LONDON 01

Day 01 - leaving home & arriving in London

My oh my, where do I even begin?

My day consisted of a flight from Rapid City to Denver, then from Denver straight overnight into London. The sendoff from the airport was, of course, a total tear-fest. There was lots of hugging, mom making sure I knew that I was going to be fine, and Tessa telling me that this would be the greatest experience ever. That was the hardest part for me, walking away as they stood and waved, but I told myself once I got to my gate that I would pull myself together and it would all be okay. Sitting at the gate alone was surreal, knowing that it was the last time (for a while) that I would see them and not knowing what in the world I had just gotten myself into. I was terrified, but also so excited for what was to come.

My first bump in the road came when I had passport troubles whilst trying to board. My boarding pass and passport wouldn’t scan correctly, so I had to step aside and allow everyone else to pass me and get on the plane, while I waited for the man at the desk to finish and help me. Good start, right? Anybody that knows me can probably assume (correctly) that I was bugging out a little on the inside, but the new, independent, and calm me managed to remain cool and collected on the outside. ;) Anywho, after a bit, that was resolved and I was able to board my flight to Denver.

I had a 3-hour layover in Denver, so I wandered around quite a bit, ate some Panda Express, and sat at the gate. When I was at the gate, I happened to meet my first Florence friend, Rachel! She was so nice and we were the only two from the program flying out of Denver at that time, so we sat together in the airport. After a while, we boarded our huge two-story plane (yes you read that correctly, it was crazy) and settled in for the 8 and a half hour flight to London. Since this was a red-eye flight, it was not crowded at all and pretty much every single person on the flight had an entire row to himself. It was SO nice! I also met a nice kid in the row in front of me who was also studying abroad, but in Leeds. He was so funny and he kept turning around and talking to me and making me laugh! (Friend count: 2, feelin’ like a social butterfly.) The flight was so long, but it felt like it went by pretty quickly because I got to eat dinner, watch a movie (Me and Earl and The Dying Girl), and then sprawl out in my row and try to sleep for a while before having breakfast. I managed to get maybe 2 hours, but other than that, my body just wasn’t really having it, so it was pretty much an all-nighter. Also, just a side note, the pilot and flight attendants on our flight all had amazing British accents, so the whole time I was totally content just sitting there listening to them speak. (Yes, I’m obsessed.)

We arrived in London mid-morning and went straight to customs, then baggage claim, then to find our AIFS driver to take us to the hotel. We ended up meeting with about 5 other girls that had arrived around the same time and we all hopped in the van with our huge bags and set off for Kensington to the Copthorne Tara Hotel. We were located in such a posh neighborhood, so it was so fun driving down all the little streets and seeing the people and homes as we passed by! When we arrived at the hotel, a man from the program met us and gave us our keys, some safety information and a map of London, telling us that we had a meeting in a few hours and we were free until then. That was it. I went to my room so dazed from staying up all night to be met with a person’s bags but no roommate in sight and no clue where the girls on the van had gone. I was freaking out a little bit as I just stood in my room not knowing what to do. Here I was, alone in London with not one friend I can contact and no clue what to do. Not to mention, my phone wouldn’t work and I had no way of telling anybody that I had arrived safely. Luckily, I heard some girls in the room next to me and forced myself to peek out when their door opened and ask if I could hang out with them until our meeting.  We ended up walking around Kensington High Street and getting some lunch before we went back to the hotel. (Friend count: 4- whoa Paige, slow down.) This was one of the weirdest afternoons of my life. I was only about half awake because jet lag started to set in really hard, and I was with two random girls I had just met, wandering around London. It was bizarre. That night was a little rough. I didn’t want to go out to the bars, so I ended up by myself in the room with no dinner, calling my mom crying. (After I finally got my phone to work.) I felt like I had made a mistake coming here and I was so overtired, hungry and lonely. Reassured that this was very similar to how Tessa was feeling on her first night two years ago, I pulled myself together, ordered some room service, and attempted to catch up sleep.

(Tessa insisted on me taking pictures everywhere, even if it was awkward. So here you go Tess, ^^ this is a picture that I took while sitting at the gate, feeling very awkward.)