The Beginning

Where in the world is Jenny today? South Kensington, London!

That's right; after an 8 hour flight, I've touched down in the UK. On the flight, I watched the Italy portion of Eat Pray Love, which got me even more excited for my international travels in the upcoming months (and the pizza awaiting me in Italy!). I made small talk with the BU girl next to me, enjoyed my pasta/salad/bread roll, enjoyed the British accents of all the flight attendants, and slept for only about 2 hours. Once our group of a dozen or so BU program students arrived at Heathrow Airport, we were ushered into an enormous line to pass through customs. Despite some intimidating questions from the officer, I must have passed my test because soon I was passing under the "UK Border" sign. Another student and I hauled our luggage into a black cab and made our way to our new home.

Cab drivers here have to train for 4 years in order to learn the city roads; Many of the drivers are ex-police officers 

Inside the cab

I am living at a beautiful residence in South Kensington. Below is a picture of my dorm room right when I arrived. I was able to snag the bottom bunk.

View out my window

More of the view

My floor's kitchen

Despite being quite jetlagged, the program managers had us on the move right away. We were given a walking tour of the neighborhood. I didn't mind; despite the warnings about London weather, our first day was sunny and mild!

Double decker bus!

Natural History Museum

Tube Station

Imperial College

Queen's Arms, one of the many local pubs (apparently Elijah Wood goes here)

Realizing I couldn't survive off only my smuggled-in granola bars, I grabbed a sandwich with some others at a convenience store. Not the fanciest first meal for Europe, but at least it was only 4 pounds. After the walking tour, a group of us went to Argos and Boots to get some essential room supplies. While paying, I accidentally referred to the currency as dollars. The cashier gave a friendly laugh and said, "You mean pounds?"  Definitely need to get used to that...

Although I was tired, I was too excited to just go to sleep. After all, you have to fight through the jet lag! My friend Lindsay and I met up with other program students at a nearby pub at 97 Gloucester Road: Stanhope Arms. It was full of locals, mostly older men and women, although more program students arrived as the night went on. Lindsay and I split an order of, what else, cod and chips! It was wicked delicious.

Fish and Chips with a side of peas (regular, not mashed please!) 

Then it was time for my long day to come to an end. The combination of excitement and jet lag made Sunday seem like a blur, but overall it was a brilliant first day! I love meeting so many new students and being in such a fascinating new place.

Some more thoughts about London:

-British accents are wonderful, although sometimes hard to understand.

-Getting used to the cars driving on the other side of the street will definitely take a while.

-Everything is so expensive here! Prices are double what they are in the US.

-You do not have to tip your cab drivers here, or just a small tip. Let's just say I didn't know this and my cab driver left very happy.

More updates to come! Cheers!