Day 1 & 2: June 9-10, 2013 - Off to Londontown!

Guys. I'm in London! My flight to freaking Detroit was yesterday June 9 at 3:15. I got to the airport around 12:15 and met up with the people going on the group flight with Jena. It was hard for me to say goodbye to my family but I'm so grateful for their love and support, thanks for teaching me to love the world and adventures!

Here's a picture of us standing in the security line...

I got a Dr. P and a chocolate shake from Smashburger at the airport waiting for the plane to start boarding. I got to know a lot of the people I'm going to spend the next six weeks with which is really fun! I'm really excited to get to know them all better and share this amazeballs adventure with them (that was for you Al if you read this :D). On the way to Detroit, I sat by the window squished next to these two old people who didn't speak English. That was fun when I had to pee really bad but they were both asleep.

So we all know how much I LOVE Detroit... that was sarcastic. I hate Detroit. With a passion. Bob is the biggest douche and I'm pretty sure the "soul food" is still living in my stomach... Anyway, we were only there for an hour. I didn't even have time to grab some food so I got super yummy airplane food... I sat next to Jena and Kasee on the flight to London. It was nice sitting next to familiar faces and having an aisle seat. I can't sleep on planes very well - I'm just so uncomfortable and my legs usually blow up like balloons - I wore my mom's compression socks and they did work very well but still. I just hate flying, not because I'm scared, but because I am just so uncomfortable.

So I watched like four movies, ending in Peter Pan! The flight was only like six-seven hours so really not bad. We got there an hour earlier than expected which was super nice. We got off and stood in the super long, fun customs line. We got our bags (I was really glad that my luggage wasn't lost in the abyss of luggage never to be found), herded everyone together, and went on a hunt for Camille and Natasha. We waited for two and a half hours for them until we finally gave up and got on the Tube to our flat.

We left the station at "Cockfosters" TEEHEE! We got off at Gloucester Road. Apparently our group isn't very good at crossing streets in London. It's the same as in America - you cross when there is a little green man lit up... It took us a while haha we made it to the flat finally and got our keys. I'm rooming with Natasha, Kasee, and Sam, or the DA as we like to call it :D So I had a big suitcase that weighed exactly 50 pounds, a little carry-on that I had shoved all my random stuff into, and then a bulging backpack. Ya... there are a million flights of stairs in order to get to our flat... We are Flat 17 which is the second from the top. I started with the little suitcase but I still died. Getting the big one up was hilarious - my flip flops kept getting knocked off, thanks for grabbing them Kas! By the time I had lugged all my crap to my room, I was so tired, hot, and sweaty. But hey I did it and hopefully I'll lose some poundage climbing up all those stupid stairs a million times a day. We unpacked and got everything settled.

 Super cool random church right down the street from us...

 We have two bunk beds - Kas and I get top, Sam and Tash get bottom

 We all get little wardrobes too

View from our window - very posh neighborhood in Kensington...

I facetimed with my fam and apparently missed the time when everyone was supposed to meet up to get our Oyster Cards, our transportation cards. So Sam escorted me to the South Kensington Tube station and I met up with Nate and a few others in the group. There was a problem with the UVU credit card so Nate said to go grab something to eat and meet him back at the station. I wasn't too hungry so I headed over to Starbucks and grabbed a caramel vanilla bean - YUM!

I headed back to the meeting spot and they had left without me again... I looked all around the station but I couldn't find them. So I just headed back to the flat and hung out with Sam and Tash before our apartment building meeting. Hopefully Rick and I can figure that out tomorrow. I tried so hard not to fall asleep. We went down to the basement and these two girls gave us a speech on all the crap that we are not supposed to do in the flat - uh duh! Sam, Tash, Camille, Shelby, Jessica, and I then headed down to the Waitrose (a little grocery store thingy). I grabbed some Dr. P of course, some grapes, bagels with cream cheese, chocolate, and some little microwave pizzas. Hopefully that'll get me through the week and I'll start to get a feel for my budget. We came home and unpacked then I rearranged my drawers and facetimed with Al for a bit. Now I'm blogging while listening to Kas read a SparkNotes summary of one of our readings... don't tell Rick or Nate! Can't wait for tomorrow, I have no idea what we are doing but I'm super excited!