Wow, so I just spent an entire day just travelling from Minneapolis to Durham. Since I left MSP at 7:00pm on the 25
th,
I arrived at London Gatwick around 9:00 in the morning. The ideal would
be sleeping the whole flight—which happened for the most part,
considering how uncomfortable it is to sleep on a plane. Additionally,
when people are constantly pressing the flight attendant assist button,
it eventually wakes you up and you have to resituate yourself anyway.
Thankfully, the seat next to me was empty, so at least I was able to
curl up on 2 seats instead of half-lying on just one. There was also a
really cute 17 month old girl in front of me who was a lot of fun and
didn’t fuss at all! After getting off and going through customs (which
was CAKE by the way…except apparently perfume isn’t allowed across
borders, even in checked luggage…so they took it from me….
jerks!).
Anyway, so then I had to find where the heck National Express busses
were so I could hitch a ride to Stansted airport. It was like a 2 hour
bus ride from Gatwick to Stansted because they stopped at Heathrow, and
then the driver passed his hourly daily limit and the replacement
driver was stuck in traffic, so we didn’t get out of there until noon.
Finally I got to Stansted, where I had to wait an hour before I could
check in for my Newcastle flight. Then I came to find out that when you
register a second bag, it doesn’t increase your weight allowance. So I
had to pay £120 for the second bag! Well, it’s still cheaper than
shipping it, but still! That was NOT clearly outlined on the website.
Besides, at that point, what other choice did I have? I couldn’t cancel
my flight, because 1) that costs money too 2) the university was
already scheduled to pick me up from that flight 3) where would I find
a bus or a train to take me to Newcastle at THAT point? Anyway, it was
really neat when they got us all, I met people from Germany, Greece,
Iran, Canada, Switzerland…all over! So far I have unpacked my bags,
awaiting my dad this weekend to bring the other two, rearranged my room
(photos soon) and hung out at Fisher House (where us post-grads chill).
I still haven’t gotten used to everyone drinking…I dunno, maybe it’s
just not my thing. We’ll see as time progresses. I met a girl who is
studying to be a museum curator, and a guy who is studying marketing,
but originally went to school for Religion & Philosophy and has
been a diving instructor for the past 4 years. I can’t remember either
of their names (oops). I have a Chinese girl living across from me
named Guo Yi Dan, but she goes by Rita. Otherwise, here are my first
impressions of the UK. 1) Everyone smokes! It’s disgusting. 2) They
apparently don’t know when to use the word “that” (see photo below). 3)
It’s dang cold in my room! 4) In typical British fashion, it rained
today
J p.s. everyone loves my boots…but then again…who wouldn’t? ;-)
