Greetings from the U.K.! Already adjusting....

So I'm finally here after a one week delay of not getting my visa, 3 flight reschedules, one car trip to the airport, a 12-hour flight with a 4-hour stop over in Atlanta, a train ride and a taxi cab ride! Ugh I got motion sickness towards landing but the trip and finding the place wasn't so bad- all I had to do was follow the signs...thank god they were in English! The hardest part was definately carrying all my luggage, I had 2 huge suitcases to drag around and that was NOT fun. One of them even got stuck in the security gate while I was leaving the train station to find a taxi, it beeped at me until the security guard had to help me :( Now I know why people reccomend traveling light!

The plane ride from Atlanta to London was interesting. I felt like it was an episode from Lost...there were so many interesting people sitting around me with different backrounds, or maybe I'm just very observant. I originally sat next to this girl who introduced her self as Cassie, she was from Tennessee just visiting London until April. She found out she was in the wrong seat and had to move...so this other lady sat next to me. Didn't catch her name but she was from Alabama and worked for some plastic company traveling for business. The guy in front of me had a learning disability and stuttered and repeated the same questions but he had an English accent so at first I thought his stuttering was rapping...it sounded very rhythmic, so that was cool. The man behind me was complaining to the head flight attendent about how much the service sucked and how he lost his bracelet and he kept getting up throughout the flight and stood directly in front of me and stunk really bad. The other lady next to me had a kid which she kept calling a baby, but he cearly wasn't...he was like 3 or 4 and running and screaming up and down the plane. She reminded me of Posh spice and her kids for some reason. Oh, and last but not least, these English guys sitting a couple of seats away screamed "Oh my gawd. Final Destination!" (in their accents) when the planes lights dimmed down for landing. I thought it was amusing haha.

Anyways, sorry about the random people tangent, but I really felt like I was on Lost, except with out the plane crashing of course (knock on wood). Back to England...so I took the train from Gatwick airport into Brighton and a taxi to my home stay house. The best word to describe the place is "quaint". I have my own mini fireplace and sink (aka washbasin here) so that's kind of cool, it reminds me of an old fashioned bed and breakfast but more simplier if that makes sense. My host family is very nice. Martin is the Dad aka my landlord, and he has one of his daughters, his son, and his son's friend living in the house too. The house isn't very big, just tall and compact. The houses here remind me of san francisco, all stuck together and we live on a hill. Sarah, my room mate from UW, also lives in the house and she's been really helpful...even before I got here. She's feeling homesick so I hope my being here makes it better, we're already making plans to go to a party on campus today and the pub tommorrow night.

All I can say for now is it is very different here. I'm currently in the library typing up this blog after I roamed around campus and got lost a couple times trying to find my advisor's office. The buildings are all brick, but the campus feels like its enclosing and not really open...maybe I just have to get used to the layout. There's a court here though that reminds me of red square, people passing out flyers and everything! I haven't met anyone on campus just yet because my classes don't start until Monday again, but everyone is just so mellow and independent. Oh and mostly everyone here smokes, including my host family which I don't like....its all over campus! Hmmm, what else? The weather is just like Seattle and they have double decker buses that I have to take to campus daily. My brain is super tired right now because I haven't gotten any sleep these past couple nights, plus the jetlag and time change so if this post doesn't make any sense I am so sorry! I'll make sure to post up pictures soon...