Day Two:

I tried my hardest to sleep my first night in London but unfortunately my insomnia kicked in and I only got about two hours sleep. The heat in the dorms is really strange. You have to press a button every hour to turn it on. In the middle of the night it gets absolutely freezing which is probably part of the reason I had so much trouble sleeping. I’m definitely going to have to buy another blanket for my bed.

Queen Mary gave the study abroad students a free breakfast before we had orientation. I stuck with my two new friends and attended both, followed by a free lunch as well. The food was absolutely awful but I can’t complain; free is good.

After lunch the University had an optional bus tour of London. There was so much to take in! The city of London looks so much different than New York. It’s older and smaller but really quite pretty in many areas. It was really cold and gray out but the tour guide allowed us to get out in two locations to take pictures. The girls and I met a nice boy who sort of joined our little group which was nice. Towards the end of the tour though, I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. I was still incredibly jetlagged but determined to stay awake and figure out a place to watch the Dolphins playoff game against the Ravens.

London Bridge

London Bridge

In front of Buckingham Palace

In front of Buckingham Palace

Royal Guard

Royal Guard

I gathered a little group together of about four boys and two girls including myself to go watch the game. After the tour we walked in the freezing cold and found a pub that had the game on. Even though my beloved Dolphins lost, I still had a lot of fun. Luckily the meal was really inexpensive (3.50 pounds for a veggie burger with fries and a pint glass of beer!) Good company, cheap food, cheap beer. Things were definitely looking up.

Day Three:

I finally was able to fall asleep but sadly was awakened at 6:00am by the fire alarms blaring in my dorm building. The entire building was forced to evacuate in the freezing cold and wait across the street as the fire department checked out the situation. Apparently some idiot broke the glass by the fire alarm and it set the alarm off. We were able to return to our rooms about twenty minutes later.

It was the first day of classes. I was excited and a bit nervous until I realized that the website did not list the room number of any of the classes I was registered for! Then I started to panic. I was told to go to the Department for each class to find out the room numbers. Okay simple enough. Well, no not really. The website also did not list what building or room the Political Science Department was in. After about an hour of running around I finally found the Department Office and found out the classrooms I had to go to.

I went to my first class on the British Political System. I was really excited about this class at first but unfortunately it is a full year class which means students have been taking it since the Fall semester and there were only a handful of study abroad students coming in for the second term. The professor immediately started teaching the lesson and needless to say I was completely lost since I have none of the background information. I ran into the same problem with my next class on European Union Integration but the professor was very kind and offered advice on how to catch up.

I then realized I someone lost my day planner along the way (which had the map of the University in it!) I was really upset about it but when I got back to my dorm I was pleasantly surprised to find out that someone had found the planner and brought it to a Departmental Office. Luckily my email address was inside and an administrative assistant sent me an email to come pick it up. Wow! If this was New York someone would have taken the planner for them self or just thrown it in the garbage. This is another exciting discovery in London.

In the evening I went grocery shopping and out for Chinese food with a friend.

Day Four: (Current)

I woke up bright an early for a 9am class on Art Since 1965. The professor was really nice and the class was really interesting. I think I’m really going to enjoy that class which will include trips to art museums. The professor is also originally from Milano (Milan, Italy) and he was happy to see my very Italian surname. Haha!

After class I had to officially enroll in the school, which like everything here, was a lengthy and unnecessarily hectic experience. I managed to get through it and then afterwards I finally got my cell phone set up here.

Now I can’t sleep because there’s apparently a crazy party in the flat next door to mine. There are young drunk Brits screaming in the hallway and throwing beer cans at each other. It’s 3:00am and I’m exhausted. I feel like an old lady.