Jan 16-20th

First, before anything I'd like to thank my parents for helping me on my way to make this trip possible.

Now for my background if you need a reminder or for some reason are following my blog and you don't know me. I am a sophomore at John Carroll University from Pittsburgh. This spring I am spending a semester at London's Regent's College. It is located in the center of London in Regent's Park, which is in UK in Europe, etc.

Now to start with January the 16th...

My Dad and I set off for Cleveland airport from Pittsburgh. Got a nose bleed on the way, which made me nervous that my nose would explode as we started to go up in the plane, but fortunately that didn't happen. I was the first from JCU at the terminal after going through security and what not, but then more kids came. Eventually a man who worked at the airport came up and told us that there was going to be a delay for our flight to Newark (which would mess up our connecting flight to London). Fortunately, he got things worked out and we got an earlier flight and made the plane in Newark just in time. We all ran by Newark's restaurants, eyeing the many hamburger, steak, and sushi shops. We got in a much bigger plane, a Boeing 777. It was so quiet for take off and landing, it was surprising. Anyway, this was a longer flight, but there was on demand in flight movies, so we were pretty much set.  I watched the Dark Knight Rises. It was sooooooooooo good. What also amazed me was the many meals and drinks that the flight attendants gave to us. They just kept going up and down the aisles. We were close to England and we had to fill out some customs form, it was kind of confusing, but we all got them finished. All of us sleepily exited the plane and into the airport.  We got in line for customs and quickly went through. There was a foreign pair of people arguing about cutting in line, but everyone else was remarkably quiet, taking in the sights around them. I got through to desk #32 and a friendly woman looked over my papers and let me in.

Thursday, January 17th

 I was in London! Pretty wild, still hasn't hit me yet. We met a girl that was on our flight that was also going to Regent's. She followed us to baggage then we went our separate ways. Dr. Trew met us at the airport, kind of like how Hagrid did in Harry Potter. Then we boarded our rowboats and started towards the castle. Just kidding, we got on a coach bus and headed towards Regent's. It was a really fancy bus, with a bathroom and everything. We took an hour or so sleepily watching the city as we drove towards school. We finally arrived, got checked in, received our ID's and room numbers, then went and unpacked. The Jet-lag was starting to hit me, and it was just the beginning of the day. at 12 we set out to pick up cell phones. One person in our group had to go back to the airport because he grabbed the wrong bag. We walked to a store like Macy's called Primark and had a beer at the Student bar at Regents. A ton of walking. On the way back we also stopped at a Sherlock Holmes fish and chips store. Delicious.  Then we wen t back and got to bed. Probably missing some things, but it was a couple days ago.

Friday, January 19th

Friday we all woke up around 8 and went to breakfast in the cafeteria. It was very delicous. I got an egg, toast, and sausage. Then our day began at 9, we went to the auditorium to have an information session, then we had free lunch. After that we checked our classes. I changed from International Law to World Civilizations before 1500. Looked cool to me. Then we walked to Primark again because some people still needed things. When we got back a huge group of us went to the Metropolitan Bar and ordered some drinks. I got carded, haha. I ordered a Hopgoblin, it was pretty good.

Saturday, January 20th

We woke up and had breakfast around 945, then set out to Westminster Abbey on the Tube. We walked everywhere, I'm so tired.  First we got out of the station and saw Big Ben. We took pictures, then my(sister's) camera died. I should probably charge it before I go out. Woops. Then we went across the street to St. Margaret's Church. It was a beautiful sight in and out. Also it was awe-inspiring to think of the many famous and regular people that have been in the Church all these years. Afterwards, we set out to Buckingham Palace. We saw the royal guards, too. We walked an walked, then ended up at the National Art Museum, and saw many paintings, including some Vincent Van Gogh's. It was pretty cool to see all of the historic art, but I found a lot of them more impressive than Van Gogh's. His look like a two year old drew them, but it was interesting that I was seeing a famous painter's work. We just got back to our rooms now, I am going to nap. Later we are going on a boat on Thames. I will write about that later.