First 24 Hours in London

I'M HERE!!

After a 7 hour flight full of a whole lot of accents I've never heard and an £80 cab ride (my first cab ride ever), I'm finally in the city!

We got off the plane a little after 9:30 (4:30ET) and got to customs, which was an adventure all on its own! I saw the big shiny sign that said "UK Border," so naturally, I was super excited! The pony-tailed man at the customs desk was not quite as amused with my enthusiasm as I anticipated, and when I walked up to him with a bounce in my step and a big "Hi!" he almost looked disgusted. He proceeded to interrogate me about why I would even think I had the audacity to step foot into his country. I told him that I was a student and then he started flipping through my passport--I told him I was American and had never left the states before and he just looked at me like I was a moron and said, "right." And then with a stamp on my passport I'd officially been admitted into the UK!

My flight buddy, Sara, and I got into a cab--it was SO weird to be in this cab with the driver on the other side!! The roads around Heathrow are RIDICULOUS and I thought we were going to get into an accident on four separate occasions. We got of the cab with a lot less money than when we got on and found our "flat." After some light unpacking, and a quick breather we went in search of food. Sadly, my first meal in London was at midnight...at a McDonalds...disappointing, I know. But while we were walking around we saw the Saturday night London scene. There were boys in top hats and coat tails, girls in ball gowns, people walking around in these gigantic leather thigh-high combat boots, women in sequined dresses running around in pink bob wigs and sky high heels---crazy. People just standing outside of pubs with glasses in hand while the police drove by a homeless man in a fedora yelling out something I couldn't understand.

The city at night didn't make too great of an impression on me--I stepped in something gross, everything was closed, and there was garbage all over the streets. But I knew that after a night's sleep, everything had to look better with some sunshine on it.

I woke up this morning at around 10:00 (5:00ET) and took a shower in our really weird shower with only a partial door. Then I took a nap for an hour that felt like it lasted for about 8 hours...weirdest nap ever. But then we all gathered downstairs to go to the Barbican Museum to see an exhibit on Le Corbiseur. Yeah...I don't know who he is either... Apparently he was some famous sculptor/architect guy. The whole thing was super boring so we went through it very quickly and decided to try figure out the tube (the London Underground, kind of like a Subway) and explore some of the city before we all had to meet up again. We got on at the Barbican Station, hopped on another one at King's Cross and finally got off on Picadilly. Sara and I, along with Heather and another Sara, went through Westminster where we came across what resembled a street fair. There were tables set up with crafts, and different foods, but the best part were the street performers. We watched this Chinese/Australian guy balance on a 15ft pole on one hand...while telling jokes!

The whole group met up at the Palm Court Brasserie for dinner. We were all so tired that everything was funny, and I could barely understand our French waiter. Then we got on the tube and came back to the flat! Successful first day in London!

Until next time,
Whitney