Settling In

Picking up where I left off, napping was not quite successful and by not quite I mean I didn't sleep at all but the rest of the flight still passed pretty quickly.  After landing, the six of us in the program on the flight all headed through customs, no surprises there, and grabbed our stuff, still pretty easy.  Then, most of us headed off to the tube for the first time.  Buying tickets was the first obstacle, the card reader was a little funky but the big task was getting our heavy suitcases through tiny metal barriers that were before you even swiped your ticket.  We took the train on the Piccadilly line towards Cockfosters (giggles ensue, we were sleep deprived college kids) to Kings Cross.  From here we were supposed to take the Northern Line to Angel but the Northern line, as it turns out, is under construction this weekend and our part is closed.  This meant that me, and 3 of the others decided to hoof it to the towers.  I swear, it didn't look nearly as far as it felt on the map, once we'd located ourselves.  Besides, we had plenty of time since we couldn't get into the building until 10am.  Eventually we made it, none worse for the wear and still with plenty of time to spare.   As five of us camped out in the lobby, a few more students began to arrive as well.  Then, just past ten Luke, from Hansard, arrived to let us all into our apartments.  They are brand new and BEAUTIFUL.  There's four of us to a flat with plenty of storage space for everyone.  Also, the entire floor is all Hansard kids.  We even have our own washer/dryer and dishwasher, in addition to the regular appliances.  Most of Saturday afternoon was a flurry of unpacking, followed by some much needed food and a brief nap.  Then, after a floor meeting with the building manager, the original six of us headed off on a dinner exploration which ended with some pretty good Indian food.  The only thing left to do was to stop by our 24 hr grocery to pick up breakfast for today.

Today it was nice, relaxing way to start the week.  I woke up with just enough time to have a relaxing breakfast and a walk before heading out for the day.  I'd picked up real English tea (forgot the tea strainer thingy so that was a challenge) and some muffins which were both highly satisfying.  I'm still settling into the flat a little so it'll take some time to get morning routine down but it was definitely a good start.  I had just enough to time go for a quick walk before leaving for our afternoon tour.  I spent the next hour or so just wandering up towards Angel and enjoyed myself thoroughly.  It was mid-morning so people were sort of out for the day but the streets weren't crowded.  I may have mentioned it earlier but this is a great way to get to know an area in my opinion.  I love just wandering around either by myself or with a few good friends, really just soaking the place in.  Unfortunately it was time to leave for the tour all too soon.  It was a bit of a struggle getting there due to the construction on the Northern line but we made it.  Then we spent the afternoon seeing a lot of the major tourist sites in London (pictures may be included, or just email me!).  Afterwards we received our orientation packet from LSE with lots of great info about the details of our classes.  They both look challenging but interesting.  I'm a little nervous to see how different a LSE style class is from a NU one.  Our six went to dinner in a traditional British pub near school, took us a while to find one that was open on a Sunday evening but the food was worth it.  Then, back at the flats we dug into our packets.  Overall I'm excited for classes to start tomorrow and to get back into the academic swing of things.  It looks like the program will fly by and I can't wait to really get started tomorrow.


Ps. Please someone kick the Sox in the behind since I can't do it in person, this is getting ridiculous.  Just because I'm not there does not mean there shouldn't be baseball in Boston in October