I have arrived....been exposed

I am in a total frenzy as I sit here and type my first blog entry! I will provide you with a summary of the past few days!!I arrived in the Heathrow airport on Monday and I have been in London for 3 days!  Most of the houses are located on quaint zero lot lines with cars parked right in front of their houses.  Very minimalistic. I arrived at Kingston University to sit around and wait three hours for the taxi to arrive and take me to my homestead in New Malden. When I arrived, I was welcomed by a very skinny English woman. The house was once four flats, but they have been remodeling the house for the four years that they have been living here.  I stay in the very top of the house in a very large room with a soft twin sized bed!hehe! I feel like the room swallows the bed. The nights have been good here. I am still adjusting to the time-while experiencing jet-lag. 

Tuesday-I was able to get my oyster card and make my way to Central London. That was such an effort because I am definitely not used to using public transportation. Luckily, the London police were able to point me in the right directions. I was on my way to turn in my application for The Place (London School of Contemporary Dance.) My body was just ecstatic to see the building that I have heard, and learned so much about over my time in the states. I will be going on a tour next week. And I can't wait. The building is tucked away in the traditional English way, but the inside of the building is contemporary and gives off so much energy!!! Ok, I will stop with the energy talk....I digress

I was able to walk around the area a bit before it started to rain and so I headed back on the underground and made it home in time to buy some pretty cheap groceries and make my first meal of a Ham and Cheese Panini with apples.  I was unable to buy some fresh greens from the grocery store because my card would only work at this certain grocery store called Iceland’s.  Hopefully I will get some cash today and go finish my grocery shopping.

Wednesday- We had our orientation and finally received our timetables for our classes. I am still in the transition of selecting my classes, so that will be finalized soon. We start classes on the 31st. I feel like I have been on a never-ending break. My body needs a ballet barre. Hopefully I can remember Kevin's barre! After orientation I went on a walking tour of the Kingston campus and met a bunch of Swedish students who were studying law! Their names were Hampus, Sarah, Jolanda, and Leas! On the tour I was able to learn about how their government pays for their schooling, which I thought was very interesting.  And how no one in their country is allowed to carry guns! That is very different from Memphis! I feel like "everyone and their mama has a gun."  Our adventure continued to see the River Thames and the various shopping areas in Kingston! Jolanda spoke of a massive mall in central London in Convent Gardens that was "so posh!" haha! I love it! I can't wait to get all the English slang and share it with you guys! Haha! More to come! The adventure continued to a reception that Kingston University had for us in the KINGS TUN PUB. I found out a pub is a social meeting place. Not just a place for drinking. So there were tons of people sipping coffees or their favorite teas! The coffee here is considered "white coffee." I haven't been able to get an answer as to why people call it white coffee....but I think it is just referring to a certain type of coffee.  More knowledge will come over the next few days. The night ended with a visit to Oceana across the street where some friends and I went to check out their student night. This building was massive with four different levels to socialize and listen to great music! They had a very posh chandelier on the levels which made this floor very elegant. The highlight of the night was when they played songs by Jessie J! Haha...big shout to L-Boogie for the introduction to the Jessie J!

The night was concluded with a confusing journey to my home in New Malden. This was my first time taking the bus home so I was a little unsure of the right route. I got on the right bus, but got off entirely too early, so I had to walk a bit and hop onto the same K213! A local, Jared, was able to direct me to the right bus-stop! I made it home safely, had a bowl of cheerios and went to bed!