Made it!

Other than an initial delay of two hours because of technical issues, my trip to England went smoothly. I didn't get a lot of sleep because of children crying, but managed to survive. At the airport in Toronto, i found two girls who were also going to Nottingham to study so we stuck together after that. We got to London around 8:30am and quickly got through customs. The agent i went to was very thorough, scrutinized all my documents and asked me questions before finally letting me go. Because that didn't take long, we ended up waiting a few hours before we could take our coach to Nottingham. During that time we met a few more people that were also going. 

The coach ride was 2.5 hours and man, was it hard not to sleep like everyone else was. I really wanted to stay up until 8pm so i could avoid being jetlagged. The highway we took was lined with trees and lots of sheep! There is a place called Milton Keynes that i am pretty sure was named after the economists. It rained briefly when we landed and during the drive, but otherwise it was sunny and windy. An observation: fairly certain the highway we were on didn't have a speed limit. There was nothing posted and everyone was going different speeds. It seemed to have been a 'watch out for everyone, pay attention, and you'll be fine' kind of thing. They take the slow-middle-fast lane theory seriously. 

I got my key to my room and moved in. My roommates consist of a guy from China, a girl from Slovakia, a guy from England who just came back from exchange, and another Asian guy who i met very briefly. Because the stores close really early, i was unable to get bedding right away, which meant a really cold sleep and not actually sleeping much even though i was exhausted. As i write this, it is 6am and i have been up for an hour as i gave up. I explored the area a bit after unpacking as much as i could, getting subway for supper and walking way too far to find a grocery store where i bought some food for breakfast. I plan on getting some more money and doing a real grocery trip today. Really hoping there are VISA friendly ATMs on campus! I'm hoping to go to Victoria Center (mall) which some new friends because we all need to find bedding after orientation this morning. 

I don't know if i will be able to update this blog daily, but probably every 2 or 3 days. We'll have to see!

x

Brianna