Traveling to & Getting Settled in Canterbury
I will say that traveling to England this time and getting myself and the students settled wasn't uneventful.
I'll spare you all the details about getting to London (charter bus to O'Hare, flight delayed 2 hours, etc.) We got there later than anticipated, but it was fine.
I wasn't sure how the journey to Canterbury from the airport would go. We were told someone would be there with a bus or shuttle to drive us. This happened exactly as we were told; there was a guy with my name in large print on his phone waiting for us outside Arrivals. He was in a hurry to get us back to Canterbury, so we made pretty good time from the airport which I appreciated. He dropped us off at our respective places--me at my AirBnB, one student at her homestay, the other students at their dorm.
We all took a little while at our places to get settled and then met up on the high street in the town center so the students could run some errands. We went into lots of places because each student had different needs--one needed a SIM card so we went to a phone store, one needed an adapter for her electronics which we found at Poundland (the equivalent of the dollar store), another wanted new bedding for her dorm room bed and all the dorm students needed towels so we got those things at Marks & Spencer (a department store). They got a few grocery and toiletry items at some different places. Another student needed to change American dollars for pounds, so we had to find a currency exchange place. We were really running around like crazy.
After all that, we were ready for food and I pushed for us to go to a pub on our first night (didn't take much convincing), so they followed me to one called The Shakespeare. I had never been there before, but they had good food and it was a nice atmosphere. I got a open-faced crab sandwich and a half pint.
When I was here in Canterbury in August I didn't really venture out at night, which is kind of my policy while traveling abroad alone. This was the first time I had seen the high street at night and when we walked down the street to get to the pub, we were met with this view. I felt like a good tour guide because all the students stopped to take a photo.
The whole day on Saturday while doing errands and eating with the students I was trying to figure out how to get the last student (Annabelle) to Canterbury.
I'll spare you all the details about getting to London (charter bus to O'Hare, flight delayed 2 hours, etc.) We got there later than anticipated, but it was fine.
I wasn't sure how the journey to Canterbury from the airport would go. We were told someone would be there with a bus or shuttle to drive us. This happened exactly as we were told; there was a guy with my name in large print on his phone waiting for us outside Arrivals. He was in a hurry to get us back to Canterbury, so we made pretty good time from the airport which I appreciated. He dropped us off at our respective places--me at my AirBnB, one student at her homestay, the other students at their dorm.
We all took a little while at our places to get settled and then met up on the high street in the town center so the students could run some errands. We went into lots of places because each student had different needs--one needed a SIM card so we went to a phone store, one needed an adapter for her electronics which we found at Poundland (the equivalent of the dollar store), another wanted new bedding for her dorm room bed and all the dorm students needed towels so we got those things at Marks & Spencer (a department store). They got a few grocery and toiletry items at some different places. Another student needed to change American dollars for pounds, so we had to find a currency exchange place. We were really running around like crazy.
After all that, we were ready for food and I pushed for us to go to a pub on our first night (didn't take much convincing), so they followed me to one called The Shakespeare. I had never been there before, but they had good food and it was a nice atmosphere. I got a open-faced crab sandwich and a half pint.
When I was here in Canterbury in August I didn't really venture out at night, which is kind of my policy while traveling abroad alone. This was the first time I had seen the high street at night and when we walked down the street to get to the pub, we were met with this view. I felt like a good tour guide because all the students stopped to take a photo.
The whole day on Saturday while doing errands and eating with the students I was trying to figure out how to get the last student (Annabelle) to Canterbury.
Her flight from O'Hare had been canceled because of the weather and she was now arriving Sunday. The contact person at Canterbury Christ Church University would've been able to arrange a shuttle for her like he did for us, but I couldn't reach him. Since he wasn't responding, I was asked to go to the airport to pick her up so that she wouldn't have to negotiate the Tube and train by herself to get to Canterbury. Honestly, it was very much a hassle to do this since it was well over 2 hours to get to the airport, but we want the students to feel supported and not neglected, so my day yesterday (Sunday) started at 7:00 am to catch the train to London Bridge rail station in the city. The only good thing about walking through Canterbury at that time of day was that I got a picture of the high street before dawn with no foot traffic, which is normally insanely busy.
After arriving at London Bridge rail station, I got on the Tube to Green Park where I switched to the Piccadilly line to get to Heathrow. In retrospect, that journey isn't too bad logistically (although you certainly have to be intentional about what you're doing), but it's long.
Here is where the day started to go to shit. I arrived at Heathrow at about 10:30 am and Annabelle's flight landed at 11:39 am. I went to stand where people greet those coming out of Arrivals at noon. And I stood there. And I kept standing there. At about 1:30 (her flight now having landed in London two hours ago), I texted Zach (the HCC study abroad coordinator) and asked if Annabelle had an email address because she wasn't responding to my texts and, after calling her, I realized her phone was off. I emailed her. I kept calling and texting her. Nothing.
It starts to become 2:30 pm. Zach told me I should try to start investigating where she is. I went downstairs to the Departures area to speak with someone at the Air Canada desk. They aren't allowed to tell people information about another person, but the woman I spoke with did confirm quietly for me that Annabelle was on the flight. I called Border Patrol three times after this; they couldn't tell me that she had gone through Customs, but they did disclose that no one was being held for passport or immigration issues. I spoke to info people and Security. I messaged the students back in Canterbury to see if Annabelle had shown up at the dorm. A security guard at Heathrow asked her manager what I should do and the manager had no other ideas, but could confirm that no one was sent to the hospital. I now was walking into the cafes and stores and around the main area of Arrivals asking girls that looked like Annabelle if they were Annabelle. (I had only met her once in November, but did have her passport photo to go off of. I was certain I hadn't seen her come through Arrivals.) No one at Heathrow had access to do an intercom announcement. Everyone I talked to sent me to someone else who I had already spoken with three times. It was now about 5:30 pm. During this time I had also walked down to the Tube area twice to see if she was waiting for me there.
FINALLY, at 5:45 pm, Zach texted me to say that Annabelle had just checked in at the dorm. A few minutes after that, a friend of Annabelle's texted me saying she didn't have service but that she made it to Canterbury. You can imagine my relief. I for sure thought we were going to have to get the police involved and I was not too many minutes away from doing that. I had been at Heathrow for so long that it felt like I might just live there for the rest of my life and die there. That is dramatic, but I thought the saga would never end. At one point I thought maybe I was in a dream (nightmare).
I immediately got back onto the Tube to make the journey home to Canterbury. Luckily I caught the 6:19 pm train with about 5 minutes to spare. I would've had to wait another hour in London if I hadn't gotten that train. I got back to Canterbury at 8:00 pm. I hadn't eaten all day because I was too nervous, so on the way home I had looked up where I could eat at 8:00 pm on a Sunday (everything closes early, especially on Sundays) and I found a pub on the walk to my AirBnB that serves until 10:30 called the Old Weavers House. The atmosphere and food here helped me feel better a little.
I felt (and still feel) guilty and stupid about the whole thing. Why didn't we talk about a meeting place? Why didn't I tell her I was wearing a yellow coat? Why didn't I send her my picture so that she could more easily recognize me? Why didn't I make a sign with her name on it like lots of people do? I feel terrible that she had to ride the Tube and train by herself. I would've been really scared if I were her.
When I saw her today I apologized profusely. She seemed okay. It seemed like she was understanding that we somehow simply missed each other and she didn't seem to blame me, even though I'm really blaming myself. I'm just bummed that this happened for her sake, this being her first experience on her study abroad semester. Also I'm upset because it makes me look like I don't know what I'm doing. I do realize that there was a whole series of events that led up to it that weren't my fault--her flight being canceled in the first place, not being able to get ahold of the person who could've coordinated a shuttle, her phone not working. But still. We know for next time to make the students use WhatsApp because this can be used without data service, as long as you have access to wifi which is available right away at the airport.
Trying to move on from it and have fun for the rest of the time with the students. They don't need much from me now, but I'm striving to be supportive and check in on them.
We had a short welcome this morning at the university and did a tour through a bit of Canterbury, mostly the university areas. Right now the students are doing "registration," which I thought would mean signing up for their classes but it seems that happens on Thursday. There is an academic orientation tomorrow which I'll go to with them since I'm interested. I'm not required to attend anything at the university with the students, but wanted to do these few things because I'm curious. Here's some photos inside Augustine House on campus, which is where we had the orientation this morning. This is kind of like their student union; lots of services and resources here.
Since I have the afternoon open, I wanted to walk past Canterbury Castle because I hadn't seen it before. It's about 2 minutes from my AirBnb. It's a ruined castle and not open to the public, so it was pretty anti-climactic. Still wanted to see it, though! Then I wanted to get a coffee and write this blog, so that's where I'm at now--this lovely little shop, Coffee Curiosity.
Next I'll go to the shopping area because I forgot face wash of all things. I think it'll be an early night for me because I am still sleep deprived. Thanks for reading all this if you got this far. Hopefully the next entries will be more interesting and less dramatic! Cheers!
After arriving at London Bridge rail station, I got on the Tube to Green Park where I switched to the Piccadilly line to get to Heathrow. In retrospect, that journey isn't too bad logistically (although you certainly have to be intentional about what you're doing), but it's long.
Here is where the day started to go to shit. I arrived at Heathrow at about 10:30 am and Annabelle's flight landed at 11:39 am. I went to stand where people greet those coming out of Arrivals at noon. And I stood there. And I kept standing there. At about 1:30 (her flight now having landed in London two hours ago), I texted Zach (the HCC study abroad coordinator) and asked if Annabelle had an email address because she wasn't responding to my texts and, after calling her, I realized her phone was off. I emailed her. I kept calling and texting her. Nothing.
It starts to become 2:30 pm. Zach told me I should try to start investigating where she is. I went downstairs to the Departures area to speak with someone at the Air Canada desk. They aren't allowed to tell people information about another person, but the woman I spoke with did confirm quietly for me that Annabelle was on the flight. I called Border Patrol three times after this; they couldn't tell me that she had gone through Customs, but they did disclose that no one was being held for passport or immigration issues. I spoke to info people and Security. I messaged the students back in Canterbury to see if Annabelle had shown up at the dorm. A security guard at Heathrow asked her manager what I should do and the manager had no other ideas, but could confirm that no one was sent to the hospital. I now was walking into the cafes and stores and around the main area of Arrivals asking girls that looked like Annabelle if they were Annabelle. (I had only met her once in November, but did have her passport photo to go off of. I was certain I hadn't seen her come through Arrivals.) No one at Heathrow had access to do an intercom announcement. Everyone I talked to sent me to someone else who I had already spoken with three times. It was now about 5:30 pm. During this time I had also walked down to the Tube area twice to see if she was waiting for me there.
FINALLY, at 5:45 pm, Zach texted me to say that Annabelle had just checked in at the dorm. A few minutes after that, a friend of Annabelle's texted me saying she didn't have service but that she made it to Canterbury. You can imagine my relief. I for sure thought we were going to have to get the police involved and I was not too many minutes away from doing that. I had been at Heathrow for so long that it felt like I might just live there for the rest of my life and die there. That is dramatic, but I thought the saga would never end. At one point I thought maybe I was in a dream (nightmare).
I immediately got back onto the Tube to make the journey home to Canterbury. Luckily I caught the 6:19 pm train with about 5 minutes to spare. I would've had to wait another hour in London if I hadn't gotten that train. I got back to Canterbury at 8:00 pm. I hadn't eaten all day because I was too nervous, so on the way home I had looked up where I could eat at 8:00 pm on a Sunday (everything closes early, especially on Sundays) and I found a pub on the walk to my AirBnB that serves until 10:30 called the Old Weavers House. The atmosphere and food here helped me feel better a little.
I felt (and still feel) guilty and stupid about the whole thing. Why didn't we talk about a meeting place? Why didn't I tell her I was wearing a yellow coat? Why didn't I send her my picture so that she could more easily recognize me? Why didn't I make a sign with her name on it like lots of people do? I feel terrible that she had to ride the Tube and train by herself. I would've been really scared if I were her.
When I saw her today I apologized profusely. She seemed okay. It seemed like she was understanding that we somehow simply missed each other and she didn't seem to blame me, even though I'm really blaming myself. I'm just bummed that this happened for her sake, this being her first experience on her study abroad semester. Also I'm upset because it makes me look like I don't know what I'm doing. I do realize that there was a whole series of events that led up to it that weren't my fault--her flight being canceled in the first place, not being able to get ahold of the person who could've coordinated a shuttle, her phone not working. But still. We know for next time to make the students use WhatsApp because this can be used without data service, as long as you have access to wifi which is available right away at the airport.
Trying to move on from it and have fun for the rest of the time with the students. They don't need much from me now, but I'm striving to be supportive and check in on them.
We had a short welcome this morning at the university and did a tour through a bit of Canterbury, mostly the university areas. Right now the students are doing "registration," which I thought would mean signing up for their classes but it seems that happens on Thursday. There is an academic orientation tomorrow which I'll go to with them since I'm interested. I'm not required to attend anything at the university with the students, but wanted to do these few things because I'm curious. Here's some photos inside Augustine House on campus, which is where we had the orientation this morning. This is kind of like their student union; lots of services and resources here.
Since I have the afternoon open, I wanted to walk past Canterbury Castle because I hadn't seen it before. It's about 2 minutes from my AirBnb. It's a ruined castle and not open to the public, so it was pretty anti-climactic. Still wanted to see it, though! Then I wanted to get a coffee and write this blog, so that's where I'm at now--this lovely little shop, Coffee Curiosity.
Next I'll go to the shopping area because I forgot face wash of all things. I think it'll be an early night for me because I am still sleep deprived. Thanks for reading all this if you got this far. Hopefully the next entries will be more interesting and less dramatic! Cheers!