We just touched down in Londontown

Key Words: Yeah, Boom, Capri-Sun, brat pack


Well, we finally made it here! I'm going to attempt to write a coherent post after a long flight, almost no sleep, and as Yasin and I sit in our study room screaming Monster by Lady Gaga. It's 5:16pm here, but it feels so much later than that. Before I get into the adventures we've already encountered in the 6 hours we've been in the country, I'll backtrack to the past week.


As some of you may or may have known, I almost didn't make it to London. Lorelyn and I got piercing this past semester. I got my helix pieced, which is basically just a cartilage piercing on the ear. I decided to take it out on Christmas night. Somehow or another, this exploded into a staph infection. My ear was 3x its normal size, and an oozing mess. 4 antibiotics later, I was finally on my way to recovery. Then, Monday I started to having an allergic reaction to one of the two antibiotics I was on. My staph is gone, but I was switched antibiotics Tuesday afternoon just to make sure it doesn't come back.


Now, for our flight, where do I begin? First of all, it was of course pouring when we touched down. Yasin and I collected our luggage and caught a taxi. 60 pounds later (or $100), we arrive at Metrogate to check in. After a few snarky remarks about how we're the Marist girls (which we've been getting all day...), they tell us that our apartment is about 4 blocks away, or a 8 minute walk. Let me remind you, it's raining. I have with me 3 luggage bags and my package that I had previously mailed to myself with my toiletries. Yasin and I ended up making two trips back and forth with our luggage. As we hustled, We got whistled at, hissed at, and whooped at while we struggled with our luggage. If we're getting hit on while we look like hot messes in the rain with luggage, god knows we're gonna get some when we do ourselves up. We arrive at our apartment and look at our packet to see which flat we're in. 5B? With no elevator? Just our workout for the day. Thank God some nice man helped carry our luggage up the stairs the second trip up. All the Marist bitties are living in the one flat, which is kinda cool. After unpacking our clothes in our room, we decide to walk to our 'orientation' which is at the Foundation House, where our classes are. After a 20 minute walk, we decided we were lost. Luckily London is beautiful, clean and has large street signs. At the Foundation House I was hit with my Istanbul fee, an unexpected lab fee and book fee. Well, there went my first $1000. We got a walking tour with London where we bonded with the "Resident Life Supervisors" about how we have very similar jobs back in the states and, if they're lucky, we'll reek the most havoc in the housing system in London.