The Begining: A Brief Synopsis

The date is January 9. The time is 7:00pm. The location: Logan Airport, American Airlines, gate 32. In a day filled with high school classmate sightings (refer to Maderin restaurant in Reading earlier in the day) I am on the same flight as Pete Heitz, whom I haven't seen since we graduated in spring 2004, which was a surprisingly pleasant shock. Although we leave at 7:10pm we are scheduled to arrive at 6:30am, Greenwich Mean Time, so jet lag was eminent. Flight was alright- not much to speak of. Read What is the What, a new book by Dave Eggers until dinner, which was an experience within itself. Note to self: never eat airline food again- it is absolutely miserable. Attempted to nap a bit, but was largely unsuccessful so I landed at Heathrow airport bright and early, and utterly exhausted.
I had to figure out the Heathrow Express train that took me to Paddington Station, and after a couple circles around the airport with my massive hiking backpack and suitcase I found the correct platform and made it to the train station. From there I took my first London/British cab to my residence hall, which also serves as a youth hostel, about 10-15 minutes aways. The ride was nice, but weirded me out to no end- I have to work on getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road. Every time we took a turn I though we were going to die for the first few seconds! Got to my building, which is on the corner of Manresa Rd. and King's Rd. in Chelsea, London and found out a day to late that apparently it is not customary to tip cab drivers, waiters, or anyone for the matter. (I also discovered that cab drivers in London study for four years and then have to take an exam, out of which only about 1/2 pass, so they are paid quite well and really know the city [we should implement this system in DC!]. ) I came inside, checked in, and went to my room. My roommate wasn't there yet, so I unpacked and set up my home for the next 3 months. The rooms are cute, but extremely small: think bunk beds, 2 desks, 2 small closet-like things, a bathroom the size of a closet, and no room to walk around- but it serves its purpose and will be absolutely fine. As soon an I unpacked I immediately collapsed on one of the beds (around 11) where I slept for the next five hours. Missed the "mandatory" orientation and my floor meeting, but I think the nap was well worth it.
My new roommate and I woke up at about the same time and got to know each other a bit. Her name is Ashley, she goes to school outside Chicago, and we're both interested in NGOs, nonprofits, and gender studies- perfect! We hung out for the rest of the day and then went exploring to find some basic essentials: food and blankets. King's Road is an adorable, albeit rather 'posh', area, which has more shops than is healthy for me to be within a 10 mile radius of (no idea how many km that is yet...I'm working on it)! We went to a British department store: Peter Jones, where we purchased pillows and towels, then went to their version of a grocery store called Waitrose. Unfortunately, there are some blatant differences between American and British grocery stores beginning with size. Store here are tiny with a much more limited selection than I'm used to. In addition, the pound (lb.) is not used here, and I looked very much like a stupid American when I tried to order turkey from the deli. I ordered 50 grams of meat, which essentially equates to 1-2 slices, and then had to revise my order (I may just stick to prepackaged sandwich meat for the time being). Also, eggs, for some reason, are not refrigerated and just sit out on the shelf, so I am very skeptical to try eating them. And while cheap poultry was the staple of my diet at school, the chicken and turkey here is far more expensive than any of the red meat- the majority is free range (wonderful, but not cheap) and the rest is still fed on organic grains resulting is extremely expensive meat of a much higher quality. Money is also another area in the stores where I look like a complete foreigner. Instead of having lots of bills, English money is comprised of quite a few coins: pence (penny), twopence, 5 pence, 10 pence, twenty pence, fifty pence, 1 pound (dollar) coin, and a two pound coin. I'm still finding this a bit confusing and I have to read the backs of the coins before I hand them over, which can be a bit time consuming.
After our adventures we returned to the hall where we went back to sleep almost immediately. However, after the 5 hour nap, I woke up around 2am (although not having a working clock yet I had no idea what time it was) and could not fall back asleep for the next few hours. Oh well, I feel as though I finally have a grip on the jet lag now, and I'm definitely getting used to being 5 hours ahead of home.
Well that's all for tonight, but I will get caught up quickly (and hopefully in a less verbose and detailed manner!)