Week 1

Well, it has now been just over week since I have arrived in London, and thought it was about time to start a blog. So here we go.

I flew into London with five other guys and there were no problems.. until we got to customs and immigration at at the airport in London.  Four of the five made it through, including me, but one was held back.  I guess he showed a paper that said he was working here in the UK, but he didn't have a working visa, so that caused some complications, and to add onto it, they couldn't call Central because it was a Sunday and nobody would be at the campus.  Luckily, we all had the same papers and after about a half an hour, they let him go with us. So we made it through customs. Then we were supposed to get picked up by a shuttle that would drop us off right outside the door where we were staying, but we couldn't find him.  Eventually we called the company and they sent somebody to get us. It was a long day at the airport.

On the way to Vandon House, where we stay in Central London, it hit me that I wasn't in the states anymore.  Cars driving on the other side of the road, cars driving crazy, I wasn't sure we were going to make it to Vandon. But about 45 minutes later we arrived at the door of Vandon House.  I got my stuff moved into my room and tried to get a little settled in.  A couple hours after arriving, the director took all of us to a pub called The Feathers, which is just a few blocks away.  There he got platters of fish and chips, calamari, chicken, and some sausage stuff.  I heard the food wasn't very good before I left, but I haven't had anything I haven't liked yet.  Then, of course, after the meal, the director told us he was leaving and we were on our own to get back to base.. within hours of landing in London. But needless to say, we did make it back safely.  That night, some of the guys and I decided we wanted to go out and explore.  So on our first night, we walked around London for about an hour and a half, to Buckingham Palace, multiple parks, and saw the Eye of London, that thing is huge.

Monday we had a lot of information thrown at us.  We went across the street to Westminster Chapel and our director, Mark Simmons, talked to us about many different things, including life in London in general, vocabulary, and the classes we have to take.  We also had a policeman come talk to us about how to prevent crimes from happening and just being safe in general while we are in the UK. We then had a short break and a small lunch before going on a walking tour.  The tour was at least two hours long and man does that guy know a lot about London.  I would find myself standing there in amazement that he knew that much history about the city.  After the walking tour, we had a house meeting, in which we were told the rules of living in Vandon House.  That night, three other guys and I went to a restaurant called The Slug and Lettuce, because we found out it had food for 50% off.  It was an experience.  We walked in and I'm sure everybody that saw us instantly knew we were Americans.  Eventually a lady that worked there came over to us and told us to sit down at a table.  We still think she was on drugs or something.  She had so much energy and instantly started making fun of us calling us Americans, but it was funny for us too.

Tuesday I had my internship meeting.  I was a tad bit nervous, but not for the interview, for getting to the interview, as it was my first time using the tube on my own.  As it turns out, it isn't hard at all.  I get on the tube about 5 minutes away from where I'm living, and stay on it for 16 stops, where i get off and walk another ten minutes.  The company is FitPro, and it is quite impressive.  They have over 120,000 members worldwide and they have 3 bi-monthly magazines they publish.  They also have their own music and a recording studio on site, along with a gym for staff to use.  They also serve as a warehouse and sell workout machines.  After my interview, I got back and had an intercultural training session. It could have been much more entertaining.  There was a lot of good stuff, but we were all still tired and getting over jet lag, and don't know how much of it actually stuck to us.  That night we all went to a bowling alley and bowled a few games and also had ten huge pizzas, probably the biggest pizzas I have ever seen. I'll admit, I was a bit shocked when I heard we were going to go bowling in the UK.  After the bowling, most of us went to a pub for a few hours and just hung out and had  good time.  I'm amazed at how decorative the pubs are and how dressed up people get to go into them.

Wednesday morning, I had my advising meeting where I was asked a few questions and got my schedule set.  I will have my internship Mondays and Tuesdays, then an art class on Wednesdays, where we go to a different art museum in London every week, then two classes through Central on Thursdays to teach us about the British culture.  That was all that was required for me on Wednesday.  The rest of the day and Thursday were spent just walking around London with a couple friends.  We went to Regents Park for four hours.  I'm amazed at how massive the parks are, right in the middle of a city with 8-12 million people.

Friday we got up and went to Birkbeck College, where we will be having our classes.  We also had our first class I guess you could say, where we learned what we would have to do for the classes, and also about travel in the UK.  After all that we went back to Vandon and at 2:00 we had a scavenger hunt.  It took us three hours and took us all around London. We even stopped and asked a policeman if we could get a picture with them and if we could wear their hat for extra points, he also instantly knew we were Americans. Long story short, we won.  But there were complications.  For example, at the end we were starting to head back and got on the tube, just to find out the tube was closing for some reason, so we had to work our way around the closure. That was fun.

Saturday and Sunday were pretty much lazy days.  Saturday I went on another walking tour with the same guide as earlier and ended in an outdoor market where I got a duck sandwich for lunch. I had never had duck, but it was quite good.  I also found out that FitPro had contacted the director and asked if I could start a week later, so I don't have my internship until the 30th.

That's about all that's happened so far. One of the biggest things I have noticed is space.  Everything is so small and condensed, but goes up many stories.  It's also weird thinking that I'm seeing buildings that are older than the United States is as a country.