I have finally made a blog! Enjoy :)
My flight to London was a serious adventure/disaster. Because of the snow, my first flight (from Philadelphia) was delayed almost 4 hours. By the time I was finally getting on the plane in Philly, my connection flight had already left Dulles, Washington DC Airport. I had to decide to whether or not to stay in Philadelphia (home sweet home) and risk not getting on another flight until Thursday, or go to Dulles and spend the night there. After about twelve phone calls home and some stressful tears, I ended up leaving Philadelphia to have a lovely slumber party in Dulles before my 9 am flight the next morning. Luckily, I wasn't alone. When I curled up in a chair to sleep, there were 3 other people sleeping at the same gate! Besides being fearful of my stuff getting stolen (I slept on top of my computer, passport, & wallet), sleeping at the airport wasn't so bad. Well, waking up surrounded by early morning travelers was a little bit odd, but things could have been worse!
When I finally reached London, and got through border control (stood in line for over an hour) and got to my flat (expensive cab ride on the wrong side of the road), it was about 1 am London time. I didn't have a key or anything, and i rang the doorbell for about an hour before anyone woke up to open the door. There was more stressing, but in the end i didnt have to sleep on the stoop.
So on my first full day here, we had orientations which were both helpful and tedious. We learned lots about CAPA, my university here. It stands for Centre for Academic Programs Abroad. There are students from lots of universities here; lots from Pitt, University of Minnesota, and UMass Amherst. There are some students from other schools too, like Arizona State, Missouri State, and University of Delaware. There is one CAPA Building where we have advising, classes, and other such fun things. Our orientations were on London in general, what to expect from internships, and police safety information. Then at night CAPA held a "Welcome Tea Party" at a fancy hotel. They fed us scones and mini sandwiches and tea, all of which were surprisingly DELICIOUS. I usually don't like tea at all, but the Brits may have convinced me!
My flat is within walking distance to the CAPA building (about 7 minutes), while all other dorms have to take the tube to and from. We are in Earl's Court, within Kensington. I love the area we are in, we have a bunch of convenience stores, coffee shops, clothing stores, and restaurants around the corner from us. All of the buildings are kind of uniform looking townhouses, which I think makes the streets look really pretty!
There are 6 of us in our flat, and several flats above us with other CAPA students. Our rooms are very small for 3 people, but we have a large common room and kitchen so I think we'll be able to make it for 4 months :)
My flight to London was a serious adventure/disaster. Because of the snow, my first flight (from Philadelphia) was delayed almost 4 hours. By the time I was finally getting on the plane in Philly, my connection flight had already left Dulles, Washington DC Airport. I had to decide to whether or not to stay in Philadelphia (home sweet home) and risk not getting on another flight until Thursday, or go to Dulles and spend the night there. After about twelve phone calls home and some stressful tears, I ended up leaving Philadelphia to have a lovely slumber party in Dulles before my 9 am flight the next morning. Luckily, I wasn't alone. When I curled up in a chair to sleep, there were 3 other people sleeping at the same gate! Besides being fearful of my stuff getting stolen (I slept on top of my computer, passport, & wallet), sleeping at the airport wasn't so bad. Well, waking up surrounded by early morning travelers was a little bit odd, but things could have been worse!
When I finally reached London, and got through border control (stood in line for over an hour) and got to my flat (expensive cab ride on the wrong side of the road), it was about 1 am London time. I didn't have a key or anything, and i rang the doorbell for about an hour before anyone woke up to open the door. There was more stressing, but in the end i didnt have to sleep on the stoop.
So on my first full day here, we had orientations which were both helpful and tedious. We learned lots about CAPA, my university here. It stands for Centre for Academic Programs Abroad. There are students from lots of universities here; lots from Pitt, University of Minnesota, and UMass Amherst. There are some students from other schools too, like Arizona State, Missouri State, and University of Delaware. There is one CAPA Building where we have advising, classes, and other such fun things. Our orientations were on London in general, what to expect from internships, and police safety information. Then at night CAPA held a "Welcome Tea Party" at a fancy hotel. They fed us scones and mini sandwiches and tea, all of which were surprisingly DELICIOUS. I usually don't like tea at all, but the Brits may have convinced me!
My flat is within walking distance to the CAPA building (about 7 minutes), while all other dorms have to take the tube to and from. We are in Earl's Court, within Kensington. I love the area we are in, we have a bunch of convenience stores, coffee shops, clothing stores, and restaurants around the corner from us. All of the buildings are kind of uniform looking townhouses, which I think makes the streets look really pretty!
There are 6 of us in our flat, and several flats above us with other CAPA students. Our rooms are very small for 3 people, but we have a large common room and kitchen so I think we'll be able to make it for 4 months :)
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