A rush of a week....

Wow, what a fun and interesting week it's been!  Just one week ago, I was packing and anticipating for my departure to London, and it's hard to believe it's been a week already!  The days have gone by so fast!

Tricia, the woman I am staying with, lives in the London borough of Brent, just north of Notting Hill, and about a 20-minute Underground ride into central London.  Tricia is extremely friendly and helpful... on the day I arrived, she took me and my roommate, Andreina, on a walk around the neighborhood, pointing out the nearest bus and Underground stops, the post office, and a few restaurants and cafes.  Tricia's an amazing cook... after everything I had heard about British food being not so great, I have been very pleasantly surprised by her meals, my favorite so far being Moroccan meatballs with couscous. YUM!!

We've already had our first two days of program orientation, and regular classes start tomorrow.  I'm really looking forward to all of them, especially Art, Architecture and Society, which is taught by a hilarious British instructor, Peter.  He led us on two extremely long but interesting walks for our orientation, and he seems like he'll make the class really fun as well as interesting.  The class includes no actual classroom time; it is entirely taught on the streets of London, where we exam the architecture of houses, buildings, churches, even statues.  The class also includes weekly day trips to places of interest in and around London, such as Greenwich, Stonehenge, and Stratford, where we'll actually spend the night at a B&B.

I've loved getting to know my classmates, too.  Aside from all meeting at program orientations, we all met up on Friday night at a pub near the classroom in the Holborn neighborhood.  We pushed a bunch of tables together and all hung out as one large group.  Getting to hang out and talk with everyone in a relaxed, non-classroom setting was a lot of fun.  We talked about everything, from school to weekend travel plans (talks are circulating about trips to Scotland, Paris, and Dublin sometime in the near future).

I already feel like I'm a master of London public transit.  Andreina and I have had many adventures resulting from mishaps, from trains not running to late-night bus journeys across London.  Luckily, though, these mishaps have all ended well, and they've really helped us figure out the Underground system (and the bus system, to some extent).  If there are any future employers reading this, my problem-solving skills, my improvisational skills, and my keeping-cool-under-pressure skills are all top notch right now!

In this first week, I've already visited Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and the Tower of London.  Plan to do more touristy things (London Zoo, London Eye, etc.) in the coming weeks, mixed in with exploring the less-touristy, more residential areas outside of central London.

I'm definitely missing my friends and family back home, but thanks to cell phones and Skype, keeping in touch hasn't been an issue.  This first week has already flown by and, before I know it, I'll already be on a plane back home, so for now, I'm embracing the time I have here and trying to get as much out of the experience as I can!