New Beginnings

*This is an extrememly long post* Holy crap. What a day. Well as the title suggested, I suppose I should start at the beginning.
Before I do that though, I want to make known that even the keyboards are slightly different here. The shirt key is exceedingly small and where the " usually is, @ replaced it. That completely messes up my rhythm in entering my facebook name. I also have not slept in approximately 36 hours or something outrageous like that. Keep that in mind as I mutter incoherently.
As I said, start at the beginning. The beginning of this little adventure of mine was being dropped off at the airport. My mom, dad, and sister came with me. When I was checking my baggage, one of my bags was seven pounds over weight so I had to do some rearranging. I was not mentally prepared for this so I was rather annoyed and such (sorry to anyone who had to witness, including the flight attendant). So I said my goodbyes and I went through security. I met up with the two girls from my program while we were waiting to board. We discussed the usual stuff: majors, excitement, fears, yadda yadda. We did not have seats by each other (they did, I did not). I boarded the plane and the girl I sat next to ended up being a junior from U of M TC studying abroad in London as well. Also by us were three other girls on the same program. The girl's name was Brit (coincidence? and picture of her to the left) and she was very cool. We watched "Into the Wild". She took sleeping medicine but it only made her cranky (her words, not mine). After that I read "An Abundance of Katherines" which Amy had sneakily tried to put in my backpack before I left. Incidentally, I ended up finishing the book on the plane. A testament to how good the book was. My flight was only 7.5 hours a full hour less than was expected.
After the plane landed, Brit and I exchanged e-mail addresses and I went to get my baggage. I did not mention before but I had to take two pairs of jeans and a sweatshirt with my carry on (to reduce weight) so I proceeded to stick that stuff back in the suitcases (yet another opening of the suitcases in public). I exchanged some money and bought my train and tube (subway) tickets. Pretty uneventful train rides. It was exciting actually being in London, but not much happened. It must have been a sight to see of me having my red backpacking back pack on my back (lots of -ack), my yellow back pack on front, my coat in one hand, a map in the other, while totting along the big black suitcase. I saw myself in the reflection of the window and laughed at myself. Anyway, I got to the tube station by my flat (apartment) and proceeded to get completely and utterly lost. A woman helped me. She said, "I live around here and it doesn't look like you do." I asked, "What gave it away? My luggage or the clueless look on my face?" She responded, "Both." Anyway I got to my flat after a TON of walking with all that crazy weight.
I was informed that I was the last SJU person to arrive. I met my roommate. His name is Mo. I don't know much about him. He was always sleeping or I was out and about (more on this later). I unpacked and we had a tour of the imporant stuff around our flats by our RA. He walked super fast and it was raining and he never waited for everyone to catch up before he started talking so a bunch of people missed the memo. After that I went to the grocery store with some people (Kristina and Vanessa). It was very disorienting not knowing ANY brands and being dog tired. We were all missing our parents buying and picking out food for us. After that, I was itching to go and see something even though it was raining and I was a dead man walking (I am crazy, I know). I asked Vanessa if she wanted to go and she said yes which was awesome.
We went to the tube and bought tickets. I am really glad I came from Gatwick on my own. It definitely built my confidence up on the transportation system. Anyway, we went to the Thames and saw the Houses of Parlaiment and Big Ben (pictures to the left) and the London Eye. It was INCREDIBLE. My pictures look like crap because of the rain but it was stunning seeing them in person at night. I still find it hard to believe that I am actually here around all these super famous and historic monuments. Vanessa and I walked across to the London Eye and back over the Millenium Bridge and to Trafalgar Square. This is when it all gets a little hazy and kept making wrong turns and I felt really bad. Vanessa was really cool about the whole thing. We talked about going to the Tower of London but decided against it because of the roar of our stomachs and the barking of our dogs. Another day.
This might be one of the busiest, most disorienting, lesson learning day of my life. I wish there was a way to describe how awesome it is to be here and all the awesome things I have to look forward to but I am not the great of a writer. Anyone who finished this post is a saint and I love you. As the song goes, "Another new beginning is another beginnings end" and I can definitely see this new beginning happening. Love you all!