Week 1: Orientation

Hi everyone!!!!

My first week in London has been AMAZING! The flight was long but overall pleasant and once we got to London, it was go GO GO! Fellow MSMC students here to Study abroad in London are Merrisa Alaniz (aka Rasa) who is also my roommate, Claudia Estupinian (aka Cloud), and Rebecca Perez (aka Becca) who are roommates just 2 floors below me.

On Tuesday (1/16) we moved in (onto the 3rd floor with no elevator!) and before we can even get situated, we took our first walking tour of London. We live in the Kensington Borough (socially comparable to Brentwood for L.A.). After the walk, however, I was obsessed with finding flip flops to use as shower shoes because I forgot to bring some. Finding flip flops in London during January is pretty tough, but we found some! ("Only" for 10 pounds of course!)

Rasa and I were woken up on Wednesday (1/17) by one of the program coordinators because the group was leaving in 10 minutes! Apparently, our clock radio's electricity was not fast enough to keep up...but either way, we had to rush to get ready to walk to our Welcome. After that, the day was just all about taking care of paperwork and necessities like Oyster Cards (for the Tube), and mobiles. Before long, we were off to our next walking tour - Jack the Ripper night tour. I didn't pay attention very well because I was taking photos, so maybe one of the other girls can fill you in.

We did not get much sleep Wednesday night due to our excitement that we were actually finally able to connect to the internet and that the wind was blowing hard against our window. We were able to crawl out of bed in time for our Bus Tour in the morning. We saw and stopped by landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, St. Paul's Cathedral, the City of London, and more! Then, we arrived back to our dorms a little past noon to take care of our course registration. I was able to add a 5th class, so we'll see how that goes...15 units is *not* bad! (Hopefully!)

That afternoon, Rasa and I met with my uncle who has been living in London for about 4 years now. He took us around a little bit and promised to take us to other sites like the London Eye in future weekends. That night, we went to see Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre. That was so great! I really enjoyed it. I definitely want to go see more plays while I am here.

Friday (1/19) was a little bit slower. We just had an orientation for the library in the morning. In the afternoon, the 4 of us went shopping for other necessities like detergent and school supplies (the paper is a different size here). That night, we went on another walking tour, which included 3 pub stops. The drinking age is 18 here, so allow me to insert this idiom: when in Rome (or in this case London) do as the Romans do! (*Responsibly*)

All of Saturday late morning until mid-afternoon was taken up by SHOPPING at Portobello Market. Think European downtown L.A. Antiques, fruits, vegetable, coffee shops, clothes, knock-off bags all around! A caution for "pick-pocketers" was at almost every corner it seemed. Not even a camera in every corner of London can stop someone from stealing valuables when we're walking so close to other people on a 3-ft wide pavement (aka sidewalk). We won’t let this keep us from shopping here again though!

Barely any time passes by before we had to be ready for our Orientation Boat Party on The Mercia at Embankment Pier. We danced and enjoyed the scenery as The Mercia went along River Thames. We met up with another MSMC student - Clarisse Velasco - who is interning here in London.

Wow, and that was the week! Rasa and I got much needed sleep last night. Now, we are just uploading and sharing pictures.

I miss the Mount and all of you of course and I don't think it has really hit me yet that I won't be back for another 3 months and 3 weeks. Classes start tomorrow, so I don't know how many pictures I will be taking, but you will still hear from me! Let me know how you are all doing as well!!!

Hugs all around,
Danielle