I MADE IT!

I am now in England it was a long journey, but I made it. It was hard at the airport to say good-bye to my loved ones, but I know that I had to do it. The first plane was fine and I arrived at Washington Dulles and only had a little bit of time before I had to board my first international flight. I tried getting on email but of course I had to pay for internet, therefore I did not pay. My flight to Heathrow, London was okay I did not sleep much, but I hope tonight that I can sleep.

When I arrived in Heathrow I tried looking for my roommate, but the airport is big and we did not do a good job of communicating with one another. To make a long story short, I got lost in the airport, tried to ask a man how to get to Bath (which is where my school is), he did not know and said that I should know this information. I then asked him for directions to another train station and that is where I finally got on a Coach bus, the same in the USA. The bus ride was about two hours long and gratefully I fell asleep for a little while. However, when I arrived at the Bath Bus station I did not see anyone, so I had to take out my laptop and figure out where I was supposed to meet everyone. Because of the delay of getting on the Coach Bus I was one of the last two people here at the program.

I came to my house (flat) and everyone, so seven other people were all waiting in the living room if that is what they call it in England. The flat is set up nicely, the kitchen, dining room, and full bathroom are in the basement, on the ground level is a single room and the living room, the 1st floor is two double bedrooms and two half bathrooms, the 2nd floor has a double bedroom and a single bedroom, with a bathroom with no toilet, don't ask me why.

A person from ASE came to the house to show us how to use the house, like running the washing machine, dryer, turning on the showers and other basic things that you would think would be the same as the U.S. but they are very different. After the orientation with the house we all decided that we were going to go out to dinner, because there is not a lot of food in the house for tonight and tomorrow. However, I still needed to unpack, but I got most of it done before dinner. We went to pub, but first we had to find a place that was open because it seems like a lot of places close early. At the pub this gentlemen in his 50's just started talking to all eight of us about random things but we all laughed even though we were so hungry. The last stop on our journey was a small grocery store.

Tomorrow will be the start of orientation and the school has us doing a lot in the next couple of days, so I am going to say so long for now because I need to catch some rest and start being on ENGLAND time. Pictures and perhaps a video of my flat to come soon, of course when I have free time.

Love you all,

Monica