. Once we were all together each person was rolling one suitcase. This is when Katie and I realized that once we got to England....we were screwed. Crossing my fingers as they weighed my suitcases the first one came out to be 56lbs which is 6lbs over the limit asking for a overweight fee...well we knew that was coming. My second suitcase was 51lbs but she let the one pound slide. thank god! So that left me with just my carry on and a backpack. easy enough to handle. We made our way to the security line and had to say goodbye to our parents. As we stood in the long line of security ron, deb, barb, and my dad stood there watching us. Then all 4 of them whipped out their phones and started taking pictures of us. And not just like one or two pictures but they kept going, and then they were following us as we were moving up in line! we were in hysterics we thought it was so funny. We literally had our own little line of paparazzi parents..it was too funny.
Before we knew it we were boarding the plane and i had to send my last texts on my blackberry until christmas break. We are supposed to get sleep on this flight because we took off at 630PM and arrived around 630AM. Its only a 6 hour flight but the time difference is England is ahead 5 hours...6 after day lights saving. I was nervous as we were taking off, but i was still full of excitement so luckily i remained pretty calm. The flight was boring, katie passed out like 20 minutes in so i was just sitting there alone listening to my not so updated ipod. I managed to sleep for maybe an hour and a half but not much more than that. There was a little turbulence and of course i thought i was going to die every time there was a tiny bit...buuut i managed to get through it and before i knew it, it was time to land and the sun was on its way up.
We waited in line at customs/immigration for about an hour and then headed to baggage claim. luckily they have those carriage/carts that you can pile your luggage on to get around easier. So, we each grabbed one and piled all our suitcases on top and went on to figure out what the hell we had to do next. Heathrow airport is the largest and busiest international airport...and we had no idea what we were doing. Our directions said go to terminal 2. Ookay, easy enough...so we asked someone how to get there...and the response was, "haha there is no such thing as terminal 2"....well okay now i feel like an idiot and am even more confused. so after 30 minutes of looking for the nonexistent terminal 2 we were directed to a different terminal by way of the underground express. Great news we found out where to go! bad news...the carts had to stay behind and we had to carry our suitcases ourselves....uh oh. So after some serious struggles, hauling, and laughing...mostly by others... we managed to get on board the express. Honestly i've never been laughed at by so many people before and i don't blame them...we were laughing right along with them of course. So i wish everyone could really realize how much of a struggle this was for us but i want to get to the good stuff so i'm just going to let you imagine it. kim..katie...6 suitcases in a foreign country...i think you all get it.
Arriving at Oxford Brookes
We were greeted by Peter Forsaith in an HPU t-shirt. This is the Liason with HPU and our teacher/tutor for or british culture course and also the guy who will be taking us on a bunch of day trips. He brought us to our rooms. Katie went to her room first and we were greeted by another girl from high point, Sarah Lashar. When she opened the door to their flat i could tell something was wrong. Well that something was our new home. It was nothing like any of us had expected. there are ten rooms...five upstairs five downstairs. boys and girls. Downstairs there is also a bathroom with 3 stalls, 3 showers, and a sink. There is a kitchen but its more like a hall way with a stove and an oven that could be confused with my easy bake from 3rd grade and a fridge that i'm a good 2 feet taller than. I was shocked, and horrified, and upset...and angry. The bed had a used comforter on it and the walls needed a coat of paint..Then i realized i was being stupid, judgmental, and spoiled. But i couldn't help it. i have never had to share a bathroom before and wearing flip flops to take a shower was something i wasnt too keen on. But its turned out to not be so bad haha. Anyways, we dropped our things and Peter took us around campus. But i still wished i could call someone from home espcially my family but since i didn't have a phone yet...or internet connection at that moment i couldn't. It was so weird to feel so cut of from the US. Soon Emily, and Matt the other HPU kids arrived and the five us exchanged feelings about this being as far from HPU as it could get...talk about culture shock, it should have been known that would happen when you leave a school like High Point. But we all realized how spoiled we are at HPU and looked at the upside that we were in England, and we were going to make the best of everything because well 1. we had to and 2. we were excited about the opportunity.
-my room is the only one in the flat that has 2 closets...its like they knew i was going to need the space! haha yeah i definitely lucked out with that one.
*besides the bed being a little bit uncomfortable
i made the room a lot more "me" and now i'm happy with it!*
City Centre
Peter took us shopping the next day to get necessities like a phone(that i have but can't make calls only use for skype, if anyone was wondering) and other things we might need in our flats for the first few weeks. City Centre is a bus ride away, as is everything else, and it is unbelievable. I love it! there are so many shops, cafes, restaurants and sites to see. I find myself there all the time because there is always somewhere new to try, shop, or see. There are always live entertainers everywhere either singing, dancing, and well a whole lot of other weird things too but it is very entertaining. I had "chips" -french fries at my lunch that day...soooo good. I'm obsessed now.
Headington & Wheatley Campus
We are living on Harcourt Hill. Headington is where all of my classes are except for one which is on Wheatley campus. Headington is about 35 minutes away from Harcourt and Wheatley is about an hour. Yes, it sucks. It sucks, but its not that bad....if that makes any sense. The bus can be a huge pain, but its also time i use to get things done...luckily there is wifi on the bus so i can use the internet etc. The sucky part of it is well...i have to leave 30 minutes early, sometimes its packed, and sometimes you just don't feel like taking the bus. But, i'm adjusting to it and i'm figuring out ways to make it an easy thing.
Roommates
Monday September 19th, my roommates were starting to move in and i had met most of them. There are four girls including me, and five boys. Everyone is really nice so i definitely lucked out with roommates. Katie basically lives in a frat house and i find it completely hilarious...she definitely didn't at first but all of her roommates are actually really nice too.
Freshers- Freshman
Chips-French Fries
Frat house-Katies flat
Crisps-Chips
Peter-our liason/teacher
Thursday September 22nd
LONDON!
We spent the day in London with Peter, being super touristy and seeing a bunch of cool stuff, which included the changing of the guards!
About an hour away, London is great, i loved it..i am actually going back this weekend i can't wait!
Friday, September 23
STONEHENGE
a place created by aliens.
Its true, aliens put these giant rocks here and i'm probably never going to be convinced of the other theories. I LOVED this trip. I've wanted to see stonehenge for such a long time and i've seen it on TV, and read about it so many times before i couldn't believe i was actually there! Such a fun morning. It was actually the equinox that morning and people were allowed to touch it at like 5AM. i wish i had known i so would have woken up for it. haha! no seriously.
SALISBURY
We headed to Salisbury next to go check out the Salisbury Cathedral. It was pretty amazing actually. I didn't think i would be interested but the architecture aspect of it was actually pretty cool. Its so strange to think that so many years ago people were able to build a place like this.
CLASSES
Stars and Audiences
How to Plan a Successful Event
Intro to Magazine Publishing
British Culture
i love all my classes! they all have a lot of work to them, but its work that i don't mind doing because i'm actually interested in it.
Saturday 31st
PYJAMA PARTY
they spell things weird here
not really sure how to explain this picture besides 'the frat house'
Sunday Oct 1st
Katie, Sarah and I went on a nice little picnic at the park near Headington! It was such a beautiful day. So we enjoyed baguette sandwiches (so good) in the nice weather before it goes away!
Monday, October 2nd
BAAAATH.
its bauuth, not bath.
Peter left us to do the tour of the roman baths ourself. It was really cool to walk through all the tunnels and see the remains. I so would have loved to been a roman at bath, but only if i was the one being fed grapes and being fanned by giant leaves...i so would have loved that lifestyle.
Okay, so i'm alll caught up. I love it here, as much as my first couple days i was nervous and overwhelmed, that quickly changed and i cannot wait to enjoy the rest of my time here! The rest of my posts will probably be short and sweet...but giving you all the info you want of course! keep checking back for more! xxo
CHEERS!
Love it! Jealous of course but so happy for you! Have a blast! :)
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