'ello

I am in London!

My plane arrived around noon London time and right away we all sprinted towards customs. The plane that I was on had so many people on it that we knew we didn't want to waste any time. I sat next to a girl who is living in my same tower, only one floor beneath me. (The flat I am in is in a building called a tower.) The flight was really good, but I definitely did not get much sleep. The rule here is to stay up until at least 8pm tonight. (For those of you who don't know, London is 6 hours ahead of SD/MN.)

After we got our bags, we got onto a coach bus that took us to our flats. There are a couple of different areas in which people on my program are staying, so we got to see quite a bit of London just on the bus ride to the flat. We all piled into the elevator 2 by 2 (probably the smallest elevator I have ever ridden in) with luggage in tow and got up to our absolutely wonderful flats. They are so much bigger than I expected. The main room is really nice and has 3 love-seat type couches that are incredibly comfortable. It has taken us a couple of tries to figure out how everything works, but after every single one of us tried something, we just got the oven to work so we could make a pizza. (We took a walking tour around our area after we got in so we could see what is around the neighborhood, where the nearest tube station and ATM is, the good restaurants, etc. and on the way back we stopped at Sainsbury's to buy groceries for tonight and tomorrow morning. We all just figure we will go back after that when we are not so tired and figure out the currency a little bit better.)

The best part so far for the sights was when the plane was descending, though. There were two native Brits behind me throughout the entire flight, so when we were landing they were pointing out all of the major landmarks. So, even though I have only been here for a few hours so far, I have seen the Tower Bridge, Parliament, River Thames, and so many other things! On Saturday we get an actual tour around London for a couple of hours, so I expect that we will see these areas up close and personal very soon.

My roommates are all really cool and I am really looking forward to getting to know them better!

Well, that is all that has happened so far. Along with our pizza, we each bought a pint of London Ale to try so we are going to enjoy that, do a little more unpacking and probably head to bed soon. (Sorry if this is a little hard to follow...I am definitely getting sleepy!)