It's real!!!

I have arrived! I am now actually in London and it's amazing! It's so weird to see something you've only heard about or seen in pictures before. It's like walking through a dream or a movie or something. But it's so incredibly cool at the same time! In fact, when walking through a market today in the middle of London, we saw a food show being filmed outside! That was unexpected.

So, I decided, no matter how much money it costs, business class just might be worth every penny of it. The flight here wasn't bad, and luckily I'm short, but still, after about an hour my bum was sore and I just wanted to get out of my seat. I'd been sitting all day by the time I started the 10 hour flight, and I also got put in the middle seat between two people I didn't know. Like I said, after about an hour my bum started to hurt and I thought I was going to go crazy, and thanks to watching House, I swore I was about to have a blood clot in my legs and they would have to chop off my legs. But, it wasn't it turns out. :) And I tried to sleep towards the end of the flight by putting my head forward on the tray, which usually works, but with the seat in front of me down, it went back so far I couldn't even do that.

But some good stuff about the flight. I got my own little TV which had some cool stuff on it. There were like 15 movies I could choose from! I started watching "Eagle Eye", but got bored, so I watched "The Kite Runner." That was amazing! There were a few parts that were really intense, but it was so good. And I though they did an amazing job of creating the screen play from the book. They stayed really true to it and captured the heart of the book. Excellent. They also had a bunch of movie shows on there. The last two hours of the flight I found "House" so I watched that for the remainder of the flight. I was so ready to be off. But, also interesting, I used the bathroom on an airplane for the very first time. I've never even seen a real one before. I was always scared to use one because I thought they were going to be all crazy confusing. Turns out they're exactly the same as any other bathroom, just smaller. So that was my first new experience. Also, the food was pretty darn good. Yea for Air New Zealand. We got dinner first, which I got chicken with potatoes, and it also came with a drink, a salad, desert, and bread. And the chicken was super good. Then we were also served breakfast, and I chose the cheese omelet, which came with potatoes, yogurt, a drink, fruit (good fruit), and something else that I can't remember. But it was a lot of food and very tasty. So yea, the flight wasn't too bad. But after I saw the buisness class had footrests, I decided I wanted to try that someday... Maybe on the flight back.

I arrived in London on Wednesday morning of the 6th. I went through customs and entered the massive baggage claim that is Heathrow airport. I was waiting at one terminal when I looked over and saw my luggage going around another one! So thankfully I was able to find it. I was supposed to meet two people there from my program who got in a little before me, but they weren't where we were supposed to meet. So I figured they'd already taken off, since it had been awhile. So I went and found the Heathrow Express, which is a train and took that to London Paddington Station. I rode my first train ever!! And it was in London, which I think is somehow appropriate. Then, walking through my first train station, which looked like something out of a movie, I found the taxi station, which is where you stand in a line and taxis come and pick you up. So I got in a taxi, and the taxi driver called me "love", and I couldn't help but smile the whole drive because I was in a TAXI in LONDON! It was my first time ever again! I thought I was going to have a heart attack the whole drive though because they're crazy drivers here! And the roads are so small and they drive on the other side I kept thinking we were all going to collide! But I arrived at the BYU London Centre safe and sound. And I got there all by myself! I was pretty darn proud of my newly acquired adult abilities. I did think of mom while doing it, and how she said she'd just sit in the corner crying in the fetal position if she had to do that alone. :)

The Centre is great! It's so pretty and the architecture is amazing! Our street is really pretty and full of all these really tall red and white buildings. Guess how many floors we have? Five. And guess where my room is? Yes: on the very top. I'm in dorm room five, with five other people. But how do you get to that room you may ask? Elevator? Dumbwaiter? Nope. Stairs. Yes, stairs. Five flights of them. I hate stairs... And the last flight you even have to open a little door to get to! I felt like I was being banished to live with a ghost or something. It was a literally a scene out of "The Little Princess." I was so tired. But the room is really cool and again, the centre is awesome.

My group was on kitchen duty for the first week. So we helped set up for dinner, and did breakfast this morning as well. It was so funny, because last night everyone was exhausted and some people started going to bed at like 7. I kept up till 10 and then fell into bed.

This morning I had to guess the time to be down for kitchen duty at 7:20. But we didn't have to do that much. So, another story of my brillance. I took a show after breakfast, and the water was really cold, with just a hint of fading heat. I figured everyone else had already used up all the hot water. So I took a quick and really cold shower. Then I turned the lever to turn it off, and the water turned warm. Sad story... I should figure out how to better use showers. So I took a cold shower for nothing, but then stood in the warm water for a minute and enjoyed that.

Then a bunch of us went exploring around London. We took the Tube to the middle of London, which was way fun. I love the Tube! And then we just walked around, not caring where we went. It was awesome! We walked down this little side street and found a prison museum. So we went in and it was way cool! And really scary. :) I would not have liked prison back then... even if the inmates were cute.

So, that is it so far! Now I have to report for kitchen duty and enjoy a wonderful meal. Until next time!