The British Accents are beginning to wear off

...No They Aren't.

Well I've now been in London for 3 days and I'm beginning to get into the swing of things...believe it or not! I won't lie, it was certainly an adjustment and I'm still falling asleep in the middle of meetings and plays...oops!

A Quick Recap, embedded with some entertainment, I hope!

4:45 Sunday afternoon, after lunch with Barb & Eric and a depressing Patriots game, we left Dave in Allston and headed to Logan. With shake-y hands, I boarded my flight and found my seat, on a rather larger plane. I took my aisle seat next to a woman who spoke very little English and enjoyed the sound of the flight attendants speaking to passengers and each other. I knew I was going to like it when I saw the tray table had "whilst," one of my favorite words, written on it. However, the 6 hour flight was going smoothly up until the point I fell asleep and lost my DVD case, which I continued to freak out about, tears included--breakdown number 1, until we were taxing and the nice man next to me found it under his seat. With customs questions about where and what I was studying and dragging my 2 extremely large bags on to a cart (which by the way, still didn't make it much easier), I was off headed for "The Meeting Spot." And what a spot it was...I didn't realize until I got there that there actually was a meeting spot. Anyway, so I found my group and was off to 11 Palace Court, my home for the next 4 months. Lucky me, got to climb the 6 flights of stairs to my room, with my 2 large bags. My GR (Graduate Resident), Philip, who, by the way, is like something out of a movie, helped me carry them all up the stairs to the top floor. The room was surprisingly large--the only double in the building, high ceilings, with 3 rather large closets, 2 beds, 2 desks, a mirror and a sink. My clothes even fit in the room--shocking I know!!

Then I spent the rest of the day running errands (Boots for Toiletries, Tesco for Water, Marks & Spencers for Sheets & Towels, etc), then exhausted was out by 9 p.m...only to wake up 2 hours later completely jet lagged. This of course, did not help my adjustment and lead to breakdown number 2, stay tuned, I'm sure there will be more. Not being able to sleep and exhaustion are never a good combo so after talking to friends, Skyping with Mom & Dad, who had a few words of encouragement and advice, I finally fell back to sleep by 3 am...which didn't feel so great at 815 when my alarm went off. We were off to City University, led by our fearless leader, Philip, for orientation (featuring our program director's introduction, equipped with corny candy metaphors, and a Panel of MPs from the different parties in England). It's funny how fast you see how little Americans know about the rest of the world. (Thanks to 106, I can confidently say I knew most of the information!)
We then spent the afternoon at St. Paul's Cathedral. The three pounds and exercise I got, plus the minor freak out, number 3, from heights on the stairs, were certainly worth it when we got to the top. Standing at the top of the cathedral outside, where you can see all of London, I realized how excited I was to be here.

We then ate dinner at Strada, an Italian restaurant (Side Note: My stomach is absolutely hating London. While usually I atleast TRY to avoid dairy, it's been difficult when constantly eating on the run or having meals provided for me. It'll be very happy once I can get to the grocery store for myself! (B-I've already put SoyNuggies on the list, if they have them of course!)), walked around to the London Eye, Westminster, Big Ben, etc, quickly showered, than went to Sports Cafe, which if I didn't get on the tube to go there, another side note: TUBE IS SO EASY...America, or NYC/Boston for my own case, FIGURE IT OUT!, I would have thought I was back in Wisconsin based on the sheer number of Americans in there.

Did I mention it was my birthday? Great way to spend the day...although I still dont feel 21 and I'm not sure I will until I'm back in the states.

Then today it was more meetings and then Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at the National Theatre, it was interesting to say the least. I slept through the beginning of it, still trying to catch up on the time different and the little sleep I've been getting : (

More meetings tomorrow, gotta be up early...yuck.
Miss you all, More later...pictures, maybe if I can figure out how!

Cheerio!