An INCREDIBLE first two weeks.

 

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I have been a bit behind on this whole posting posts. As I said in my first post I really wanted to keep up with this but between writing in my planner everyday, emailing my family and updating my Momma and Daddy I have gotten behind. So let me quickly recap the past two weeks. Two weeks that have been filled with adventure and incredible memories already.

The first weekend was full of orientation "stuff." How to get around (which is a maze in itself), how to not burn down the manor with foreign appliances (honestly we all needed this - I'd feel terrible if I was the person to cause this beautiful creation to go up in flames) and an introduction to the crazy course we all have to take called British Studies. Basically the class is a fast paced course on how this country started, starting at the very beginning (which was a LONG time ago, way before the United States was formed). The challenging aspect is that in the states we have a base of knowledge of the history of our country, even from a young age. Living in another country that has such a rich history that I am very unfamiliar with has been so differnt. Now add to the fact that the professors teaching all have incredible accents and you have the perfect situation for me to get very distracted from the material at times!

The first week honestly FLEW by and I was boarding a coach and heading to London before I knew it. I had no idea what to expect. We've all seen "London" in movies and on television but how can you really picture something that you have never seen in real life? It is quite hard to do. We rode in at night (which didn't help for painting a picture of the city) but I still had my nose to the window looking out at all the buildings. London is full of just that, buildings and tall ones at that. We got to the hotel, threw our stuff down and headed out for the town. I was just following the crowd at this point. I had never ridden the Tube or even looked at a map of London before coming to the big city.

Piccadilly Square

 

 

The first night we ventured to Piccadilly Square and my first experience of a pub. O'Neils treated us well that night and we ended the night full of laughter! Throughout the weekend I visited: the British Library, the British Museum, the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. Those are just the major sites too. I saw people from all over the world, heard a multitude of languages spoken, ate at hole in the wall cafes and thoroughly enjoyed myself in a huge city. I loved not knowing where I was or how far away from the hotel I was standing. There was no agenda and no specific time and I ate it up.

London Eye

Pulling back up to the manor on Sunday night was unreal. I was home. That's right, home. To a massive 153 room building, one mile from the road, in a little village, in the middle of England. It finally sunk in that I was here and I smiled as the coach pulled down the drive.

The second week of classes have flown by as well. I have gotten used to taking naps and walking into my friends room to sit around and just talk. I wake up in the mornings, throw on my slippers, brush my teeth at the sink in my room and wonder down a corridor to whichever class I have that morning. It has snowed twice and the grounds have been covered in a white blanket that makes the manor look like a page out of a story book.

I am thoroughly enjoying myself here! I am so proud of myself for stepping out (I could say leaping, jumping and sprinting out of my comfort zone) and coming to England. I'm always been a homebody and this is the furthest thing from home that I have ever imagined and I am surprising myself every single day.