Athena Sobhan

I HAVE MADE IT ACROSS THE POND TO LONDON!  

This whole entire week has been a complete blur and so much has happened that I have still yet to wrap my head around it, but I am going to do my best to recall everything and update you all.  

I flew on a group flight with other people from the program on a ten hour flight from LAX directly to Heathrow airport.   Personally, I am not a fan of flying since I tend not to sleep on flights, but it actually ended up being a very comfortable flight.  We flew Virgin Atlantic and they were really wonderful with the entertainment provided and the usb port so i could charge my phone (BLESS).  

After flying for ten hours, we had finally landed in London and it still hadn’t really hit me that I was really there (though a small part of it was thanks to the jet lag).  The moment it really hit me was when we stepped outside and it was freezing (like low 50’s), despite the sun being out, which was a whole different experience when you’re a girl from California and temperature around the sixties is considered cold.     

Not much happened after that since everyone, and myself, were all majorly jet lagged so we slept.  

The next morning we were taken to orientation and then taken to our apartments from there (honestly I was so jet lagged I don’t even remember if anything noteworthy actually happened).  That whole weekend felt like it lasted ages with the lack of sleep and trying to physically and mentally adjust.  The program did put together a sightseeing tour of London so I got to go to all the major sights and got some awesome photos.  

immediately after that weekend, it was straight back to classes, and that also meant taking the tube for the very first time.  The months leading to coming to London, I googled the tube map and stared at it, asking myself how the hell I would manage to figure it out.  Luckily, I caught on quickly, though I have had a few hiccups here and there, but no better way to get to know the city by getting lost right? And best of all, I have discovered so many attractive men along my commute, every single one of them looking extremely sharp and with their TROUSERS (I keep forgetting pants mean something different here) pulled up (America take note).  

I was able to visit Oxford Street, where they had shops like TopShop, H&M, and, of course, LUSH!!!  Literally the LUSH on Oxford Street was beautiful, I thought I would never leave AND I got so many awesome products for myself so that was nice.  

I have some cousins in Greater London so I had the opportunity to visit them and hang out with them, which was really nice and helps when I miss home.  

Basically that was my week!  I’m pretty sure I left out a lot but I really can’t recall everything at this point.  One week down, twelve more to go!!