Sunday, Day 2

Transit this morning was a breeze. Between my roomie and me, we had it pretty much down. Orientation meeting was this morning at the University of London. Had a safety talk by a Sargent in local police. He was quite entertaining and made fun of us at the same time. He was hilarious. He warned us about the fake taxi cabs that they are having a problem with these days so I was glad of that. Especially if I am going to go to theatre and get tired and want to take a taxi home instead of the bus.

Next, we had a talk about transit from Sara from AIFS and a talk about our home-stay families and guidelines from Penny. She is a sweetie from what I can tell.
Lunch next. Ate in a cool and really yummy place called Pret A Manger which seems to be a chain of little soup and sandwich places. I don't know how widespread they are but they had natural sodas that were awesome so I hope they have them all over! I had the ginger beer. So yummy!!!

After Lunch, we met up for a bus tour of London which was a bit of a repeat for me of my last trip to London. The cool thing is, this time I get to stay and enjoy it and explore it longer! I took lots of video today which I will post on my youtube (Lissagirl99) hopefully tonight. So go check that out. I don't promise that it was any good and there are a lot of little videos. I am not an experienced editor yet so they may be just awful but hopefully it will help you to see a little bit of what I saw today. Sean was our tour guide and he was very helpful and was mindful of what we as students would be interested in knowing so I liked him.

After the tour, we stopped at Tesco for a few groceries and I hoped to get a hairdryer and some allergy meds but all the shops closed by six so we just came on home.

Ursula is my roomie and she is great so far. We really seem to be getting along and I hope it stays that way. We are both having a great time and I am not feeling homesick yet. I don't know that I really will unless something bad happens and I don't think it will. Love to you all and take care!

Packing is DONE! YAY!

So, packing went really well this trip. I actually did most of it yesterday and have been fairly organized. I am finished now and will be going to bed before 3 in the morning so that is a definite improvement! Also, I am bringing a small video camera on the trip and plan to update my youtube channel regularly. Here is the link to today's video. http://www.youtube.com/user/Lissagirl99?feature=mhum I look horrible but I was packing and got rained on and was wearing old clothes that I didn't pack so whatever.

New Laptop for London

My awesome parents have arranged for me to have a new laptop to take with me to use in London. I am on it now. I am trying to figure out how to make it do what I want it to and get used to it enough before I leave in less than 2 weeks! Yay for cool parents!

Pre-trip update!!!

Had London Study Abroad Orientation yesterday down at Edmonds Community College. Stayed up too late the night before and was tired. They had coffee (which I don't drink) and proper English tea (apparently brought over from London, which I tried. I guess I have never had that kind and could only manage to take one sip because it was one of the most bitter things I have ever tasted. Guess I should have realized that it isn't herbal (which I love, peppermint is my favorite and chamomile is a close second.)

A lovely lady from the AIFS office in London flew over just for our orientation so that was nice. She was a frank, entertaining, and tell-it-like-it-is person.(and had awesome taste in shoes!) I hope all of the others are similar and we will get along just fine.

I felt like quite a nerd yesterday once I realized that I already knew most of what they were telling us in the orientation and found I had done way more research than anyone else there. I'm the nerd that read all of the material before hand (including the student manual). ugg! Oh, well. I really can't blame myself. I have been really excited and to pacify myself until September 24th (the day I fly out!!!), I have been reading, watching, and listening to anything that might possibly be related to my trip. I know what sights are open and when, the basic makeup of the government, and even have planned to meet some people from the travbuddy website. But the point is, I felt way over-prepared once I got there but will probably still keep up the research. I like knowing what I am to see and most importantly, how to save the most money. (I am going to have a lot less money than I was planning on while there and my budget is almost unbearably tight!!! I am really worrying about it. But I am sure it will all work out if I plan well.)

Up next...the joys of packing for 3 months and fitting it into a little suitcase!

Update

So, I am not sure this really pertains to study abroad but I feel like it was a step. I took the motorcycle safety class over this last weekend and passed with flying colors. I was the only girl to pass in our class and one of the high scorers out of the whole class! What an amazing high! And it has done wonders for my confidence level. I just couldn't stop smiling all evening Sunday and most of this morning too (even though I was incredibly tired and sore.)

This just makes me want to tackle London even more. I can do anything! Woo hoo!

That's my sweet little Lifan 200 up top.

Getting Started

Right now I am in the process of preparing for the study abroad program in London for fall 2010. I have to take this moment to thank all of the people who have helped me, encouraged me, met with me numerous times (and probably will continue to do so), given me great advice, and just been really supportive. Thank you so much!

Study Abroad has been a dream of mine since I first heard about it in my French class during my 8th grade year. All of you that know me, well, you know I have had some struggles and difficulties since then, especially after high school. This is a dream that I had given up on long ago because I didn't think it was possible for me. Now it is happening and I am so happy but still can't believe it! So thank you again! This really means a lot to me!

(I am also collecting addresses from people who would like me to send them postcards. So if that is you, contact me and we will work it out!)

Cheers everyone!