A long, crazy journey started yesterday (today?) with a tearful goodbye to Philip. I was much more emotional that I had expected myself to be. I said goodbye to my cat with little to-do, bid farewell to my home, and drove up to O'Hare with my dad and aunt. Traffic was insane. I again cried much more than I had anticipated when saying goodbye to them both and I will probably continue to cry thinking about being away from the three most important people in my life for longer than I ever have.
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Had to share this pic of me and Dad at my going away / early birthday party
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The flight generally sucked. I will have to remember to not do overnight flights in the future. It felt like we were waiting forever to get in the air and no sleep was had because it's impossible to get comfortable when you feel like a sardine. There are perks and downfalls to having a window seat... I got to see Ireland and London as we flew in, but didn't leave my seat THE ENTIRE 8 HOURS! I just didn't want to disturb my neighbors. The descent into Heathrow felt like it lasted three hours alone because I wanted to stand up so badly and stretch. But we made it!
The next adventure was getting on the coach to Cambridge. Easy enough--but again, next time I might rethink that part. The good thing about the ride was getting to go through small towns that I've never heard of and probably won't visit. It's so interesting to already see the differences in our countries and cultures. Three hours of driving through these quaint villages was quite enough; it felt like another 8 hour flight to be honest. I was scared the entire coach ride because my cell phone didn't have a signal, so I was unable to get ahold of Carrie ("house mom"), who was picking me up at the bus station! Apparently I overlooked the fact that even though I extended the use of my cell phone until Sunday... ha!... I can't use it because I'm on a totally different network--hence the "unlocking" of the phone. Even if I had unlocked the phone before I came though, I wouldn't have been able to use it anyway, because I don't have a plan on the network yet. So whoever offered to extend my use on America's network until Sunday grossly overlooked the fact that when you're in England, you're not on America's network. Duh! (Not sure why I didn't understand this until the bus ride.) Luckily, Carrie was a genius and knew that my flight was late and I wouldn't have been able to catch an earlier coach and just decided to meet the bus that I was on when it arrived. I don't know what I would've done otherwise. Felt lost and scared, that's what. With lots of luggage and valuables.
So the past few hours I've just begun to get myself settled and have chatted a little with Carrie. I met Ian ("house dad") and Kieran (son of Carrie and Ian) and everyone is just so welcoming and friendly. It feels quite strange being this far from home, but at the same time I feel like I know the place. Even though I don't have a cell phone, I am glad to have the internet--it's a terrible feeling to think you're disconnected from the life you know!
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| Home for the next two months: 24 Ainsworth Place |
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| My bedroom |
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| My bathroom |
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| The kitchen -- I love the punches of color everywhere |
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| The "lounge" |
