I've Arrived

So I'm here.

This reminds me of a strange version of going off to Uni and going to Australia. I've gotten to my apartment (which is extremely secure feeling, so that's good) and managed to find a place to buy a pillow and a towel (no blanket yet.) I'm hoping to make it to TKMaxx (the UK's TJMaxx) and find something there "on offer"

The plane journey itself was exhausting. I woke up about 6:30 EST. Flight out at 11ish. Got to JFK... cue minor moment of panic.

My bags were supposed to transfer but I wanted to absolutely make sure that was the case. I figured I'd connect through the terminal and that would be that. But nope! I was unaware that JFK made it so difficult to transfer terminals. I didn't even know where to go or how to get there. Eventually though I made it! Unfortunately, when I tried to go ask about whether or not my bags were transferring no one from my airline had yet arrived. So that was stressful. Eventually though (after much of me sitting on the floor stressing) they did show up and everything was fine and then I went through security for the second time that day. Hurrah!

I dragged my tired butt around the terminal searching for food. Most of the stores were being renovated, so that was on the frustrating side, and my backpack probably weighed a good thirty pounds. Did I mention that at this point all I'd eaten were a couple of dried apple rings and a tiny bag of Doritos? Because that was a thing. Finally settled on the crowing glory of airport terminal food - a burger and large fry from McDonald's - and made my way to the gate.

While sitting there and browsing my facebook the way any normal person with a smart phone does in an airport, I got a message from my aunt and uncle that they'd be flying out of JFK internationally that day too, and would our paths maybe cross? Happily I got to spend an hour or so catching up with them before they left to wait at their gate for their flight to Turkey (!) and I returned to my own gate. It was amazingly lovely to see them, especially considering my own emotional turmoil at the time. Hugs from people I care about were exactly what I needed.

Eventually we boarded the plane for the most exhausting 6.5 hour flight I've ever been on. Normally I have no problem sleeping on planes but for some reason the window was farther away than normal so my lean-head-against-side-of-plane-and-sleep method was less than successful. Plus I wanted to eat the food (chicken tikka!) In total I got somewhere around 2 hours of intermittent sleep and saw Monsters U (eh,) part of Identity Thief (decent,) Silver Lining's Playbook (erm, slept through large chunks of that,) and... I can't remember, but I think there was another one.

Landed at Heathrow went through Immigration, got a card that I have to mail in because I didn't know the one thing, grabbed my bag, went through customs and then set off to figure out which mode of transport I wanted to used to get to my place - I could either take the express train to the Tube or two different Tube lines.

As the price differential was about 15 quid, which is around $22, I went for the cheaper version. It was fairly easy and reminded me of riding in Philly - some stations were underground, but most were actually outdoors which I quite appreciated. I arrived at my housing a bit early but they were happy to check me in.

The room is bigger than mine in St. Mary's sophomore year and has pretty much everything I could need. Whoever lived here before me wasn't the cleanest, so I have some kitchen cleaning I want to do, but otherwise I'm very happy with the condition. And I've had no trouble at all with the internet so far, which has been great.

I wandered to the nearby shopping center to pick up a few necessities (notably a pillow and towel) and to see if I could find anywhere that was hiring (Disney Store is certainly a possibility) but halfway through my legs and arms started screaming in protest and I had increasing difficulty keeping my eyes open, so more trips there will definitely be on my to-do list. For one thing, I need to try Nando's and Wagamama's!!!

I came back to my room and my resolution to stay up as long as possibly failed. A six hour nap caught me by surprise!

I should be posting a vlog soon, so look forward to that :) Tomorrow my first adventure on campus awaits!