Well I'm coming to a close on Day 1 or I guess I should say Day 0 since we really don't start till tomorrow morning. I won't bore you with the travel details, I'll just go as far as to say that it was uneventful. The flight from Houston was long, but it didn't feel that bad because each seat had its own screen so you could choose your own movies, tv shows, play games, or listen to music. Needless to say I didn't get as much studying done as I hoped, but the time passed a lot faster than I thought.
While on the plane I watched the movie 17 again. Surprisingly, I really liked the movie. You know now that I'm on my second trip in two weeks I am learning a bit about myself. I definitely get nostalgic when I travel-- absence makes my heart grow fonder. The theme of the movie was that the guy (Matthew Perry, Zac Efron) really loved his wife when they got married and still did 20 years later, but had just allowed himself to forget. He relearns that and was all the better for it. That is probably a reason why I like movies so much because even though its entertaining I feel like I can get a lot of thought out of simple movies like that one. During the movie, I started reflecting on how we met and our whole dating experience. WOW! You and I were meant to fall in love and now look at us--one amazing son and another on the way. Boy, I love you!!!!
I arrived in London at 9:30am which was 2:30am Utah time. I only slept about an hour total so I knew I was going to be pretty tired. I jumped on the underground and it took a little over an hour to get to my hotel's stop. It was fun riding on there, it reminded me of Russia. I got to my hotel room and unpacked a few things and relaxed a little bit. I can't believe I am going to be staying in this room for two weeks. That seems like a really long time.
Here's the view from my window. Not too shabby.
Sitting here I have been able to reflect a bit on myself and how things are changing as we enter this new phase in life. I think I am somewhat of an introvert. For me it was easier to come to my room and relax and do a few things, than to venture out and find other classmates and introduce myself. I even found that I was avoiding leaving my room cause I didn't want to run into anyone by chance, I just wanted that to come tomorrow. I still am evaluating why I am that way, but it is one thing I hope to change (or at least improve) as I go through this experience.
I did end up going out on the streets for an hour or so to find some food and here are some of my first impressions of London:
- There are double decker buses EVERYWHERE. It is not just the tourist buses, but their regular city buses are mostly double decker buses. I think its pretty cool.
- I TOTALLY forgot that they drive on the left side of the road here. It didn't even register until I was walking down the left side of the street and a bus pulled up to the curb and open its door and people started loading on. It was crazy. I've seen cars with the steering wheel on the other side, but it was fun to see the cars driving on the left side of the road. Needless to say it is probably good that I didn't rent a car. That would have been a dangerous situation for everyone else on the road!
- I learned the true meaning of Happy Hour. There are bars and cafes that line all the streets and during Happy Hour people (especially a lot of men in business suits) stand at tables and drink and chat. It is quite the ritual. I am sure it something they look forward to everyday or maybe it is a Friday "ring in the weekend" type thing. Anyway, I walked about 10 blocks and was surprised to see how many people there were at each place I passed.
- Lastly, I had some chips that were flavored BBQ Rib. I figured they would be like BBQ chips. Not the case. Not bad, but not good. I'll be interested to see what other differences come along as I am here longer.
Well those are my musings for the first day in London before I actually get started in my program. Tomorrow things get going. Wish me luck!
Love,
Brock
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