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....