1/16 -17

Days 2 & 3.
These past few days have been mainly taken up by my class orientations. Although at times boring, of course they gave us a ton of helpful info about program field trips, our classes and internships. I'm excited to have classes start Monday as well as my interview on Tuesday. I still have to prepare for my interview and research my hospital a bit more, but hopefully all will go well and my interviewer will by nice! Besides orientation, its been great getting to know more people and making more friends. So far my main crowd consists of girls in my flat (16) and on flat 5 as well. We've tried to go out both nights, only to not find the bar we wanted to go to, or showing up to late to a pub crawl and finding it sold out. Although both attempts were fruitless, it was still nice to practice going on the tube and getting to see the towns in person. Definitely by the end of this trip I want to have stopped at each station/town to get a feel of the location. I've gotten my little cheapy travel phone, walked around and saw beautiful architecture between orientation classes, had a traditional tea time hosted by CAPA (with scones and clotted cream!) and went to this cute little italian restaurant for a girl I met's birthday. More roaming around and meeting more people is for sure to come, but for now I'm having pretty fun! xx

 Tea Time! Yumm!

Free Champagne at this adorable italian cafe. The Italian door man was so sweet and insisted on taking a picture of us!

Arrival

Here is the full, long, a bit stressful, a bit amazing tale of my arrival in London.

That morning I was exited and ready to go, a bit stressed, but I pulled it together only to realize that 2 hours before I had to leave for my flight my suit case was too big. My mom and I went to go weigh it and then evidently measure it (because we never looked at the restrictions - why would they sell a suitcase that was too big in the first place!) and found out this was just not going to work. Low and behold 40 min later we had rushed to TJ Maxx bought a CORRECT sized luggage and had everything transferred to the new one. Once we (the whole fam!) arrived at the airport and said our tearful goodbyes (well, only mom cried) I was off and waving to them from across security. Once through the terminal I headed to my gate and found quite a crowd of college students forming. Luckily I found a sweet group of girls that were happy to be my friend! Then we boarded the plane and took off. Although I thought the 8 hours would feel long and imagining I would spend my time reading, watching movies, listening to music and getting a little shut eye - of course it wasn't anything how imagined. Although the 8 hours did go by quite fast it consisted of watching a movie right away (and practically nodding off by the end) eating airplane dinner, trying to sleep while changing positions every 20 min and eventually accepting I won't get any sleep, eating the airplane breakfast and landing. Needless to say I got maybe an hour of good sleep.

But once we arrived, it was pretty much up hill after that! I got to catch a taxi with 3 other girls who were staying in my flat building (while trying not to zone out, or realize how tired I was during the 35 min ride). Once I arrived I got settled into my room and went on a walking tour - which consisted of a program leader showing all the students who lived in my building the neighborhood. She was super helpful showing us the very short walk to the tube, and pointing out good restaurants and shops along the way. (After this some of us went and got toiletries and some food for the next day - mom this is aimed solely at you to ease some of your worries). By this time it was around 3 o'clock, when we went back to our flats and just chilled. I got to know my flat mates better as well as visit my friends only a few floors down. By 5 o'clock we all were pretty much starving so we went to a pub just a few blocks away. Being my first night in London, I thought why not do as the Londoners!! I got fish and chips and a 1/2 pint of hard cider! Sitting at a big table with a bunch of us drinking pints and eating pub food surrounded by British accents made me so happy and even more exited at what these next few months will bring.

Back at the flat my night has finished up by starting to unpack, taking a shower, rearranging our room and blogging before I know this night of sleep will be very appreciated to my tired body.

P.S. My room is AMAZING and has a spectacular view - so a room tour will be in order :) xx

My Flat!

I have my apartment/flat address! I will be living in North London in the Borough of Islington. My neighborhood is Farringdon, and my flat is called Kamen House. 

"Kamen House is located Farringdon, a historic area of old London. Meaning ‘fern covered hill’, the word Farringdon has often been used throughout history to describe many places across England. A day spent exploring Farringdon and its surrounding areas will expose a rich history of transportation and business, particularly from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Kamen House is located just a few minutes’ walk from Farringdon station. Approximately a 20 min walk to the Museum of London."

There are 10 people in my apartment, and I will be sharing a room with 2 of them. All 10 of us will be  sharing a living room and kitchen as well. It seems like a good location and I'm excited to get down there and see how far or close it is in relation to everything! xx

There I am!

Burrrrrr

Upper 40's is looking pretty good right now!!

16 Days, Calendars and Traveling Plans!

Merry Christmas! Well, I guess Christmas was 3 days ago, but I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday. Now that I can't blame the holidays for my lack of posts - here I am!
Its getting so close to departure time, now is the period where all your family members at Christmas ask "Arn't you excited?"while I respond in a stuttered "of course!?". The thing is, its coming so quick I can barely comprehend it all! Of course I'm excited, its just hard to wrap my head around the fact that I am leaving in 16 days. 16 days, even typing that feels crazy.

I got my 1 month update from my program a few weeks ago releasing a program calendar, and myEduation (activities/events hosted by my program) calendar. Seeing that made it a bit more real, to see the calendar and realize I was only a few weeks away from staring my classes, or even visiting Stone Hedge.

Here is some of my program dates:

As well as program events, they also mentioned outside travel excursion opportunities. One of the #1 things I'm excited to do is not only travel around London, but around Europe. Currently I have no set plans when and where I'm traveling to, but I am leaving it pretty open. I want to do a few weekend trips and especially travel around during my spring break. I'm hoping I will make friends over there who have their spring break open too and we can travel somewhere together! As for travel after my program ends, I actually booked a flight home the day its over (more so because they highly recommend not flying into the UK without a flight out). But I'm still up in the air (haha, no pun intended!) about canceling my return flight and traveling more after. I'm just hoping it will sort itself out while I'm over there.

A lot to think about, but any down time I get I end up daydreaming about London and the adventure to be had :) xx

One Month to Go!

I'm Getting Exited..!

3 More Months!

P.S. Did anyone notice I dyed my hair? Just went a bit more brunette :)  xx