Imperial College London Orientation. Day 6.

June 27^th

We woke up early in the morning for orientation at Imperial College London.

We got packets with all the guidelines and rules of the program. The packets also included many brochures on London to help us in planning trips and tours. Next, the professors gave an overview of each of their classes. After that we had a little coffee break and walked to PizzaExpress to have lunch-we go there as a group a lot.

After lunch we walked to the bus to take us to a bus tour of London. This took a long time and involved a lot of bus changes, but we finally got there.

The bus tour was fun, it took us awhile to get the hang of taking pictures that didn’t involve trees or heads blocking what we were trying to take a picture of. The tour guide was pretty hilarious, and very informal, but informational. Everything seemed to go by so fast, but I did manage to get some decent pictures!

Trafalgar Square

The London Eye!

Parliament

Big Ben!!!!

Two of my favorite things in London!

This dragon supposedly protects London...

The Tower Bridge

The tour ended at the Tower of London where we all got some yummy ice cream! Then we got on a boat that would take us down the river (Thames..I think) and we got lots of awesome views of Big Ben and the London Eye.

(Please excuse the extreme random-ness of my layout of the pictures...Blogspot is hard).


After the boat, we went inside the tube station to “top up” our oyster cards. That was a lot easier than I thought it’d be because it involved technology and my internet is still not working. Ever. I hate it.

Anyway, after that we went to Imperial Housing (which is our permanent housing) to get the textbooks that had been sent there and Erin’s luggage that was lost by the airport. Poor girl has been living out of a teeny tiny suitcase for a long long time and was extremely excited to finally get the rest of her stuff. But when we got there, the front office was closed! It was so sad. On the plus side, we got to see what the outside of our housing looks like, and it is cuuuuute. Very pumped to get to live there soon (I live there now!). As we were walking back to the tube, Ellie pointed out this very slik-looking building that was all black. She told us that was an extremely upscale hotel that is so fancy that they don’t even display their name all big. The name of the hotel is Blake’s and that made me miss my brother. She went on to tell us that apparently Jonny Depp stays there a lot!! How cool is that? The hotel is like right by our housing!

After walking us a part of the way back to the tube, Ellie left us to find our way back home on the tube by ourselves for the first time! Aaaaand we made it! Not with my help though, I had no clue where we were going…I still don’t :/ (now I do!)

After we got home, I did a stupid thing and bought this internet service thing called BTO-something.. So I basically spent 5 pounds for 24 hours. BUT I did NOT get 24 hours! I maaaybe got like, 2 hours. But probably less. So that was extremely frustrating because I was so excited to have internet for the time I did. It was just a tease.

So, I called my mom so we could get together for some coffee or something because she had just gotten into London earlier that day and I was in great need to see her because I missed her a lot already—which is strange because I’ve gone much, much longer without seeing her. Must be the large distance..

Mom got a taxi to come to where I was and we walked around looking specifically for a internet café, but we had no luck so we decied to just go to PizzaExpress where they have free wi-fi. Mom got wine and I got apple juice. We had to get dessert because apparently they wouldn’t serve alcohol without food. There wasn’t much of a protest there :)

We talked and caught up and I showed her my pictures till PizzaExpress closed, and then we relocated to the outside of my housing.

Then somewhere between midnight-thirty and 1, a group of my friends came home very intoxicated from the pubs. That was very entertaining, they were all so excited to meet my mom and wanted to give her hugs and buy her pancakes..lol! Fun times.

Mom left at around 1:30ish maybe..and I went to bed and tried internet one last time, but it didn’t work because it never ever works.

Departure from Scotland & Back to London. Day 5.

June 26^th

I did not sleep much by the beginning of this day.  I got to bed at around 5am, and then I woke up at around 7am to go to the wi-fi lobby one last time to talk to the boyfriend <3 I updated him a bit on my life.

After that we all walked to the train station.

We got on our train for London and it was definitely a big step down from first class, but it most definitely wasn’t the worst! 

We finally arrived back in London after another super long 4 ½ hour train ride!  We got our big suitcases and began the extremely long walk with them.  It sucked because all of a sudden the sun was like, “Hey guys! I love being outside!”  We finally got to the tube and went to Bakers Street where our first housing is located. We were staying at the University of Westminster in Marylebone Hall till Sunday.  It isn’t the very best location because when we walk around the area it doesn’t feel like we’re in London.  It definitely feels like we’re in New York.

Anyway, we got settled in our new housing and I was assigned to live with Larissa again which is good news because she’s one of the awesome friends I’ve made so far!  The dorm room is nice! It’s very big because it’s a handicapped dorm-which I’m used to because I lived in a handicapped room all last year! The room is equipped with two twin beds, two desks and chairs, BIG windows with a semi-nice view, and LOTS of outlets. I tried to get my internet to work, but it wouldn’t work!!!

I went to the front desk, but they were extremely unhelpful.  I called the internet company, and a man with a giant accent answered.  He wasn’t helpful at all, and I had to keep asking him to repeat everything he said and he was obviously frustrated about that.  After the harder-than-it-should-have-been process of getting my address, he told me that they’d have somebody come out to fix it within 3-5 business days. That sucked because by that point, I was gone.

Once I gave up on trying to get the Internet, we got ready to go out for some food.  I hadn’t eaten all day other than a couple pineapple pieces so I was way hungry.

We walked to an adorable Italian restaurant.

Erin and me!

I had a margarita pizza with no cheese as per usual here in Europe. It was tasty!!! Next we walked back to our rooms and I tried the Internet again with zero luck and went to sleep!