Oh my gosh. I left for London on the 21st, landed here on the 22nd...it hasn't even been 4 days and what a crazy 4 days it's been!
Quick recap...here we go!
Day 0 (I'll count the 21st as "Day 0" since technically I was on the plane/airports the whole day):
I had a quick breakfast with the parents at Paris Baguette and then off I was to exchange money from dollars -> pound sterling. The exchange rate SUCKED SO BADLY ($1.66 -> £1). After napping at home for a little bit, I headed out to LAX. It was SUPER confusing because my airline was not flying out from the International Terminal but instead flew out from Terminal 2. But we got it alright at the end. LUGGAGE costs SUCK. They actually made me check-in my carry-on luggage because it was over 15lbs (which has never, ever happened to me before)...but the check-in lady was nice and didn't charge for the big bag (which was over the check-in weight limit). After all this chaos I finally made my way to the gate where....
This really cool fashion designer sat next to me and chatted to me the whole time we were waiting! He was Italian, super friendly, had traveled to over 120 countries in 20 years and was heading toward London for a fashion show. Can you say awesome? He had really interesting stories to tell and interesting advice to give - he was analyzing my personality throughout our conversation and told me that I don't have to worry about a career at all. He said I'll be making big money and that I need to be constantly around people to be happy. :) He also said that I have a good heart but sometimes people tend to overlook that. I smiled my way through his comments (because I didn't really know what to say), but honestly because of that super cool fashion designer my nervousness about heading to Wales was forgotten! I love good conversation with random people.
The plane ride SUCKED really badly because I was cramped in there for 10 hours and just wanted to scream my head off. One thing - Virgin-Atlantic has really great service! The stewardesses were super friendly with their British accents. :)
Day 1: Arrival in Heathrow
Arrived at Heathrow around noon - immigration & customs weren't too bad at all! I was super worried about it, but it was all really fine since I already had a visa. My luggages were waiting out for me when I headed out to the terminal - awesome. I had some trouble looking for the Cardiff U representatives who were there to greet me but ended up finding them (thank goodness). After waiting about an hour or so, we were put into a shuttle en route to Cardiff...
The journey to Cardiff took around 3 hours. On the way there, we received welcome packets and a SIM card with enough credit to make 1 international call (which I utilized to call my mom). I had made a quick friend at the airport who borrowed my camera to take pictures of our route as we headed to the Uni. I ended up falling asleep for a good chunk of it. Here is one of the pictures:
Pretty countryside!
We finally arrived at the Uni:
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| Although I didn't know at the time this picture was taken, this road ended up being one of the main roads we take to get to many of the buildings |
Here's a little teaser as to what's to come:
- the American flatmate
- getting lost 3 times on the way to Tesco's
- "mobile" phone (cell phone) confusion
- BUGS IN MY ROOM
- all-nighter on the first night here
A lot of people have been asking this - am I homesick? No, not homesick yet, but I miss (almost) everybody at Penn! :)
