What is life without a little adventure? So I arrive at the airport at around 3:45 and I assure my dad that he doesn’t need to park and come in I can check in just fine. I go over to the ticket counter, they ask me my flight information, they then make phone calls and converse resulting in the woman coming to me with tickets and papers. I need to go downstairs to catch a bus to the train station then convert my ticket at the counter and get on the train that will take me to Newark where I will then catch the monorail to my terminal and catch the flight to Bristol. If i wait for my plane that I booked I won't make my connecting flight in Newark to Bristol. Now this was enough to cause me to panic a bit and worry so I made my way and caught the bus. I got confused with stops however and almost missed the stop for the train because it was labeled something else, but I made it an converted my ticket and went to the platform to wait. Now the limit is two bags on the train, but I had three because on a plane you are allowed to check one and have two carry ones so this was making me nervous. Furthermore I had never ridden a train in the US before and it needed to get to Newark at a certain time so I would not miss my flight to Bristol where a bus would be waiting only if I made it in on that flight (so many things have to happen in a specific order).
Nevertheless I caught my train, but it appeared very full but there was an elderly woman (just for you Deb) who offered me a seat next to her. We didn’t converse very much at the beginning of the ride, but we talked a bit later. She was from Australia and visiting her daughter. But nothing can go without incident it seems as after we arrived at another Baltimore stop one of the employees comes on to tell us that the reason for the light flickering and the failure to move is because they are experiencing some technical difficulties (of course they are). With only a few minutes of a delay the train was moving again and eventually arrived.
I made my way to find the monorail which was no easy task and then I had to figure out the stop which was not entirely clear either, but luckily I found a helper and she directed me to the gates, but I needed to go to baggage claim so I had to reroute and go back. My bag weighed 48.5lbs don’t ask me how it weighs that much I have no idea, but it was under the limit so it was good to go. So on to the horrible part that is security. Besides that I had to empty everything out of the bags so the liquids and computer could be seen it was relatively simple and I didn’t get pulled over or anything. Yay for one thing working to my advantage. I then went to the gate with my pants proving to have stretched about five sizes by now (no idea why and my belt packed in my checked luggage). I went to the terminal where I met Laura (my roommate in Bath) yay! We sat together for a bit before we realized we had to check in and then board. They moved my seat from row 9 to 7, I have no idea why so I was the very last one to board. I ended up sitting in the aisle seat in the very first exit row so there was no one in front of me except for the upper class seats but they were separated. There was a big fiasco when I got on board because apparently three babies were booked in the same row and there are only 4 oxygen masks in each row so they can’t have more than one baby in a row. One family was twins so they wanted to sit next to each other and another insisted they booked it. They had to call down special people who firmly told them that a reservation is simply a request not a guarantee. Eventually disgruntled baby parents went to other seats and we began to take off. Now an exit row is great especially when there isn’t even a row ahead of you, but it means you can not have your baggage under the seat in front of you so you must stow it all above so I had to take only a few things to sit on my lap. Now I am not an evesdropper but when the flight attendants sit across from me and talk very loudly its kinda hard not to listen and one is not ready to move into his boyfriend and can get a really cheap place whereas the other one is married but can’t move out of her current living place. The flight was pretty turbulent with them not really turning off the fasten seatbelt signs but otherwise uneventful. Yes there was the occasional baby crying but nothing exciting. I tried to sleep but in the end I didn’t sleep more than two hours at the most and I was trying to read my book for the rest. Our first meal on the flight was beef or chicken. I chose chicken but I think I would have liked the beef meal a bit better than the chicken one, but it was still good. It was chicken with penne pasta in a tomato sauce but the tomato sauce was only on half of the pasta and not the chicken. I also discovered that I like honey Dijon dill vinagrette and that lemonade is sprite in England. He asked me which version I meant only to tell me after I answered that he did not have American Lemonade. Why ask then?
We landed at 8:30am there time so 3:30 US time. We flew into Bristol, but it’s a very small airport so we got to use the stairs instead of the ramp things which I thought was really cool so I wanted to take a picture but after I took one the security guard came over asked me what I was doing made me show her the picture delete it and then all the other pictures on my card. I took one later from a different angle but I don’t know what was so top secret about the plane. We picked up baggage without incident, took out some money from the atm and went through customs where no one was even checking which seems rather odd to me. From customs we road a bus to our houses. The countryside was fairly unpopulated and lots of green with no shortages of the telephone booths I love! The driving is a little weird to be on the other side but I didn’t really notice it on the bus.
Living in 18 North Hampton Street meant we were dropped off last and at the bottom of the large hill. None of the pictures can do this hill justice. It is quite a hill and I am on the top floor. Let’s just say walking will be enough of exercise with this location. We explored everyone’s rooms and ventured out into the city a bit, but we are a bit far from downtown and the other houses if you can see from the map. Being so jetlagged we were all pretty giggly and indecisive but we finally settled on a Panini place for lunch and we’ve decided “of course my love” is our new favorite British phrase. He was so nice! A woman came over to discuss the program a bit with us, but ultimately we will find out more tomorrow. I’ve been reading one of my books for homework due Monday and I finished it a bit ago. I still have some film reading for Monday but I will do it tomorrow after our very long day. We have to leave our rooms at 8:45am and then we are busy with orientation and such til 4:30pm. I’m sure we are all going to still feel the jetlag and the homework in the evening is not going to be fun. We were instructed not to go to bed before 9pm tonight to help with adjusting to the time change and that is 15 minutes away. Tomorrow they will hopefully show us some grocery and convenient store type shops to buy some necessities and it won’t be too boring with all the lectures.
I know there was more I was going to say when I had this playing in my head, but I can’t remember it all now. I’m trying to put everything in it’s place and make it all seem a bit more homey, but we can’t hang anything on the walls so its proving a little difficult. I’m still feeling a little nervous about this whole experience and about all the activities and hiking we have to do, but I’m hoping that will settle down in my stomach as the time goes on. Hope everyone is enjoying themselves in the states!
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