FINALLY in Canterbury :D

Ok... Hi everyone! I'm safe and sound, nothing horrible happened to me at all, no scary men barging into my hotel room at 3 in the moring like what happened in Florence one night a long, long time ago, (ok so maybe 2 years ago but whatever :D ) So let's recap the events that happened while I was away from the internet and phone for 2 days!! I felt totally disconnected from everyone and let's just say it's kinda scary but kinda nice too!
On Friday the 4, 2008, mom and dad took me to the airport at O'Hare, we cried and said good bye at the check in scan area for carry on luggage. They had to scan my laptop bag twice because of everything in it and hand manually go through it. But everything went well, I found my terminal all right and got on the plane after calling my grandparents. So I got on the plane, whici lucky me I had a window seat! The plane took off and we headed over to Newark, NJ! As we were flying into Newark, I was able to see the Statue of Liberty way in the distance, however what else could it have been? It's the only green statue in the middle of the water! :D
So that was pretty cool, and I thought of all the people who had crossed over to America by boat looking at it with their American Dreams in their minds. Anyways, I also saw the Empire State Building and also could make out the Brooklyn Bridge as well! It made me think of the Kate and Leopold movie where Hugh Jackman says, "By God, it still stands!" Hehe :D So... then I landed and made my way to my other terminal which wasn't too hard to find either. I looked around for some convient food to eat and ended up getting a sandwich that turned out to be a foot long sub roast beef, cheese, and lettuce sub!!! Too big, but I just packed the other half into my book bag to save for later :P So then I nervously waited around for my next flight to London, Gatwick, thinking, "Surely the gate will change and I will miss the flight!" But it didn't thankfully and I was also sitting by quite a few people who happened to have British accents, so I thought that I was fine.
By this time, my eyes were getting very very tired and I just wanted to be called up to the front of the plane with a first class ticket, but of course, no such luck for me. I did however sit next to a nice young British couple who helped me with my landing card. Before we took off, I got out my ipod and just had the earphones in, and two flight attendants decided to both tell me that it had to be off first or the music on low, and then the next one told me to take the headphones out of my ears! Huh! I didn't even have the thing on yet! But whatever, we listened to the flight safety instructions and then FINALLY took off for London! I ended up falling asleep easily due to the NyQuill tablet I took about an hour before we boarded. Then I suddenly woke up with one of the flight attendants right by my head with a beverage cart talking to the person across from me! It scared me half to death! I also felt like I had had my mouth open and he could see me lol! Oh well, I won't see him again hehe! So then I went back to sleep, and then woke up VERY VERY THIRSTY, and the trolley cart came again, but this time with dinner! Oh Boy! Plane food :P I chose the chicken, remembering not to eat any beef, in case of mad cow of course :) And it had penne pasta and red peppers and corn, which actually was ok to eat. It came with a nice salad with dressing, a roll and butter, and a brownie in a package. Didn't eat the brownie since my mouth would be dry from eating it, so after I was done, I waited for the trolley to come by again with some water.
After dinner, I couldn't really go to sleep again because of this HORRIBLE baby who was probably about 1 and a half years old who kept crying periodically thoughout the WHOLE flight! Grrr.... so I decided to watch CSI:NY after seeing the British girl next to me watching it on her screen. I felt bad for peeking at it and decided to watch it on my tv :D After it was do I tried to sleep with my ipod music on and my ears being clogged due to the air pressure! So I fell asleep again and then woke up when they were passing out the landing cards. So I slept a couple hours I would guess. I then filled out the card, and had to ask the girl next to me if I had to fill out the back which had the passport and stuff on it, so she said no and I would have to get a new one, which I called the attendant over and got a new one hehe! Oops. Just remember, don't fill out the back of a landing card, also have your address ready in case you have to put that down, which I did and put down. When we landed in Gatwick, I went through customs, which was a looong line which went rather quickly! The man asked for my passport and landing card, and then asked what I was going to do in England. I told him I was a student studying abroad and he just checked it, without asking for the statement of my banking account, or my letter from school either. Hmm..?? Oh well. Better safe than sorry I suppose. Then I went to go get my luggage, found it and went on to where the trains were to get a ticket from the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station. Finally found the stupid ticket area, got my ticket and went to the terminal where it was going to be. It was actually downstairs and I had to haul both HEAVY suitcases down them. Although, now I know about the lifts (elevators) that take you and luggage up and down hehe! Too worried that I'd miss the train to clearly think of that :D So I actually did end up missing the first train because there was a train in my terminal, but I was looking at the screen and it said that the train was on time and I thought was coming into the station at 9:20, but that was the departing time and I totally had missed it! But no worries, because I told the station guy standing around that I had just missed it to go to Victoria Station and he told me that there was another one at Terminal 2. So I took the lift up and over to Terminal 2 and asked before getting on the train if this was going to Victoria Station.
Got on the train, put luggage in big luggage area, and took a seat. It took 30 minutes to get to Victoria Station, which was a nice rest. Got my ticket checked, and also could have bought it on the train as well, like Crispin said to :D Oh well. So train ride was pleasant and I felt like I was in a Harry Potter movie with all the houses looking like his did at Little Whining Street (??) or wherever he lived hehe!
Bought water, because for some reason I have been soo thirsty ever since I arrived in England. Not too sure why? But I have been keeping hydrated and drinking a lot of water mum :D So got off train, and looked for taxi area, which was very easy to get to and get a cab. Cab driver helped me with my bags and was very nice. We talked about my trip, studying in Canterbury, living in America, going to New York (the driver) and other things.
Got dropped off at hotel, which was more like a narrow building that had a Days Inn sign above the door. So I tipped the driver 1 pound like Christine told me to, and went to check in. Was told that I couldn't change my room to a single and had to keep the same cost, which was what I figured would happen. So I went to room 308 and left my card in the light place which kept the lights on and put my baggage down. It was then 10:00 am and I decided to check to see if I could contact Erin to get together. But no such luck because the internet wouldn't work. So I decided to read bit and then called home to tell everyone that I had gotten there all right and also see if Erin had sent me an e-mail. Nope. So I left the room, making sure I had everything and went off in search of an internet cafe. Paid 2 pounds for an hour and half, couldn't figure out how it worked because I guess you had to set up a Euro Account or something and then you could access the internet. So I then decided to just go on a bus tour. This was luckily a Big Bus Tour right down from where the cafe was. I got the ticket that was good for 48 hours, even though I'd only be there for 24 hours. So took the bus, which ended up circling around at a drop off, and then we had to get on another Big Bus Tour and started again. I actually saw a lot of London and got familiar with where everything was again. I listened to the announcer guy with the headphones would periodically say something about the historical monuments or places, or streets we were on. I saw the Marble Arch, which is a smaller version of the Arc de Triumph in Paris, France, rode down Baker Street, thought of Ben and House while on it :D Passed on Regent street that had the Burberry store in the middle of it, made a small note to go back there to look only :) Passed by Trafalgar Square, where there were hardly any pigeons at all, bummer.. passed Covent Gardens shopping area (no naked guy in the street this time Sammy, sorry I know how badly you wanted to see him again lol ). Went past Royal Courts of Justice, St. Paul's Cathedral where Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married, Bank of England, went on the London Bridge, passed the London Dungeon which is supposedly a theme ride ?, passed Tower of London, all the way down the Thames to where the Eye of London was, looping back to pass the Westminster Abbey, Victoria Tower Gardens, passed my next future husband to be Prince Williams Buckingham Palace, about the spot where we had been last time :D Went by Harrods shopping building, which looked like Chicago's Michigain Ave. Very BUSY!! Past the Victoria & Albert Museum, and Science and Natural History Museums, which finally ended the tour 2 hours later back at Paddington pick up where I got off. This tour is one where you can get on and off anywhere as long as you had your ticket and remembered the times that the buses were going. This was excellent and I recommend it to everyone who goes to London, which was a good idea mom, dad, and Ben. Thanks!
While on the bus before my stop, I had moved to the front to ask if it was going to loop back around to the Paddington pick up and the driver said yes. I talked with him and also asked him the best way to get to Heathrow airport for tomorrow to meet people at Terminal 3 to get taken to Canterbury. He said take Paddington Station train to Heathrow Airport. Then went back to the hotel and was EXTREMELY tired!! Ate the rest of my sandwich which was in the fridge. However, the fridge wasn't very cold at all, but whatever. So ate dinner and then read my book since the tv wouldn't work. Called front desk to complain, which was 1:00 am. They said the remote was broken or something and that they'd send someone up in 5 minutes to give me a new one. No one showed, but it was for the best since I didn't need to watch tv and really go to sleep. Listened to the STUPID buzzing noise of I think the fridge, and had to put ipod in ears to block it out! Bed was comfy though :D Fell asleep around 5:00 pm and woke up around 8:00 pm. Still hungry but didn't want to venture outside due to it being dark out and I was all by myself. So just read the rest of my book and called parents again on phone card.
Then read rest of book and finished it around 2:00 am.
Woke up at 8:00 am, jumped in shower and got dressed and made sure that everything was packed nicely and I didn't leave anything behind. Then went down to breakfast. Did have toast, did have beans, but sadly couldn't try them together yet! Too strange hehe :D Also had 2 glasses of orange juice since I still have stupid cough, and hot chocolate, scrambled eggs, and some slices of ham/bacon, the weird kind that was at the hotel last time we were in London. Declined on the bangers (sausage) though b/c I knew ahead of time they taste like mush inside! Yuck! :P
Watched football on tv while eating breakfast and then checked out of hotel and walked down the street to Paddington Station, took train to Heathrow, walked allll the way to Terminal 3 and went to the Arrivals area. It was somewhat like the waiting area in the movie Love Actually, without the slow motion and music and Hugh Grant talking in the background lol. People were greeting one another, held signs up welcoming others home, taxi cab drivers with signs to take people places, most likely hotels. I awkardly made my way through the end of the Terminal 3, which looked like a run way, looking for the cab driver. Sadly no one held the sign saying Canterbury Christ Church students, however at the end as I was looking around a girl named Megan Johns spotted me and asked if I was in the Canterbury school. She was and we were glad to finally see someone we knew and chatted while looking around for the driver. This old lady what had a student helper sign on her shirt came around and gave us a sign to write on and hold up that I put Christ Church Canterbury Students and waited with Megan. She said how she had woken up to the maid coming into clean her room, and that the front desk of her hotel had not given her a wake up call. So she had madly dashed out of the hotel, with no breakfast, gotten on a bus to take her to the airport and was trying to page people who were in her group. So this airport guy had also stopped by and helped us by lending us his phone to call the taxi people to see if there was someone actually coming. They confirmed that he was, that he wasn't carrying a sign, and that I could go early with their group who was supposed to meet at the Arrival Information desk at 10:00 am to go to Canterbury. Which worked out fine because I didn't want to wait around for 4 hours until 2:00 pm for my group to actually go, which ended up being delayed 2 more hours so they got to Canterbury around 6:00 pm.
Finally met up with a guy named Matt, a girl named Julia, from the ISU group, and one of the teachers. Erin Sloan, who I was supposed to meet up with had taken the subway twice in the wrong direction and had somehow ended up in Terminal 1 waiting for people. The cab driver told his company to page her and go to Terminal 3 where we were all waiting.
We finally all got together and made our way to the parking lot where our taxi cab was parked, that sat 6 people and a small trailer for our luggage too. We were all packed in tight but better than hanging around for 4 more hours!
Talked with Megan in the back seat, she's from Champaign, IL, is a musician, has already 2 cds made and is planning on performing somewhere for fun around Canterbury and selling her cds, on the side. She's a vegan and we actually ended up being down the street from one another. Which ended up perfectly because we had decided to meet with the teacher and Julia at Christ Church University and then try to find a Tesco (grocery store) where there were supposedly pay as you go phones. Megan and I decided to meet at 4:30 pm to walk over to the school and then meet them at 5:00 pm.
So I met my host family and they are VERY nice. Katerina is a physiotherapist, who works from home and also at her work. She has a son named Costos, or Kostos ?? who is 17 and goes to school here. They are both from Greece, and he just recently moved here as well. Michael is Katerina's husband and he is a retired sub college teacher for the Kent University. He actually taught, or helps teach the Introduction to Film Art History, which will be one of the classes I am taking at Christ Church. My room is all the way on the third floor in the attic, which has a great view of a park and of Canterbury too! I have my own desk, sink that works, and shelves to put my clothes and other things too. Sadly no places to put my pictures, but we'll see about that later I guess. I unpacked all of my stuff and then took my gifts of 2 Fannie May chocholate boxes and a book on Route 66 from a gas station we got on the way up to Chicago. I also brought down some pictures to show Katerina and Michael my family and friends and other things thrown in there too! Katerina LOVED the Route 66 book because it has always been her dream to travel it all the way to San Francisco, just like Mechty's dad :D. But she said that she needs to giver herself about 2 years to build up the courage to fly on a plane over to the U.S. So she was really excited about the book, and they also liked the chocolates too! I told them it was from Chicago and then Michael showed me a picture of his two kids both in their mid 20's I think, who had gone to Chicago this past summer. Huh, small world :) So then Megan came by my house and we got directions from Katerina with a map :D of how to get to the Church all right and to get to Tesco too.
So we ventured out and by this time it was kinda dark, so Megan and I were staying close together trying to NOT look like tourists hehe. But we were safe, however we were lost a bit but then corrected our mistake. But we ened up being late to meet the other two people and decided to just go to Tesco instead. So it took us an hour to find the place due to our detour, and ended up around the eating area where my family had stopped for the McDonalds because it was the only place open due to the power outage! Weird! So we ended up asking a girl who turned out to be from Seattle, Washington and was staying in Canterbury on a mission trip for a year. Her name was Kaitlin and she was actually going to Tesco herself so she showed us the way. She also told us about another phone store to compare prices if the pay as you go phone wasn't a very good deal. Which it turned out to be 64 something pounds!! I don't think so! So Megan and I shopped around for groceries. I ended up getting some cereal, since Katerina didn't know what kind I liked, a thing of yogurt, Ritz crackers, crackers with cheesecake dipping sauce (interesting), and a razor, which by the way, they have Venus and I should have brought one from home! Oh well :D
So once finished, we headed back home. On the way we stopped at a Thai Restaurant and ordered Take Away (to go). Interesting, and Megan liked it a lot since there was a lot of vegan stuff to eat. Not my cup of tea, but I got some kind of chicken, with veggies and a side of rice. Much more like Chinese really. Then headed for home and didn't get lost.
Came home and ended up saving the dinner for later and ate a yummy dinner of a type of lasagna with penne noodles instread of the layered noodles, which had a type of ground meat, and good cheese in it too! They served it with a feta cheese on the side. It was interesting and very sharp, but was ok I thought. Not my favorite but oh well :) Talked about being a Quintuplet and they were still amazed about the whole thing. They asked if my parents got money from the government, and I tried not to laugh! I wish!! But oh well, I guess here Michael said that they get much money per child per week or month or something! Which would definitely be nice if that would happen in the States lol :D But I told them people only get money if they are on welfare, or divorced I guess. Then we talked about movies and they moved onto actors and actresses because I had asked about Atonement coming to their cinema, which it had over Christmas! Drat! But may come out on DVD while I'm here, so Bevin, happy birthday present maybe!! :D Then I had asked about what famous celebrities lived here and Michael said, "Orlando Bloom" !!!! I acted all suprised but told them that he was my favorite actor and Michael said that his oldest son went to a party and got to meet him! I asked Michael what he was like and he said that he was a really nice guy according to his son! So hah to all who thought that he was a vain, stuckup actor! But Katerina and Michael both had agreed that Keira Knightley was a good actress but just didn't act approriately like a famous actress. I guess she can come off rather haughty in interviews or something? Also that she needs to break away from the period movies as well. Oh well, :D.
Then after dinner I helped wash dishes, they recycle a lot of things: cans, plastic bags, papers etc. Which is sort of what we do sometimes too. Costos didn't really talk a whole lot during dinner and I tried asking him what his interests were, like if he played video games or what not, but he said no, not since he was little. Well there goes one plan about getting him some video games or something of that nature. So I'll have to try harder to see what he likes.
Michael and I tried setting up my lap top which took a while, but luckily they had had the same problems with their other host students (they've hosted 2 I belive; 1 from Missouri, and the other from N.Y.C.) and we eventually figured it out and that is how I am typing tonight :D Yeah, I felt soo disconnected from everyone back home since I didn't have a cell phone and my lap top wasn't really working.
So now tomorrow is a big day, full of meeting people at the school's main building, talking about the school, break, more talking about homestay stuff, tour of campus, meeting with the staff, travel presentation, info on field trips :D, and finally ending it off with dinner for everyone at The Super Noodle Bar for a welcome meal & more opportunities to talk to other students!
Now it's time for bed and am glad to be back online again :D Plus there's an adapter for my computer already here, so grateful :D!!
Night,
<3 *Shannon*