I am busy, busy

Hi everyone. So I have not written in the past couple of days, so here is the latest update.

After finding the motel on Thursday a bunch of other people started showing up. I introduced myself and we all started to get to know one another. When we got there our rooms were not ready so we went for a walk in Hyde Park. It was a really nice day. There were a lot of people out enjoying the sun. There were lots of elementary aged kids out with there classes playing games. They all wear uniforms here, and some of them look a little silly. (like uniforms from the movie "Madeline")

There are 18 people in my program, from all over the US. We all went to dinner that night at an Asian noodle place. It was pretty average food, nothing to special.

The next morning we went to a 3 hour orientation lecture. They went over how college is different here, etc.

We then went on the "Big Bus Tour". It basically is a double deck bus that drives you around the city to see the big sites. It is a "jump-on jump-off" tour. You get on and off the bus as you like. We did not take advantage of this the way I would if I were alone, so I was a bit disappointed. It did include a boat trip up the river. It was a point of view on the city that I will probably not see again. There are pictures on Picasa.

We then went to dinner at a nice sit down, full service pizza restaurant. I had a pizza that had anchovies on it. I was being adventurous. There were 4 on my pizza that were about 4 inches long each. the first 3 I ate were not bad at all, but the last one was terrible.

To finish the day we went to the theater. We watched 'Spamalot', which is a comedy based on the stories of King Arthur. It was really funny.

SATURDAY

Saturday morning a coach (aka bus) picked us up from the motel at 11 am. They drove us across town to our housing. We checked in and then ditched our luggage in our rooms, so we could go shopping for linens. We went to a department store and got sheets and towels. I thought the duvets and duvet covers there were far to expensive. We went back to the dorms and I looked up duvets and covers from a place called Argos. Argos is an online budget department store. Once you make an order they give you an order number. You then go to the location and give your number, pay and the order is brought to the front for you to pickup. Everyone that bought their stuff at the other department store was upset when the asked how much my duvet and cover was (since it was 1/4 the price of theirs). That night Erin and I went to the pub across the street from where I now live. Erin is from Spokane and goes to PSU, we have been doing a lot of stuff together. At the pub I had mussels. They came in a HUGE pot. There were so many. I ate until I had no room in my stomach and still only got about half way. They were really good.

SUNDAY

On Sunday we went to Buckingham Palace. The queens estate rooms are only open for about 5 weeks in the summer when the queen is not home. It was a walking audio tour. Everything was absolutly over the top (I guess what you would expect in a palace). But it was still jaw dropping.

Later that night the group went out again. This time to Italian. Wow, it was amazing. For starters we had great bread and an antipasti plate. The plate had amazing meats, very mild anchovies, a special type of bluecheese, a goat cheese and a paper thin cracker. It was so, so good. I will post pictures of my meal in the next day or two. I had a seafood dish made of fried squid, prauns, and a king shrimp. All were fried. It came with some sauces that were amazing.

We then went to a comedy club. It was called "The Comedy Store." It is the founder of the show "Whos line is it anyways." The show was completely improv and audience inspired. We laughed so hard. It is even funnier when it is live.

MONDAY

Today we had international student orientation. It was like freshman orientation, no big deal. It was over at 1:00pm. I just came home and relaxed. It is now 10:18 pm and I am heading toward bed. Tomorrow I have an appointment to get classes set up with my advisor.

Good night

9:00 AM Thursday

Thursday morning I woke up to the noisy streets of London. I was very thankful for my earplugs last night. For breakfast I went to an English bakery. I had the “breakfast offer.” It was a dry mini loaf of bread with bacon in the middle. The bacon here is not what it is back home. It was more like the ham we eat for the holidays. It also came with tea or coffee. I choose tea, hoping that it would be gentler on my stomach. It was very good breakfast, but like I said, a bit dry.

In a few minutes I will check out of my hostel and walk to the hotel where I will be staying for 2 nights. CIEE is hosting a dinner tonight, so I will get to meet all of the other students from the USA. There will also be lectures about living in London.

Something I have noticed about London is the craziness in the streets. There are a lot of motorcycles and mopeds. They just weave in and out of the cars and trucks and do not even stop for the red lights. In just the past day of watching the cars and trucks I have seen at least 10 near crashes. Bicycles are also everywhere, but they stay out of the way of all the motorized vehicles.

10:30 AM

I found the hotel! The walk was 0.9 miles. That is a long ways with a 60 pound bag and heavy backpack. I look forward to getting into my room that I will stay in for the year. I really want to unpack and get everything out of my bags.

Tonight we meet the CIEE coordinator at 5:00 pm for dinner....

I made it to London

I made it to London. Right now I sit at the womens hostel near the
Earl's Court Tube Station. The flight from Philadelphia to London was
awesome! I got an isle seat, and the seat next to me was empty! I was
able to use the two seats to curl up and sleep almost 4 hours of the 6
hour flight. There was a downside though, since I was sitting in the
middle rows I was unable to see London during landing.

I got off the airplane, went through the boarder control things, and
went to get my luggage. It was almost the last piece to come out, which
is nerve racking. I went to an ATM (aka cash machine) and got my first
amount of pounds. The money is so different. Down to the tube station I
went, I purchased a ticket. The attendant handed me my change through
the window and said "There you are, love, 17 pounds." I had to hold my
giggle. The accent and phrases are going to take some time to get used
to. On the Tube I went, got off at Earls Court, and arrived at my
hostel. I checked in and realized how hungry I was. On the 3 block walk
I saw a Pasty bakery. Amy (a friend from college) said it needed to be
one of my first meals, so I gave it a shot. I choose the chicken pasty.
It was like a dry, enlarged pizza pocket, filled with corn, potatoes and
chicken. I would not call it bad, just very plain.

After lunch I took a shower. The hot water is only available for certian
time periods of the day so it was a very tepid shower. I then took a nap
with the sounds of the London streets coming through my window. I don't
know what I will do next, but back outside I go.

Check out my pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/shannon.bye

Thoughts from Philadelphia International Airport

This morning was very emotional. Lots of crying, waving goodbye and struggling to stay on my side of the security dividers. I will miss him. I love him so much. Knowing that I will be away from him has been very difficult to deal with. The hardest part is done, I am now on my way, following a dream.

Once in the air, I noticed things were definitely different. I was in an airplane, but not going to Palm Springs or Disneyland. I was going to a far away and completely different place. The changes started right after take off. We flew east. Up the gorge, passing Cory & Karen's house, and Marleen & Lorens. As the flight continued I saw the Rocky Mountains of Montana (they look a lot different from the air). Then there was the dry gross of the plains and then the Great Lakes (Michigan and Erie). Then is was the decent into Philadelphia.

Just in case anyone was wondering... The east is REALLY flat. I have been told this, looked at topo maps, heard people joke about it. But it is really shocking to see land that is that flat with such a huge amount of urban sprawl.

Getting off the plane was exactly like I imagined. People all talking different languages. My favorite is the New Yorker type accent. (Geez, I can't imagine what people are going to think of the crazy way that I talk) I found some lunch and then decided to go to my gate and get on my computer until I wanted some dinner. Well after walking 25 minutes and getting my computer out, there was no Internet. So, I asked someone where I could actually get Internet. They basically told me to go back where I came from. After walking back the 25 minutes, I finally got Internet.

I checked my email, called some people and wrote this blog. Now I am going to get some dinner... I will blog again as soon as I find some Internet in London.

My little meow meow

Pixie has just a few places where she curls up and won't move for a few hours. On top or under the chair in the living room, at my feet on our bed, on the floor at Cody's desk, or on the window sill in our room. In the past few days I think that she has figured out that something is up. Colton, our new roommate started moving in, and a bunch of my clothes ended up in a suitcase... With the new smells and sites in our house she has been very 'investigative'. This morning she expressed her feelings about where she fits in during all these changes. For over an hour she sat on my "to bring" list next to my luggage. Apparently she wanted to tell me that she was also going where ever I was going... here are the pictures of her telling me what her opinion was...

Ribs and Goodbyes

On Wednesday night Mom and Ashley came to spend the night. We ate a HUGE rack of ribs. Ashley got so messy! Mom brought the best corn on the cob from her garden, it was yummy. On Friday I ate 2 pieces of apple pie mom brought. Thursday we spent the day hanging out, going to Costco and eating pizza. It was good spend time with mom and ash before I fly away on Tuesday.

Thanksgiving in September

Cody, Ashlee, Marleen, and, uh, Ashley again

Cody with the turkey... Patty got a little cut off...

"The Family"

On Sept. 14 we had Thanksgiving! Since I will not be with the family this year for Thanksgiving, Patty and Aunt Marleen cooked Thanksgiving. It was such a great dinner and I really appreciate the time and effort they took to decorate and cook. They even made spritzers, my favorite holiday cookie! It was really nice to spend time with Cody's side of the family before I left to London. I will miss them so much. Ashley even got to go! She was able to spend time with my other side of the family. I think it was her first extended amout of time with my other side of the family and I think she had fun and enjoyed the food. I hope that everything works out with coming home for Christmas and I can see both sides of the family.