Mind the gap, please.

Well, I made it. The past two days have been a whirlwind.

Yesterday our plane arrived about 30 minutes earlier than planned and Lara and I headed to customs and to find out way out. Customs was super easy to get through- I had an envelope of assorted papers that I was told would be needed to gain entry, but I just needed to show her my acceptance letter and BAM! student visa! Getting to the dorm was much simpler than I anticipated. We took the high speed train into Paddington Station, and from there Lara and I went our separate ways- her dorm is south so she took the tube, while I took a taxi to my northern dorm. Checking in was easy- complete with a preordered bedding set waiting for me, and a maintenance man to carry my luggage and teach me how to use my key and the doors (you can't just open them, you need to hit a button for them to move.) The day itself was a bit rough, lots of unpacking and organizing into my itty bitty room, needing to buy towels, food, and toiletries but not knowing where to go, unable to pay for things with small denominations of cash cause I wasn't sure which coin was which, and just a lot of stress. The biggest thing was that it was kind of lonely. I'm in a private room with a private bath (if you would call it that, my wingspan can cover the entire "room") and no one was seeming to be in the common areas or communal kitchen. You can't get access to other sections of the dorm without living there due to the key system, so it was very isolating. I met a few people while out running errands who live in my dorm, but they are all part of a larger privately run abroad program and had already been together and in London for a week, so I felt like a bit of an outsider. Lara said she had experienced pretty much the same thing in that no one is really super social or goes out of their way to introduce themselves, so to prevent ourselves from just sitting in our room all of Sunday, we made plans to meet up.

As you enter my room.

My "bathroom." See that white thing blocking the sink? Yep that's the shower. My bathmat needs to be folded to fit between the shower and the toilet, it's that small.

The bed and desk area.

The view from my 11th story room.

Today was so much better than yesterday. I went to bed around 9 London time, and woke up around 10 for a full 13 hours of much needed sleep. A relaxed morning led up to meeting Lara at "The Globe"- a Sherlock Holmes style pub for lunch and to watch a bit of the Man City-Manchester United game. What did I learn? You seat yourself, order at the bar, and here on Baker Street, there are a lot more Man U fans than Man City ones. From there we set out walking just to explore and decided to head towards Hyde Park- a 10 minute walk or so from my residence. The park looked big on our map, but boy is it big. We saw a bunch of greens and memorials before we hopped on the underground  for my first tube experience.

One of the many statues in Hyde Park.

Part of the Princess Diana Water Fountain Memorial.

Street vendors blowing larger than life bubbles. a real hit with the kids.

The Prince Albert Memorial

After the leaving the park, we didn't realize how much ground we actually covered, and it turns out we were only a tube stop away from Buckingham Palace. Our simple walk turned into a tourist excursion as we went to the palace and watched the guards, explored the nearby grounds and then headed towards the SoHo district. Neither of us really knew what to expect in SoHo, but it has been brought up many times already, so we headed out. My best description: the Times Square of London. I always felt like I was in a city, but this made me really feel like it was a city. Huge flashing and neon signs, street vendors in costume, and trendy looking hotels. Conveniently, right on one of the SoHo side streets is Chinatown. Full of cute restaurants, and lots of outdoor vendors we walked around and enjoyed the huge lanterns hanging from the sky and the grand oriental arches welcome you as you come in and out of the district. We originally intended on getting Chinese food for dinner, but on our way we found a little "Cellar Cafe" with a sign advertising two course for only 7.95 pounds. We went down a steep staircase to find the smallest restaurant I've ever been in. We grabbed the last of the 6 tables they had, and from where we were could see everything- the kitchen included. While a little strange, the food was good, huge portions and cheaper than our pub lunch. My only vice? No take away containers for the half a plate of 4 cheese pasta I had left. After that we called it quits for the night, not at all expecting to have the day we did. 

The guard outside Buckingham Palace.

 

Buckingham Palace main gates.

Soho.

SoHo.

The W hotel with M&Ms world underneath.

 

It's nearly 8 here and I'm getting ready for a Skype session with my parents, and working on setting up a Flickr account for all the photos I plan and have taken. The next few days should be a good time- orientation Monday, an international independent student bar night Tuesday (great because large private abroad groups aren't invited, just students who came here solo) and a night time cruise on the Thames on Wednesday. My goal is to do the main touristy part of London, Big Ben, the Eye, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and everything in that area one of those days before our nighttime activities start. I'll keep you posted!

Oops, I nearly forgot, we found platform 9 3/4 too!