Wool Hats and Long Coats
My mom and grandma drove me to the charlotte international Airport and waited with me for a while. Thankfully there were no tears from them, certainly not from me. I was too...entranced I suppose is a good word. I was waiting desperately for that feeling of excitement. That didn’t come till much later.
The flight to Boston was nothing special, but the 6 hour flight to London was spectacular. There were several in-flight movies to choose from, games, radio, they feed us twice, and the flight attendants were pretty. The plane was packed, even though there were TWO levels. I was generally impressed.
I arrived at Heathrow and that is where it all went wrong. When it was my turn to go up to immigration, I told them I was studying abroad. They asked to see my letter of acceptance. I had no idea what he was talking about. Then the prick that was standing behind him started to grill me about it. He was extremely rude and condescending towards me. He was all like, “all the other students have letters, so why don’t you?” and “did you not do your research before you got here” and this one really got me “you do realize this is a very serious offense. We should send on a plane back to Boston right now”. I was absolutely mortified. Just typing this makes me feel horrible again. I felt so stupid for not knowing about this thing, and at possibly having to go back to America. The area had a strict no mobile phones policy, so I count even call anyone. I just waited. And the immigration officers were not helping at all. I could understand if they were just doing there jobs, but they were being dicks for no reason. To make a long and painful story very short, four hours later FIE faxed over a letter to their offices. They let me through, but not without a few more snide remarks from the immigration officers about how fortunate I was. By this time it was 10:30, which is 5:30 AM US time. I had not slept the entire night. I was emotionally drained, hungry embarrassed and very lonely.
I found out later that the other two girls were asked for letters as well, and they didn’t know what they were talking about. They just showed the people their International ID cards and they were let though. I felt a little better, because I was almost sure there was nothing about this in our orientation sessions with Elwood. And they confirmed that. I talked to a girl from another school, and she said that they spent a lot of time going over the letter and its importance. I thought some more about it, and got mad again because I realized that the officers had seen my International Student ID card because they searched through all my shit. I even offered My ISIC as proof of my being a student when I first got there, but they said it wasn’t enough. Pricks. They put me though all that for absolutely nothing. I curse their heads *spits on the ground*
That one slightly hellish experience aside, everything else here has been a blast. The orientation sessions have been a lot to take in, but I like the staff a lot. They have tons of personality. My accommodations are super nice. Not only do I have my own room, but I have my own bathroom as well. I am overjoyed by this.
I live in the second richest areas of London, which is one of the richest in the world, so needless to say everything here is ass-expensive. A matinee movie ticket is like 9.50 lbs, with is about $20. There is a magazine that points out the inexpensive hot spots of London, including the free ones. A lot of the galleries and museums are free as well. I look forward to trying these things out.
I am noticing that all the other schools came in big groups which mostly stick to themselves. I am making an effort to be more sociable than usual. I met a girl from Bulgaria, and to my delight, she I not a religious zealot. I’ve mostly been hanging around her and the two girls from Guilford since I got here. Last night we went to my first pub, the “Builder’s Arm’s”. We continued down High Kensington Street stopping at various places of interest. The last stop of the night was a cool piano bar called the Soprano. The piano player played all popular stuff that everyone knew. Having had a couple, I can admit I belted out a few tunes myself. I did a very strong version of “Under the Bridge” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and a moving rendition of Coldplay’s “Fix You”.
This morning we went on an official historical tour of the area. I didn’t know so many artists and writers lived here at one time or another. Tomorrow is the Bus Tour of Central London. My camera is ready.
The fun I have had thus far has already made up for that…incident Thursday. I have vowed that if I ever get bored, I am just going to get on a tube station and go somewhere random fro a while. Sometimes it’s fun to get lost.
I’m not homesick yet, but I do miss my friends a whole lot. I keep thinking I can just call them up and say “Hey, let’s go here”. Facebook is helping. Some.
Cheers Darlin’