London!!!!

With bags packed and close to bursting, I boarded a plane early Saturday morning and, after about sixteen hours (many of them spent sleeping), I stepped off another plane, on Sunday morning, and onto British soil for the first time in my life. Everything was new and different. The first thing that I noticed as I made my way to customs, is that exit signs aren't labeled exit, they are green and have a cartoon of a person running. It was nice to finally be in London. I had spent the whole of my Spring break, the week before I left, running around buying the things I needed to go abroad and spending time with my family and friends. However, even with all of my running around (or maybe because of it), the fact that I was going to London didn't sink in until I was in London. It began as our plane began to fly over the UK and then, as we were preparing to land, I caught site of Big Ben, the Parliament building, and a classic view of the river (it looked just like it does at the opening of Disney's Peter Pan), at that moment, my breath was taken away, I was in London!!

My host family had volunteered to pick up both myself and my housemate, Myles, at the airport because our flights got in so close to each other. I didn't have any problems, Saida (my host mom) found me right away. I was the very lost looking girl standing with all my luggage close. Myles, on the other hand had a much more difficult time; he had the trip that everyone dreads. His flights got delayed and he barely caught his connecting flight to London. Then, once the plane got into Heathrow, it was late and there was no gate available to them (it had been an incredibly busy morning), so they had to wait as buses were brought out to them to take them into the terminal. After all this, and now running late to meet our host parents, he went to get his checked baggage and found that his bad had been lost (probably because of the delays). At this point he was nearly two hours late to meet up with our host parents. Not being sure what to do, and having no way to contact each other, our hosts decided to leave and call the housing coordinator, Maggie, apparently there is a lost student every term, Myles just happened to be the one for this term. As we all later found, Myles arrived at the meeting point only minutes after we had left. He left a message on the house phone however, so when we arrived back at the house, Mike and Saida (our hosts) got the message and turned back around to go and retrieve him. By the time they got back to the airport though, it was an hour or hour thirty later and Myles had already left the airport. While Mike and Saida had gone back to the airport, I remained at their home and after a few hours, there was a knock at the door and standing on the door step was a luggage-less Myles who was incredibly relieved to find that he had in fact successfully found his way by bus to the right flat. The moral of this story (other than being interesting and making me thankful that everything went well for me) is to make sure to pack an extra pair of clothes in your carry on (Myles had, thankfully) and to make sure to get your hosts' contact info (their mobile [cell] number) and to also look up alternative routes to where you are supposed to stay. From there however, things turned out fine. His luggage arrived earlier today right before dinner.

While yesterday was eventful, today was action packed. I seem to be learning something new all the time. It's really great. Although, it does take a little while to get used to the British accent. Londoners are incredibly conscious of the need for conservation. They are very careful about how much energy they use (lights are rarely on until dark) and they recycle everything. There's recycling for waste food, paper, plastic, cans, jars, everything, and if you don't recycle properly, you can (and will be) charged 60 pounds or more, plus your trash won't be picked up. All throughout the city there is recycling and it is all labeled.

Today, was the first time that I made it into zone 1 of the city (the central part of London, there are 6 zones total). The Centre is in the heart of London, the British museum is only a 10 minute walk from the school (we were able to go there today on our walking tour of the city). I met the program director, Martin, the housing coordinator, Maggie, and the visiting prof, Cheryl Mann, and then also Leah (I can't remember what she does but she is responsible for part of the upkeep of the AHA website). Everyone on staff has been great, incredibly nice and helpful. I also met the other students in the program, there are only ten of us total, classes will be really small. We began to get to know each other today, but many of the other students go to OU so they know each other already. The group seems to be a really great one which will make the trip all the better. We basically got a run down of how the program works (many of the classes don't actually meet at the Centre everyday, class will be held in various parts of the city instead!) and then Martin took us on a tour of the city explaining the Zebra crossings (cross walks without a signal, you have to intimidate the drivers into stopping) and also how to use our Oyster cards (unlimited bus and tube transport within the 6 zones). Then, after all this, the majority of the group went back to Harrow (the northwest part of London where the majority of the home stays are located). We walked around for a bit and got mobiles (cell phones) to use while we're in the city. The people in the store were incredibly helpful, and I also learned that pence (like our cents) are just called 'p', so if you get change back you'll get five 'p'. Oh, and something else that I found interesting, at the tube/underground stations, when people ride the escalators, the people who are just standing, riding the escalator, will stand to the right so that others, who walk (or run up) the escalator, have a path on the left side. Also, as I walked around London, I could hear many different languages spoken. Walking by one cafe I heard two men conversing in Italian, then, just down the street, I heard an Eastern European language. Also, classes are called modules and vacations are holidays (and everyone travels throughout Europe and the eastern continents for holiday. Saida's son and girlfriend are going to Thailand in just a few days and later this month Saida is going to Germany). London is an amazing city, I'm incredibly excited for the rest of the time that I will be able to spend here! And, as it is getting to be nearly midnight here, and I'm still a bit jet lagged, I'm going to get some sleep so that tomorrow I'm prepared for our first excursion; a boat trip to Greenwich!!!