Welcome to London!

Day 1 - May 9, 2015

After thunderstorms and an hour delay in Chicago, it was a relief to board the plane. I sat next to a lovely Englishman named Phil and he gave me some great recommendations for my time here! (I Googled him later, of course, and he is an extremely accomplished graphic designer! Here is an article about him: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/features/article/if-these-designs-could-talk-how-phil-cleaver-sees-things-differently). The flight wasn’t too bad. It went by quickly even though I only got about an hour of sleep, which made adjusting to the time change a bit more difficult. Also, not the biggest fan of airplane food, oh well. Heathrow was really easy to navigate and I ended up taking the express train to downtown London.

Mind the gap! Waiting for the express train

The Heathrow Express

From there I took a cab to my dorm. No one else was there so I unpacked everything and just settled in. Addy, one of the other ISU students got here around noon so we went out exploring and got lunch.

Addy at lunch.

We met up with the other two ISU students, Meredith and Lexi, when we got back. We spent the rest of the day running errands to get things like towels and bedding. We also did a lot of exploring of the neighborhood we live in (the Hoxton area). I love all of the street art here.

Today’s noticeable differences:

-Elevators are lifts

-The date is written in a different format

-Cars drive on the left side of the road (Ok, I knew this before I left, but I still can’t get used to it)

-They use military time

-You have to switch the outlets on and off (I’m not sure if this is everywhere or just in my dorm…)

-Diet Pepsi=Pepsi Light?

It was a great first day and I’m excited to start exploring the city more tomorrow!