I've arrived!

I've arrived in England! Yay! But only after a lot of stress and packing and errands.

On Friday I packed my life into one suitcase, a duffle, and my backpack. I was really afraid about being over the weight limit so I took some thigns out. Getting everything in those three bags was really difficult. Now that I am here and see what everyone else brought, I think I packed really light. That's good though because the bags were SO heavy. Moving them on and off trains and the plane was difficult. Ugh. I'm glad I'm done moving them for now.

I took two planes to get here. The first was from Oakland to Houston. There was a Raiders player on the flight, which was kind of cool. I sat by one of his homies. I slept most of the ride, but woke up feeling really warm. I was super afraid when I got off the flight because it was 6:18. My other flight to London was supposed to start boarding at 5:55. I dragged by 75lbs of crap up an escalator, onto a tram, and to my gate. When I got there, they had just started boarding. I met some friends that I've been sticking with. There was a pretty big group of us on the flight. The flight to London from Houston was supposed to be about 8 hours and 50 minutes. Too long! Luckily there was no one next to me, so I had a little more space. The entertainment system on the plane didn't really work, so that was frustrating. Also, the stewardess was really mean. However, we got 2 meals and offered lots of drinks. I tried to sleep which worked out okay, because now I feel like I am on English time. When the flight landed, I threw up. It was lovely. Great way to start my travels in England.

From there, our group of about 10 girls wen to buy train tickets. I found out I could use my railpass so I didn't buy a ticket. We then took a tram to the train station. All of us had at least one huuuge 50-ish lb bag. One of the girls, Elissa, had 3! We had to drag these bags down a huuuuge flight of stairs. It was pretty darn scary. Then a cute man with a wonderful accent told us to "shuffle over" to make more room for tons more people with bags. When we got on the train, We blocked the doors with all our luggage. I made a call to my mom and woke her up. It was my first really glipse at England. Everything was so green and wet. It was really pretty. All the buildings are brick and adorable. Then we got on another train and had no idea what we were doing. There were about 50 sussex kids trying to get on this train and the conductor told us we only had 20 seconds to get on and off. It was nuts.. But we made it!

After we got off the train, we met up with some Sussex reps. This one girl Rachel was so cute! We crammed our stuff in a minibus and drove to our check in location. We then got keys, and packets of stuff. After that we had to drag our huuuuge bags up these hills and stairs to our rooms.

Our rooms are alright. They're nothing really that special. I took pictures that I will post later. I have so much space in my closet, it's nuts. It makes me feel like I didn't bring anything. I'm sure it will fill up as soon as I get hangars and make my way to London. haha. I have a sink in my room too. That's kind of awesome.

After unpacking, I went to the lab (where I am now) and wrote emails with friends. Then I went to the little store and spent £10 on 2 converters, "frosties" (frosted flakes), some chips (or crisps as they call them), tissue, and water. I have a feeling this trip is going to be expensive.

I haven't really eatten a lunch or dinner yet. There was little party thing, but the food there was all fried and not very good. So far this bad food in England thing is true. There isn't really anywhere to buy food right now, so I think I'll munch on some frosties in a bit. The party thing was kind of lame because I feel like peopl ehav emade friends on their flight .thats what I did at least. I think classes will help.

The weather is rainy! In fact, I'm freezing cold right now beacuse my knees and below are soaked. Ugh. Rain is bad. I should have broughten a bigger jacket too because it is cold. Everyone keeps saying sorry about the weather.. I think thats funny.

Right now the phone and internet aren't working in our rooms. When it is, I will post pictures.

I have an orientation and class tomorrow. I'm really nervous and excited. It's really starting and that feels so weird. I still don't feel like it has completely hit me. It will soon.

I need to go shower and stuff.. so I will say goodbye now. I miss everyone. Send me emails and myspace messages. I'll try to keep this updated with blogs and pictures as often as possible.