My first days

While abroad, many of my friends decided to create blogs so everyone could keep up with their travels and day to day life. I loved reading about everything so I decided to create one as well. Basically thus far I am soo exhausted! I arrived at my flat around 1pm London time (7am our time) and then had orientation and a brief walking tour of my neighborhood. I live on Gower Street which makes it really easy to get around. The first thing that was unexpected was that none of the girls hairdryers or straighteners work, even with adapters!! We all had to go to Boots, which is a lot like an upscale version of Walgreens, to buy new ones. Luckily they cost a total of 30 pounds. After we all got settled in and unpacked we decided the first to do was hit a true British pub. Half of us went to one called Court that offers 3.95 burgers, chips, and beer. I ordered Strongbow, which was so great because its cider and not beer! All of the guys ordered many rounds so I got to take a sip of each of the different pints they ordered. All in all I am not a huge fan of European beer. Its a little bitter for me and I can't get used to how flat they are. On the upside, the UK's diet coke is so great! Its less sweet than ours and there is almost no sugar. Plus, they serve it in glass bottles which is fantastic.

Day 2 began with a rough start. Nobody slept well because the time differences had us up most of the night. I am absolutely exhausted, but after I write I'm taking a long nap so I can be rested up for grocery shopping and exploring tonight. We did take a tour of the city today and I got to see so many of the places I hope to visit. Number one and two are of course the 5 level Burberry and Harrods. I also really hope to go to a true English tea. We saw the theatre district which just recently started playing Hair again, so I am definitely going to try to and see a show or two. The coolest thing that I saw today was the London Eye, the huge farris wheel at city center. I am so excited to go up in it because you can see Westminster Abbey and the London Bridge. I found out Vampire Weekend is also playing a London show in June so I can't wait for that. So much to do!
My room is great by the way! I love that I don't have a roommate, and somehow I struck gold and was given the largest single out of the group! It is quite odd in the way the rooms differ from the US. There is very little storage, very small closets used mainly for storage not clothing, and the drawers are very small and narrow. Needless to say that is taking some adjusting. The people I am living with are very cool and adventurous so we are beginning to plan trips. We already have one scheduled to Edinburgh in early July and we are planning a boat trip to Amsterdam before that. Brussels and Paris are also quite accessble via the train so those will likely be weekend trips as well. Its amazing how large London is while still remaining so close to other major sites in the UK. I am planning to go to Stonehenge and Cambridge on day trips and taking a quick flight to Ireland which is only about 15 pounds! Rhine Air is so cheap and luckily they fly directly into Dublin's airport! I am all in all so excited for the next few months! One of my best friends Caitie is coming next week to stay with me from Vienna and see London and we are both eager to explore together!

The goal is to give an update of life everyday or two so I will try to stick with that!