getting adapted to London!

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I have to say my first week here was an overwhelming and emotional one. I have my good days and my bad ones but my experience here has been far from what I expected it to be like.  The picture below is the very first picture I took since I landed in London. Trying to adapt to the city and new culture with people you do not know was a lot for me

to take in which caused me to miss home a lot and not want to be here.  The hardest part for me is feeling like I’m alone even though I have a ton of support, walking to and from class in this huge city makes me feel like I’m alone. The dorm living here is also a lot different then how I imagined it being like from the information I received about it. All of the students who came here through CISabroad were randomly placed in the hall I am in and so it isn’t as community based as I thought it would be. Also, I found on University of Westminster’s website that they rent their rooms commercially during the summer months.  I’ve met two girls who only stayed here for ten days, a girl who will be here for two years, and I’ve seen people of all ages which was all unexpected.  My hall is located outside of central London but is close to the London eye! There is also this authentic street food festival near the eye on the weekends which is absolutely delicious!

My main form of transportation that I have had to learn would be what they call the tube!

The tube is an underground train system and is the second largest in the world! Learning about this the first day was very intimidating and I was terrified of it because I was not used to using public transportation much at home. I had to get my oyster card which is what they use here to easily use the tube and buses but there are several ways to load money onto them. Everybody has to scan their card in order to get in and out of all train stations. After a week of practice I have become much more comfortable with it now and can even blend in with the locals by having to cram myself on when it’s busy! An interesting thing I’ve observed that has really stuck out is how few trash cans they have around the city but yet it’s pretty clean everywhere!  Every time I find myself with garbage because I had to eat to eat on the go or something I always find myself holding on to it for awhile before I come across a trash can.

Lastly, this week I had orientation at University of Westminster and began my class! This session I am taking Online Entertainment Management and I like my professor, she is pretty relaxed and understands that we stay busy outside of class exploring around! My class has 11 student in it including two local students surprisingly.

University of Westminster has four separate campuses divided by areas of study. Regent campus is the photo to the left and that is where we had orientation.  My class is at Cavendish campus this session which is a little bit of a walk from here but I will have my session 2 class at Regent campus. It has been interesting to learn about their how they do things because it is so different compared to how things are done in the states. Our entire grade in the class is made up of two modules, a in-module assessment and end-of-module assessment. Our assessments are graded by receiving marks and each gets marked three times. At the start I was very nervous for my class because I heard how many Americans will fail their classes here because of how different it is and not being disciplined enough but I feel much better now that my class has begun and I know my professor. I think I will enjoy it and do just fine! Everybody has class Monday-Thursday from 10:0am-1:00pm and on Thursdays my class gets to go on visits, which is what they call field trips. This Thursday we went to the Science Museum to see Google’s web lab exhibit which I actually really enjoyed. We got to participate in and observe four different experiments and a learned a lot from it as well.

Although this first week was extremely long and rough for me I have tried hard to stay strong and keep positive. I have been keeping in touch with my family which is nice because I miss them a lot but I have also gotten to know quite a bit of people here so far which keeps me distracted most of the time. I’m going on a trip to Wales this weekend through the social program at University of Westminster which should be fun so although rough, I still am trying to make the most of my time here!

First Week in Vienna

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As I have now been in Vienna for a week, I am becoming much more adjusted to my new temporary home.

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I am blessed to have been paired with such a wonderful roommate. Her and I have spent the majority of our time together exploring shops and restaurants while getting to know each other better. It is so wonderful to have someone to share this experience with who is always there at the end of every exhausting day. We have found a really great bakery just down the street from our residence hall. We went there for our first time this morning and are sure we will be frequent customers! We got topfenstrudel and hot chocolate! Yummy!

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We learned that topfenstrudel is a treat that is special to Vienna.

My teachers and site director are also very friendly and resourceful so I have been enjoying being around such wonderful people. There are only four students in my program so we have very small classes and it enables us to cover a lot of material in class. My music history teacher took my small group of four on a tour of the first district our first weekend here. We saw so many beautiful buildings that I never could have even imagined existed.

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I had a little surprise when I opened my violin case and discovered that my sound post had fallen out of place, but this allowed me to figure out the public transportation system quickly as I had to get to a violin maker’s shop to get it fixed. Since then I have met my private violin teacher and he is basically a celebrity around here. He is a very respectable guy who I know I will be able to learn a tremendous amount from and he is an excellent resource as well. As soon as I met him he offered me a free ticket to an orchestra concert he is conducting! I have been having a great time exploring the city, looking in shops, and finding restaurants with my roommate though we have had our share of difficulties adapting. After my first couple of days it seemed as though everything I tried to do was a challenge. Being that I came here not knowing any German there was a definite language barrier. Prior to coming here I never could have imagined just how many daily tasks I would have difficulty with. Normally simple things like doing laundry, cooking, making copies, and getting a grocery cart suddenly become a great challenge when instructions are written in a language you do not understand and the only people around to request assistance of do not understand your language. Many people I have run into don’t speak any English at all. My first morning here I was trying to find the place I was supposed to be meeting my site director at and I didn’t have a phone that worked here and I couldn’t find anyone who spoke English who could give me directions. Since then I have experienced many similar occurrences. When my roommate and I first went to the grocery store we couldn’t figure out how to get the grocery carts loose. There was a chain that connected them all and we couldn’t get it loose so we gave up because we were really embarrassed standing there trying to get a cart, knowing that there is something simple not known to us that everyone else there knew. Instead we were forced to carry everything in our arms so we were walking around with our arms full of groceries and everyone was looking at us funny. Later on we asked one of our teachers what the trick is to the carts and learned that you are supposed to stick a euro in a slot on the carts and then it is released and when you re-connect the cart after you finish shopping, the euro is returned to you. This has definitely been a huge learning experience and I feel much more informed about how things work now than when I first got here, but I know I still have a lot more to learn.

Reina

 

Pre-departure

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Getting ready to leave and fly out tomorrow! I’m getting really excited but I’m also pretty nervous. I’ve never been to another country that doesn’t speak English so I think when I first arrive I’ll be a little overwhelmed. I don’t know what the culture will be like but I think that I will begin to adapt to it after the first few days. Since I’m going a few days early I have some time to get use to everything before I meet my host family. I’m most excited about meeting them and trying new things as I get to know them and stay with them.

From my past experience abroad I stayed with two host families and learned so much by staying with them and seeing their day to day routines. It was such an great learning experience to spend a weekend with a local family. For this trip I’ll be with my host family for five weeks! I can’t wait to meet them in a few days!  Courtneymexico-currency-28214982 mexico-map-thumb6400406

Arrival in Morocco (Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15)

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Like I said in my introductory post, I’m posting all of these long after I was supposed to (sorry about that). However, after my first day (Saturday night, June 15) I did write down everything that happened as far as getting to Fes, so luckily I can just use that for this particular entry, while adding in a few little details.

 

Just for context, I was to take a flight from San Francisco to New York, then from New York to Casablanca. Then I would take a train from Casablanca to Fes.

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So, where to begin? I’ve only been in Morocco one day but it feels like it’s been a week since I left. I actually have to struggle to remember everything. So the first flight was from San Francisco to JFK Airport, New York. Had to get up around 4 in the morning on Friday to get to the airport on time and everything. There was some initial confusion since even though I was taking JetBlue airlines from San Francisco to New York, which is a domestic flight, JetBlue was in the international terminal, so I suppose they go by the ultimate destination (Morocco) rather than where I would be changing flights. Luckily, my dad came into the airport with me to help out, and once we figured out where I had to go and I got my ticket, the rest went off without a hitch. I got some sleep, though it wasn’t very good sleep since my neck was uncomfortable, but whatever.

 

Then there was JFK airport. That place was a nightmare. Just the sheer size of the airport was enough to make my head spin. As I departed the plane, I realized that the ENTIRE TERMINAL I was in was just for JetBlue airlines!! So I had to figure out how to get to the other terminals, which wasn’t easy since it’s such a big airport. I eventually discovered that I had to get on this “airtrain” thing, so I followed the signs until I got to it. Then I had to look up which terminal Air Maroc (my flight to Casablanca) was in (Terminal 1), and then I jumped on the little airport metro thing (sorry, airtrain) and got there okay.

 

From there though, I had to get my ACTUAL ticket in order to go through security, which wasn’t difficult, and then I just waited in line for a while and got through security. After that, it gets annoying, though. According to my boarding pass the flight was leaving from Gate 9, which I got to just fine. A flight to Brussels was leaving, so I figured my flight to Casablanca would show up on the screen once that was done (there was no single big screen with all the departures and corresponding gates). However, I check back later only to see a flight to WARSAW pop up. I asked the lady at the counter and she didn’t help at all, so I walked over to neighboring Gate 10 just to see if I got lucky, and it turned out the flight was coming in at Gate 10… an hour late. I actually had a bit of a freak out because I wasn’t sure if I was miscalculating military time and had already missed the flight, but no, it was just late. Then there was this huge line that formed, right next to another line for this Air France flight that kept getting all delayed or something. Point is, EVENTUALLY I got on to the plane, although about an hour later than the ticket said we would. From here it gets worse though. The flight itself was fine, the seats were good, there was plenty of leg room, and the pillow allowed me to get some good sleep. BUT, even after everyone boarded, the flight didn’t leave for another two hours! It sat at the gate for the longest time, then it taxi’d a little bit, then stopped, then taxi’d a little bit, and so on. It’s a good thing I told Driss Marjane (the program director for AHA) I would arrive in Fes between 2 and 5!

 

Once we landed in Casablanca (and just the view from the plane was great, Casablanca is just miles and miles of totally flat farmlands with Moroccan style manors scattered about), I couldn’t find an ATM, so I just exchanged some money at the booth. I followed the signs that featured a picture of a train. Here was another issue: my computer, as well as the little clock on the flight map on the back of everyone’s seats in Air Maroc, said the time was an hour earlier than it actually was. Add to that the fact that everything’s in military time, and I’m not sure what the heck is going on. Getting the two tickets was a breeze, I just mentioned Casavoyageurs, and Casavoyageurs to Fes to the man in the booth, and he instantly understood. He also pointed to the proper dirham bills I needed to pay him with. At this point, I had set my watch to an hour earlier than the actual time without realizing it, so my watch said it was 8:58am or so. My ticket said the train departed at 10:00am, so I figured for some reason I didn’t catch the next one that would leave in a few minutes and had to wait for the one after. However, just to be sure, I went to where the trains stop, and the train there was the same number as the one on my ticket! So I jumped on board and sat in my comfortable first class seat, and promptly moved my watch time forward an hour.

 

The ride to Casavoyageurs took a half hour, and the scenery was great. Bright red, yellow, orange dirt and rocks, bright green foliage, square buildings in earthen tones. Two American ladies sat down with me, and it turned out they were headed for Fes as well (and were probably on the same airplane, since they said they came from New York). So we just sort of figured out how to get to the Fes train together, and I tagged along with them. Eventually it was figured out where this train was, so it was a good thing I stuck with them, since I assumed it was at a different terminal! This train was much larger than the other one, and it was in the style of European trains with the booths that seat six people and have doors you can shut. Me and the two ladies from New York just sat in one for ourselves, but just like my experience traveling in trains with my parents in Europe, it turned out we were supposed to sit in an assigned compartment. I wound up sitting in a booth with two women speaking Arabic, a little girl, and a silent middle-aged man with a shaved head. The man silently gestured to available places I could put my baggage (since I just set it on my lap at first), and later silently offered me some Pringles (but I didn’t want any salty chips since I was already sweating like a beast, so I passed up the offer). However, once I pulled out my Moroccan phrasebook, he totally surprised me by speaking to me in English! It turned out he didn’t even speak Arabic at all, he was an Englishman who comes to Morocco a few times a year, because he married his wife (who was speaking Arabic with the other woman) here. I think his parents were Pakistani, but he was born in England. He lives in Birmingham, if I recall correctly. He was a really neat guy, the three and a half hour train ride flew by remarkably fast thanks to the interesting conversation. We covered everything, from the experience of traveling abroad to learning Arabic and the Qur’an to the political and social implications of the housing crisis/economic recession. I also learned he planned to open up a moped garage in Morocco sometime in the near future. I think I won the lottery as far as being randomly stuck with someone on a train for three hours!

 

As an added bonus, another middle-aged man named Hassan joined our booth after one of the stops, and spoke in Arabic to the Englishman’s wife and the other woman. After several minutes of this, suddenly he reveals that he also speaks English, and he’s American! Well, he has dual citizenship. He lived in Richmond Virginia, then moved to the Bronx, then moved (back?) to Morocco. They were all really nice people, the scenery was amazing, and I was almost disappointed when we finally reached Fes. I said goodbye to Hassan (the Moroccan American) and the Englishman (I only heard the Englishman’s name once at the end of the ride, and I have a really bad memory so I’m sorry if I get this wrong, but I think it was Faru), and departed the train. It seems you can meet some really interesting people on the train to Fes.

 

Once I got out of the train, I was struck by how much hotter it was with the sun beating down at 2:30pm without the cool sea breeze that Casablanca had (Casablanca seriously felt just as comfortable as California during the summer). I was supposed to meet Driss Marjane, the AHA program director, at the train station. I didn’t see Driss, but I figured since my plane was late that he probably had picked up the other two AHA students and was waiting at the hotel. A middle-aged Moroccan man with a sort of bugged-out eye approached me with greetings in Arabic, French, Spanish, and finally English, and since I was getting a little anxious, I decided I would just trust him since he wanted to taxi me to the hotel on foot (since I had the address of the hotel written on a flashcard, and it was only a few blocks away). My gut and my brain told me not to follow this random, shady-looking man into the city by myself, but for some reason I just decided to go with the flow.

 

I followed the man through the town in the scorching heat, I was sweating up a storm and I was also freaking out a little in my head since it was just me and this shady guide walking down some dilapidated streets. With what little English he knew, he told me how he had a bunch of American friends, and he kept bringing up the fact that he would take me on a tour of the medina and give me discounts for shopping and the like. I think he also implied that he could sell me some hashish, haha. I turned down all of his offers of course, and we finally arrived at the hotel. It had the right name and was across from a massive McDonald’s, just as described in an email from Driss. I got my leftover dirhams (Moroccan currency) out, and since I didn’t know how much to pay someone for walking me to the hotel, I just asked him how much I should give him by holding out the various bills I had. Predictably he wanted me to give him the biggest bill, which was 200 dirhams (a little over 20 American dollars). Obviously that’s more than I was obliged to give him, but he had ultimately brought me to my destination, he carried one of my bags, and I really just didn’t care at this point, so I gave it to him. Before he left he told me his name (Mohamed) and gave me his right hand to shake. Turned out he had a malformed right hand in addition to his bug eye. I still shook his hand though. He was very thankful for the money, probably since he wanted future business (he wrote down his cell number on the back of my flashcard), but at the end of the day, it’s only 20 dollars, and it’ll go to feeding his family anyway (or maybe it’ll go to drugs, who knows). Either way, no point crying over spilled milk I figure. I don’t plan on getting in that kind of situation again, but I met a pretty interesting character as a result.

 

Now the next challenge. I walked into the hotel lobby with my two bags and realized I had no clue what to do next. After waiting around I went up to the man behind the counter, who did not speak English, and I just sort of desperately mentioned Driss’s name to see if anything happened. When that didn’t work, I figured I’d ask if he had a phone I could use, since I had Driss’s mobile number on the flashcard. He revealed that the phone in the lobby didn’t work, so I would have to go to a payphone up the street. I found the payphone, but had no idea how to work it, or even if it was still working. Even if I did somehow manage to figure out how to put the coins in it, I don’t think I had enough dirhams anyways. I was really starting to freak out at this point, so I made my way back down the street… And that was when this American comes up to me and asks if I’m Mike.

 

As luck would have it, I walked right by a cafe where the other two AHA students, both from Portland, Cody and Ahmed, were sitting. Cody was the one who came up to me, and man was I happy to see them. I sat down with them and eventually Driss showed up at the café. We shook hands and then he bought lunch for all of us.

 

Driss took me back to the hotel, got me my room key, and just told me to meet him back down in the lobby at 6pm. So I got an hour and a half to relax after all of the stress and anxiety. Downstairs Driss gave me, Cody and Ahmed our class schedule, a schedule of all the excursions we could go on through ALIF (American Language Institute of Fes) this summer, and a copy of the homestay info he emailed us earlier. We also met Jenna (I never saw how your name was spelled, so again, sorry if I’m doing it wrong!), an AHA employee who was really nice and accompanied us on Driss’s tour of the New Medina (Ville Nouvelle). The rest of the evening was basically just a tour as we all got to know each other. He showed us ALIF, as well as locations of various ATMs, and he gave a lot of general advice that was good to know. Driss is a really awesome guy, he is totally fluent in English AND French, plus he’s funny, smart, and extremely generous and helpful (you can see Driss in the photo of me in my introductory post… he’s standing behind me wearing a green shirt). We ate at a nice Italian place (all the menu items were in French, so I was lost, but it wasn’t any worse than when I was in Europe with my parents), and then finally we arrived back home after buying some bottled water.

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Aaaaaand end quote. Actually it seems I lied in my introductory post, I don’t think I will be able to recount the first week’s events before today (Monday, June 24) ends, as I will only have internet access for the next thirty minutes or so, and I need to use that time to do Arabic homework. Looking back on it, I think I will probably split my first week in Morocco into two or three blog posts, just because there is so much material, and that way I can put SOMETHING on this blog (inshallah) rather than waiting and then just dropping one really big post.

 

Just because of everything going on during my arrival, and trying to acclimatize to my new surroundings, I didn’t take any pictures. However, I will have a LOT of pictures to share in the coming posts… I’ll leave you with this tantalizing taste of things to come, a preview of sorts… Peer into the gate now, then explore what lies beyond in the next installment of this blog!

Michael

Peering into the Gate.

Pre-Departure (Morocco)

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So, what are my pre-conceived notions of Morocco? The first thing I take note of when I observe humanity is what people wear and what their buildings look like. I’ve looked at a lot of pictures of Moroccan dress and architecture (both Amazigh and Arab). Some pictures are from the past, others from the present. Sometimes they match up, sometimes they don’t. In any pictures and videos I’ve seen of people in North Africa, it seems the overwhelming majority of people simply wear “western” clothing, but reworked into a unique style (especially with women, since the hijab has a myriad of different styles just by itself). This is something I observed when I visited Istanbul with my parents for a week, and I expect to see lots of jeans and polo shirts in Morocco, though they do seem to have retained some iconic features of their dress, most notably the djellaba (long, hooded unisex robe). I expect there to be some women wearing burqas, the niqab, etc., but I think they will be a minority, similar to Turkey. Sometimes it seems like western media paints all Muslim women as only ever being clothed in an all-black ensemble that completely covers every inch of skin, but I know this is not the case. As for the climate and natural scenery, from what I’ve gathered, it looks quite similar to summertime California.

 

Now, taking the visual aspects of a people aside and looking more at behavioral culture, I’ve heard about the hospitality of… well, pretty much any culture that is predominantly Muslim, to the point where it’s become a cliché. No matter where I look, I always seem to find remarks about the “legendary hospitality of the Moroccan people” (and you can easily exchange “Moroccan” for any other Muslim nation, and the cliché will still fit). Okay, I’ll expect my host family to be very hospitable, but honestly, is it really possible to sum up an entire nation like that? I’m sure many families in the U.S. would be considered to be hospitable to guests, but would I say that “the American people are legendary for their hospitality”? Doesn’t that just sound silly? Generalizing entire peoples like that seems a bit ridiculous to me.

 

I will say one of the main things I’m looking forward to learning is what daily life in a Moroccan household is like. It’s one of those things that can’t really be explained in a book (if one can even find a book or article that even mentions it), it has to be experienced. How do people eat? How do they interact? Even if I can’t speak the language, I’m excited to observe what life is like in the city of Fes.

Michael

Introduction (Michael Smiley)

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Hi! My name is Michael Smiley, and I’m studying Modern Standard Arabic for six weeks in Fes, Morocco (Summer 2013). I’ve never studied Arabic before, nor have I ever been to a country that speaks Arabic. I’ve never traveled abroad on my own, and I’ve never been outside of the United States for more than four weeks (I will be in Morocco for a total of nine weeks). This trip is a lot of firsts for me!

Yeah.

I’m actually cheating with these blog entries, since I wasn’t able to get the blog to work for me until a few days ago, and even then I haven’t had the necessary combination of an available power outlet, stable wifi access, and free time. So the introduction, pre-departure, arrival, and first week blog entries are actually all being typed up on Monday, June 24, 2013.

 

So why did I choose to come to Fes? I should start by saying that I’m a Social Science major, which basically means I can just cobble together all of the classes that interest me into a degree. I really have no ultimate plan with my college career; the only criteria for which classes I’ve chosen to take (apart from required classes) is whether or not they seem interesting. It’s probably fair to say almost all of my time is spent daydreaming (often while doing other things, of course—I can multitask, sort of). Whenever I see, experience, or think about anything, I’m always imagining several other things at the same time. The daydreams are always fueled by what’s being fed into my brain, be it scenery, pictures, or books. In a way, the acquisition of knowledge feeds my imagination. I’m always keen to find the best feasts for the imagination, and I’ve developed particular tastes. The Middle East and North Africa have always had an inexplicable draw for me, though only recently have I consciously recognized it. Much of my free time in the past few years has been spent gathering pictures and lore about Africa and the western reaches of Asia.

 

One thing I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is whether my interest in other lands, cultures, peoples and histories is benign, or insidious. Seriously thinking about colonialism, Orientalism, the dark side of the romanticization of reality has led me to question my personal daydreamer’s pursuit. Regardless, I do want to learn more about the world, and I don’t think it’s because the rest of the world is “exotic” compared to my usual surroundings. One thing I’ve learned in my anthropology classes is that weird is relative; studying other cultures makes the strange familiar, and the familiar strange. The mundane and the fantastic are one and the same.

 

Whoops, this is actually probably way too long for an introduction post. I tend to go off on tangents when I write directly from my mind, so I’ll sum it up as succinctly as I can. Why did I choose Morocco? Because Morocco fascinates me.

Michael

Introduction: Josh McGraw

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Hi my name is Josh and I am doing the Queretaro Summer session program. I am interested in this program because I am wanting to complete an endorsement in Bilingual/ESOL. This degree will allow me to help ELL students further their education in a positive more efficient way. I cannot wait to get to know my host family, and the other students on this program, more.

Arrival in Vienna

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My trip to Vienna was quite the adventure. As I had previously never been to another country, or even flown on a plane, I didn’t know what was in store for me. With no flying experience, taking three planes over two days and spending a combined 16 hours sitting in airports was quite stressful. When I finally made it to Vienna I easily worked my way through the airport to the exit where my taxi driver was waiting for me holding a sign with my name on it. I was very happy to see him because I knew it meant I would be to my residence hall where I could sleep and then finally start familiarizing myself with Vienna like I had been waiting to do for so long. When I got to him I quickly realized he spoke no English, meaning we were not able to talk at all during our half hour drive together. The driving style in Vienna came as quite a shock to me after always living in small towns where people are generally safe and considerate on the road. The entire way he drove at extremely fast speeds while leaving no more than a few inches between him and the car in front of him, even through places in town where there were bikers and pedestrians trying to use the road as well!  Several times he crossed lanes on a whim regardless of their being other drivers in the lane, at one point shoving a car off the road. While we were stopped at a red light there was a pedestrian in the middle of the road talking to another stopped car through the drivers window and the driver rolled up the window causing the man to come to our car and talk to my driver. They exchanged some words in German that I didn’t understand and then my driver rolled up his window as well and drove off. Shortly after that we arrived at my residence hall where I was to enter my birth date into a lock box to get the key to my room, as I was arriving in the middle of the night after the office was closed. By the time I got to my room I was quite scared to say the least. I suddenly was very alone in the middle of the night in a foreign place with crazy drivers and that was so far all I knew of my temporary home.

Reina

Arrival!

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On the plane leaving Philadelphia! Destination: London! Excited but nervous!

My arrival at the airport was definitely different than previous experiences of mine.  The airplane stopped at a gate that was just off the runway but not attached to the actual airport itself.  So they had the passengers slowly getting of the airplane by stairs that were pushed up against the door of the plane.  They had to have passengers come off in groups as shuttles came to transport us to the airport. Once I arrived to the terminal I made my way to customs to receive my visa. The line was very long but luckily it moved quickly. I have to say I was pretty nervous about making sure I did everything right but I showed them what they needed, I got my visa stamp, and off I want! Next was baggage claim and I had this very nice English man help me in finding my bag.  From there I had to walk to terminal 3, I’ll note that I was in terminal 1, to find my group that was picking me up! This is where I started things began getting difficult and I let it get the best of me.  I thought there was a train to transport people to terminal 3 but I was unable to find one and by following the signs ended up walking the whole way there.  At this point I realized I might have packed too much because it wasn’t easy for me to transport all of my luggage on my own, but I didn’t have a choice. I eventually made it to terminal 3 but then ran into the next issue of not being able to find my group.   This got me stressed and frazzled because the group was supposed to be leaving the airport at noon, and it was 11:45am. Although I knew they would wait for me I don’t like being late for things.  At this point I began to panic and breakdown because I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have change to work the payphones to call my on-site director. I didn’t have Wi-Fi anymore because I only received it for 45 minutes and I started my time when I arrived so that I could inform family that I made it safely.  I had another English man see me struggling and he came to talk to me and attempt to help but that only made me embarrassed since I was tearing up and so I toughened up and told him I would find them! I went to go ask this one group I saw for help because they were sort of watching me put the sign I saw this girl hold up wasn’t the group I was a part of.  I went and asked anyways and it turned out it was my group! I finally made it to where I needed to be thank goodness! It turns out at the end of the arrival instructions it said to look for this bag rather than a sign, and the bag was clear as day but I didn’t read that far into my instructions to know that was what I was looking for.

There were about eight other people there and we had to wait for one more before we could leave!  Unfortunately, she never showed up and no one was able to find out why so our site director decided we’d leave while one other girl working for the program stayed behind.  We then had a van transport us to where we would be staying; most of us were staying in the same dorm except for two other girls who were going to be staying someplace else.  We got our oyster cards set up, which are cards needed for unlimited travel on buses and the tube! The tube is the underground train system here! After, we all went to our local pub with our on-site director so we could get something to eat and get any question we had answered which was nice.

Flying all day Friday and then arriving in London Saturday morning was extremely exhausting and after my first day I couldn’t wait to go to bed! I’m excited to see what adventures this trip brings though!

Alyssa