Have you got ten minutes?

Well, I've finally just had time to sit down and relax after what has probably been the longest day of my life. Literally. I don't think I've been this tired and exhausted since I was in guard. But I digress. In other news, I AM IN FREAKING LONDON, ENGLAND!!!!! This is the story of how I got here.

It all started early Saturday morning. My parents and I drove down to LAX to meet up with Ellen, who was travelling with me. After we had a bite to eat, I successfully auditioned for the role of "distraught daughter" when my parents left. But luckily I had Ellen to keep me company. It would have been a lot more traumatic if she wasn't there to remind me to be excited and not upset! After successfully navigating through infamous LAX security (we have a strained relationship), Ellen and I located our gate in the terminal. After a while, we got up to walk around and we had chicken strips from Burger King as our last official American meal. I would have obviously preferred Taco Bell, but what can you do. Afterwards, we met up with Jasmine, another girl from our program who was on our flight as well. So now I had two travelling buddies!

After a lot of waiting around, we finally got to board our BEHEMOTH Virgin Atlantic plane. I am not exaggerating when I say this plane was one of the biggest things I have ever seen. I don't know how it possibly gets off the ground, let alone, flies. Ellen and I found our seats (I had the window seat) and soon our plane had taken off!

Now, I know I don't have much experience with international travel, but if you find yourself needing to cross the Atlantic via plane, I HIGHLY recommend you choose Virgin Atlantic. Even though we were in economy class, we were treated very well. First of all, the back of the seat in front of you has a TV screen where you can watch practically anything that is out right now, movies or television. Actually, I found all the different options a bit overwhelming. Through the course of the 10ish hour flight, I watched an episode each of Game of Thrones, The Office, and a British mockumentary called Twenty Twelve. You could also track the plane's progress and see where you were flying over, how fast the plane was going, etc. As far as airplane food is concerned, theirs was actually pretty good. They also gave us headphones, a blanket, a pillow, and a little packet with a sleep mask, socks, toothbrush and toothpaste and other little things inside. I tried to take a picture of all this swag, but my camera unfortunately crapped out on me. So sorry, I don't have a picture of the awesome owl slippers my mom surprised me with before I left, which I sported proudly during the flight. I tried to read a bit, but my overhead light for some reason wasn't connected to my seat control, so I had to content myself with secondhand light from the person reading behind me. I also tried to sleep, but I think instead of sleeping, my brain sort of shut down yet I stayed awake. So no, I didn't get much rest on the plane.

When we FINALLY arrived, we had to go through the UK border patrol thing, and the guy who was helping me asked me if I was going to party a lot when I am in London. I was like.....um. Weird question, I thought it was pretty weird. But luckily our suitcases all made it! I was completely terrified one or both of mine wouldn't make it, and I would either have to go naked or without toiletries. Fortunately that did not come to pass. Our driver was there to meet us, just like he was supposed to be, and lickety split, we were on our way to our homestay!

At this point, I was pretty dazed, and had trouble taking in the quaint English scenery. The roads here are SO NARROW. I don't know how anyone can drive here without getting in an accident at least once a day. That and the fact that they drive on the other side of the road. But whatever. Soon we arrived at our homestay, where Kay, our host mom, was there to greet us. She seems really nice and welcoming so far! She was totally understanding of our complete and total exhaustion, and gave us a quick tour of her home, and afterwards let us go rest. Ellen pretty much passed out, but by then I had too much adrenaline and had trouble taking a nap.

During the afternoon, Kay went out, so she wasn't there when we came down from our rest. Since she had already given us house keys, Ellen and I decided to go explore Eastcote a bit. We walked down most of Field End Road, which is like the main street of the town. Lots of restaurants, especially Indian restaurants. And optometrists. But we did find a few grocery stores so that's good. The Tube station we will be taking tomorrow is about a 7 minute walk from our house, so not too bad. After we got back, Kay made a small dinner, and we got to talk a bit more and get to know her a little. Then, Kay's son, his girlfriend, and their one year old daughter (so cute!) came over and we hung out with them for a bit. It wasn't until 8:30 pm that they left, so I didn't have time to unpack and organize everything until after that time.

Okay, I swear that is the end of my extremely long and overwhelming day. Sorry it's so long and tedious to read. I am a bit nervous for tomorrow, especially navigating the Tube during rush hour, but hopefully with our trusty Tube maps and our half-muddled brains, everything will work out fine. Now to conquer this extreme jet lag...