Day 1

I arrived in London late last night after eight hours of rocking the middle seat between two Asian women. The little girl to my front left coughed non-stop for about and hour and then threw up in the aisle. Awesome. The lady to my front right got a nose bleed and I witnessed the flight attendants bitch her out for not holding her nose right the right way. Again awesome. To top it all off ,the featured movies for my flight were Shorts and Monsters vs. Aliens. Monsters vs. Aliens was not bad, but if you've never had the privilege of seeing Shorts it features a segment where a mutated booger chases the main characters throughout a house. Let's just say it was no BIH (Buried in History).

After landing I took a cab from Heathrow to my apartment and watched in horror as the meter went up 20 pence every four seconds on the highway, but alas I was in London so I got over it. My apartment is located on Stamford Street in Waterloo, which is on the south bank of the Thames. Looking left from the Waterloo Bridge this is what you see:

Looking right off of Waterloo Bridge you can see St. Paul’s Cathedral and The Gherkin, but I did not take a picture of the right side today. Don’t fret though; I walk over the bridge everyday so I’ll get you a picture soon. Once I had arrived at my apartment building, I breezed through security and then lugged my three bags and backpack across the courtyard and up to my flat (38) on the fifth floor. One of my flat mates was up so I chatted with him and then went to bed in my freezing cold room because I could not figure out how to work the heat. It turns out there’s a small switch under the heater that turns it on. I found that out this morning after I nearly froze to death last night. Today I woke up and took a shower in my awesome bathroom….

The rest of my room is just as impressive as the bathroom. It’s like an Econolodge room cut in half….

Yes that is my Ohio flag and I'm getting sick of writing so I'm just going to to recount the most interesting parts of my day:

1. The man at the electronic store freaking out because I called a mobile a cell phone.

2. I rode the Tube today with my flat mate and had to buy an Oyster Card (same thing as a Smart Trip). The woman that sold me the Oyster Card asked me where I was from. I said, “Ohio,” and she replied, “Oh I hear Ohio’s peaceful. I love your accent. I think American accents are sexy. Don’t blush.” I blushed and secretly celebrated.

3. My first meal in the U.K. was Pizza Express. Apparently they do have pizza here.

4. I decided that at some point in the semester I am going to make it rain with pound coins.

That’s it for now. Tomorrow I have enrollment and hopefully I can make enough friends to go out.