So (Far): Travel Thoughts

Monday, 5 January 2015. 5:45 pm. Chicago Midway Airport: I'm currently writing you from the car on my way to pick up my best friend from the airport. Why? Because we leave for London tomorrow night. And don't return for four months. I can't even believe this is actually happening. I remember fall of 2013 going to the study abroad fair and picking up a pamphlet explaining Central College's study abroad program in London, England. At that point in time, leaving the United States for anything seemed like a very distant dream that couldn't be attained UNTIL this pamphlet was put in my hands. Here we are a year and a half later, with a ticket booked to London.

Tuesday, 6 January 2015. Palatine: I only have one sister of whom is still in high school. The lovely girl that she is skipped gym class to come say goodbye to me. A very tearful goodbye this was, at least on my part. I imagine sending you child off to a foreign country for 4 months would be extremely difficult. Especially when that child is just coming off a bad case of strep throat (my luck is ace, obviously). But, we cried and said goodbye ( I made this sound much more nonchalant than it was). I think I have downloaded nearly every app available for chatting via WiFi. So, if you're worried about getting in touch with me- do not fear! I may have to do a special post on keeping in touch with people back home when you're abroad ( if anyone would want to see that). I have never been a light packer, therefore the idea of packing all of my clothes (for four months) into 1 suitcase was incredibly daunting. BUT somehow I managed to do it. Luckily the agent at the gate looked the other way when she saw my bag weighed 51 pounds. But honestly, bless her. I always run into some sort of trouble while I'm traveling..this time it involved my carry on suitcase. Carry on suitcases are something I have never been a big fan of mainly because they tend to cause much more trouble than they are worth. Case in point: I was very cautious when packing this suitcase so it would fit into the bins. Oh no, that would have been too easy! INSTEAD I had to shove my suitcase into the overhead bin (over the middle seats in economy), and then realized about halfway through that there was no way it would fit. At all. Unless my dad was there to really give it a shove (and probably break the bin). So, there I am standing in the aisle. With people trying to get to their seats. And me trying to get back to my seat. I don't get irritated easily, but this irks me still. Not to mention the fact that people were not happy about their own bags not having a place in the overhead bins (a rant ensued at this point from both me and my friend). The idea of being stuck in a plane wedged between two people for about eight hours didn't seem that terrible. Until I was trying to fall asleep. I have this weird thing happen where if I know that I need to actually get good rest, I can't. Therefore I sat with my eyes shut praying that I would fall asleep somehow for a solid two hours. Not to mention that fact that after I had fallen asleep for maybe fifteen minutes, we hit some turbulence that jolted everyone awake. At that point, I gave up and turned on the TV. I am pretty sure the only people who actually slept on the flight were those in first class. No, seriously.

Wednesday 7 January 2015. 10:45 am. London en route to Woburn Place. I'm now writing from our shuttle van. We made it to London in one piece. I've only had about thirty minutes sleep. So, today will be interesting. (At the time I just jotted things down what I saw)
Customs (which I was most worried about) was a breeze. The lady was lovely and all my luggage arrived in one piece. A miracle really. There was even WiFi available at the airport to message everyone I made it. Somehow though, this all still feels like a dream. The ground here is green (something no one sees in Chicago during January ever). We are driving on the other side of the road (Note: not the wrong side, the OTHER side). And Starry night is playing on the radio. A song that, oddly enough, one of my professors last semester played for us in class last semester. We've just passes the cutest buildings. We stopped at a light long enough for me to snap a photo. Note: the roads seem quite narrow. But our shuttle is also very large. We're now driving through Chelsea and Kensington. Honestly, the word "pretty" doesn't even do it justice. The traffic seems to be the same as Chicago. A pain in the behind but tolerable. I'm trying not to look like a tourist taking pictures whilst in this van (Think: fishbowl), but I have snapped a few.