The Beginning of the End... *queue ominous music*

Hello all you virtual people! I am so excited to be sharing this experience with you. With the many requests I received for pictures and stories, I thought this would be the easiest way to keep everyone updated… with the added bonus of a personal record for future reminiscence! I only ask for a little patience; this is my first experience blogging and it will certainly be a journey of its own. So without further ado… let the madness begin!

Day 1 (or really 2 days mashed into one really long day)

19 – 20 January

I arrived at LAX in record time. I was glad my flight was on a Sunday afternoon, therefore avoiding the true insanity that LA traffic usually is. There were a few baggage hiccups at the airport, but I had arrived 3 hours early and had ample time to sort it all out.

The normal airport routines ensued and before I knew it, there I was sitting outside at the gate; a wide-eyed and eager traveler… surrounded by the maybe 2 other people in my otherwise empty corner of the airport. Eventually I realized that I had 2 hours until take-off and should probably calm down a little… just a little.

Upon boarding, I was pleasantly surprised both by the size of the plane and the services provided on it; I wasn't expecting 2 meals and a truly wide variety of entertainment options on our individual screens. The seat next to me was even open, so I got a little extra room.

I watched Singin' in the Rain while I waited for food to be served. Afterwards, I did my best to try and sleep, given that it was around 5:30 pm. I woke up when it was time for breakfast and before long, we were landing.

Overall, the flight went well. We even arrived about 30 minutes early… so you know, the flight was only 10.25 hours long haha.

I was a little nervous going through customs; I was sure I would be stranded at the airport forever because I had forgotten some document, but it all went fine and finally I was striding in to the United Kingdom (ahhh!), practically skipping with a freshly stamped passport in tow.

I collected my baggage and found the Underground without too much difficulty. I felt a little silly lugging my heavy suitcase around when it seemed like everyone else magically had nothing to carry. Regardless, I got onto the London Underground for the first time and took my seat with more excitement than I could describe. As the train started moving, I was truly overwhelmed with emotions. The sights and sounds of the tube triggered flashbacks both to movies and to my own dreams of what it would be like. I couldn't believe (silly as it may sound) that the UK was an actual place and that I was actually, finally in it.

Just as I was getting used to the sights of the Underground, the train briefly broke above and I was confronted with even more excitement to deal with. (May I just add that, by this point, I was completely baffled as to how my fellow passengers- who were clearly locals- were sitting there calmly, completely unfazed by all of this.) We passed a bit of countryside (I’m not sure if it could even be described as that) and, believe it or not, it was distinctly British in comparison to that of America. But it wasn't until we passed some classic English houses and I saw English cars driving on an English street that it finally really hit me. I am not in America. This is a different country. I am in the United Kingdom.

Yes, I know, this may seem like a simple thing to understand and clearly shouldn't be any sort of revelation. Obviously, I knew I was in the UK, but really letting it sink in fully was an entirely separate feat. Keep in mind that I have never really left the country and that I have completely adored, dreamed about, and admired from afar (very afar) England for a long, long time. This was literally a dream come true.

By some act of fate, my stop was King’s Cross. For those of you who have experienced the true insanity that is my Harry Potter obsession, I think you can understand how much that was the cherry on top of a very delicious mound of ice cream. Unfortunately, I was jet lagged, extremely hungry, sweaty from dragging my heavy luggage everywhere, and in no way had the stamina to carry my bags up even more stairs or be in even more peoples’ way in my quest to go to Hogwarts. Even if I had the energy to take a trip to Platform 9¾, I didn't have free hands for picture taking and was far too paranoid about someone running off with one of my suitcases if I let go of them for a second. Finally, I resigned to coming back later. (I will come back for youuu!!)

I took the relatively short walk to my hotel and (finally!) had reached my destination. Unfortunately, the rooms were not yet clean so my long awaited shower would have to be delayed a little longer. On the bright side, I found that many of my fellow orientation-ers from the UC's (University of California’s) were already waiting in the sitting room. I had a nice time getting to know some of them before my room was finally available and I went up to take a shower. When I was all cleaned up and I was getting my things situated, my roommate arrived and I spent some time getting to know her.

A really horrible picture of the view

outside my window... dunno why I 

put this in here...

At 3, we went downstairs to meet up with our Orientation Leaders (the lovely Monika and Holly) and the rest of the 34 UCEAP (University of California, Education Abroad Program) students. From the lobby we took the 15 minute walk to the UCEAP London Study Center where our Country Orientation would officially begin.

We were properly introduced to Monika, our main leader who is originally from Poland, and Holly, who is British. After a few ice-breakers we played an actually really fun game that tested how much we knew about British culture, phrases, and terminology. Though my team lost we all got UCEAP totes full of English snacks.

Silly name but delicious snack!

Chocolate coated caramel.

What are Lays? Obviously, you mean Walkers.

Yes, they're called "Digestives"...

It sounds weird but they are actually delicious cookies!

Then, keeping in mind the extreme state of everyone’s jet lag, we of course began the hour long lecture about all the things we should be fully awake to absorb; travel safety, medical insurance, banking, homesickness and culture shock. Naturally, I did my best to absorb everything but many others failed in the mission of staying awake…

After orientation, we all went out to dinner, paid for by the EAP office. In an effort to ease our adjustment, Monika and Holly took us out to the nice burger place in London; “Byron’s Proper Burgers”. It was really nice, but with a full stomach and dim lighting, I was more than ready to collapse by the time we made it back to the hotel.