In case of an emergency, act like a flamingo and hop to your nearest index card.

In reference to the exit signs in the UK.

Monday, 25 January 2010

We left in plenty of time to get to the airport as far as international flight standards go. We decided to go to Panera Bread and my mum knew exactly what she wanted so she ordered as soon as she got in there. I didn't really have time to look at the extensive menu and decide what I wanted so I kind of just panicked and blurted out something about a roast beef sandwich. Then I inwardly cursed myself for not thinking about the amazing fuji apple salad they have there. I got a bagel for the flight to make up for it though. We got to the airport and just hung around after checking in. My mum was getting kind of emotional. I thought it was going to be a lot harder to leave them behind but I was so ready to get away from home. That break was way too long. I got up to my gate and sat near some British people and dropped some eaves on them. It was fun to listen to their accent. I should fly British Airways all the time. The plane had two levels (crazy!! It's even bigger than usual and it's going over a freaking COLD ocean! I'm not OK with this logic!) and the entertainment was awesome. They had so many movie. I watched Picture of Dorian Gray which was really freaky. Ben Barnes was hot though (duh!). Then I watched an episode of The Inbetweeners so that I could recover from that crazy movie before I slept. Slept for about 2 hours or something (I can't sleep for very long on planes. The only reason I got to sleep at all probably was because I dry swallowed some Benadryl) then woke up and watched 30 Rock. Then listened to my iPod. I sat by a nice Indian woman who was very interested in the fact that I was studying in Florence.

I landed in London and went to Terminal 5. As soon as I got out of security and into the main part of the terminal I saw a beautiful white Audi R8 on display for contest directly in front of me. I knew London was for me. A man who went before me through security in a wheel chair asked the airport attendent helping him what kind of car it was and I answered for him and we exchanged how gorgeous it was. Apparently he had a car waiting for him but he asked if they could take that one instead. Awesome.

After gazing at the car from all angles I pulled myself away so that I wouldn't sign up for the contest to win it (you had to live in the UK and I'm sure there were a billion things you had to sign up/pay for if you were to win it). Then I tried to find service in various parts of the airport. I found it very odd that I didn't find any and that the time was still on American time but I thought maybe the phone was just acclimating to the complete change of continent and time zone. I walked around for a bit, bought some British candy (2 huge Galaxy bars, 2 KitKat bars, and 1 Terry's chocolate orange) and some Lemsip (for when I get a cold which I undoubtedly will). I wandered around the bookstore and contemplated purchasing an HP book in paperback because I started missing it like crazy at the airport with all the awesome Brits (I resisted). Then I saw a cool football store and almost bought a cool West Ham scarf but I decided I should keep looking around. Then I found a mini apple store and decided to ask why my phone wasn't working. The guy said it was probably because AT&T hadn't turned on my international service yet. Awesome. So I kind of started to freak out because I was supposed to call my parents the moment I landed and I didn't want them to freak out. It was about 2 in the morning there but I knew my dad especially was probably getting really worried. The man at the apple store asked my if I knew my AT&T information and led me to one of the apple computers so that I could check some stuff. Unfortunately AT&T facts were something I neglected to memorise and prepare for before I left. So I just emailed my parents and told them I was OK but I knew that even though they get email to their phones they probably wouldn't check it because they were waiting for a call. Then I decided there was really nothing I could do so I decided to enjoy London/Heathrow airport while I was there and I went to get a bagel. Twas a very good bagel and I drank my strawberry Ribena (oh. My. Gosh. Why do we not have this in America?!?) with it. Then I got a BRILLIANT idea (I think it was the bagel/ribena combination). I would go back to the apple store, get on one of the beautiful macs, get on facebook even though I think it's stupid and hate when people get on social networking sites when they're in a public place/ computer store (these were exceptional circumstances) and try and find someone online so that they could text my parents and tell them that I was alive and to check their email. Unfortunately, there was a flaw in this brilliant plan. I literally tried all of the computers in the store and not one of them would let me get onto facebook (all for different reasons). So I was at a loss of what to do again and they finally posted my gate number on the screens (for some reason at Heathrow they wait til 30ish minutes before the plane takes off to post the gate numbers. I have no idea why they do this. It is not a secret code. It is a gate number) so I had to find my gate. I sat down and got out my computer to see if I could get online. I had to pay £2 and sign up but I did it anyway. I was desperate. I got on facebook and of course it was 4 in the morning back home so I wasn't surprised when I saw that the 8 people who were "online" were idle at the moment. I started typing up a message to my siblings so that in case they got on before work they could tell my parents that I was OK but I knew that my dad would probably be half way to London by that time (and really, they don't need any more harassment at the moment. Their terror level is high enough at the moment without his "help"). Then Anthony IMed me on FB chat and asked where I was. Thank goodness! I felt a huge relief sink over me. I told him where I was and explained my problem and how I only had like 4 minutes of internet and he told me it was no problem and that he would text them. He's basically my hero. So I boarded my plane kind of at the last minute because my gate area was a popular one and I didn't realise that my flight had been called. I was so relieved. I pretty much love him for that. He's so awesome. I do miss him and his craziness and playing capture the flag with all those guys. I was kind of sad that I had to miss my last semester hanging out with him since he's graduating in May. Hopefully I'll get to see him or something.

So anyway, I slept a little on the flight while I listened to Glee and got to Rome about 2 which is when the ISA shuttle to the hotel left. I didn't really know how I wanted to get to the hotel but I knew that a cab would be my last resort because I didn't really want to spend that kind of money. I asked a man if there was a shuttle or something and he asked me where I wanted to go and I told him the hotel name and he told me he would be leaving in 10 minutes. I went to sit down and adjust my purse and keychain my backpack zippers together and this girl came up and sat down. I asked her if she was taking the shuttle and she said yes. She apparently had to get to the university before 5 or she would be locked out so she was kind of stressed and thinking about taking the train. We ended up taking the shuttle which was just a regular van and two men that had nothing to do with the hotel or airport but just drove people around fro €20. I was kind of nervous but the van was completely full so it was more reassuring that I wasn't alone. Driving through Rome was so awesome. At first it didn't look like anything special. No ancient ruins or anything like that. Just a normal city. The trees were awesome though. They were really tall and didn't sprout branches or green until the very top so they kind of reminded me of Pandora trees from Avatar. It made me think of Kelsey. Our driver occasionally pointed stuff out as we passed it and we passed under an aquaduct and that was pretty cool. I guess I looked like kind of a dork because I saw Carrie (the girl going to uni there) smiled and asked me if it was my first time in Rome. She had been there once or twice before if I remember correctly. We drove right by the Colosseum and I saw some random Roman soldiers walking around. I was wondering if I was the only one who noticed but I didn't want to point it out in case it was just a normal thing and I looked like an idiot. My hotel was the first stop and turned out to be right down the street from the Colosseum. I got out, paid, got my bag and went into the hotel to check in. I saw another girl with a suitcase and she had an ISA tag on so I said hi. We checked in and it turned out that her name was Lauren as well. Then we went our separate ways when we got to our floor and I tried to stop smiling (out of excitement) long enough to open the door and meet my new roommates. I was kind of nervous. I got in there and said hi to them, acclimated myself a bit and laid down for the first time in hours.

We had a meeting later and it was so hard to sit through and not fall asleep. I was so tired. I definitely nodded off a few times. There was one boy that kept nodding off and one of the ISA people had to keep coming to wake him up. At one point he was so close to falling asleep on his friend's shoulder next to him. That would have been really fun to see. Then we went on a bus tour of the city and I definitely fell asleep. They kept telling us that they knew we had been up for a really long time but that we were in Rome and this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. It's not that we didn't all know that. We did. I would have loved to stay awake. I was really tried. It got to the point where I could literally not stay awake even though I was trying my absolute hardest. I've only been tired like that one other time in my life. I pulled an all-nighter for Travel and Tourism (that class was so not worth losing sleep over) and I literally could not stay awake in my speech class even though I was in the front row while a group was giving a speech and I was telling myself to stay awake. It was ridiculous. I literally laid down and fell straight asleep. I don't remember ever falling asleep so quickly before in my life.

OK. That's it for tonight. This whole first day thing actually happened about a week ago but I'm just now posting it because I didn't have internet at all in Rome and I've been quite busy lately. I am in Florence after all. Sorry if this was way too long and not entertaining in the slightest. I will try and post more (but not this detailed. Don't worry) again soon. Seeya!! : )

Gelato count: 6

A break from packing

Hello!! It has been almost a month since I've last posted. Whoops! I've just got back from dinner at my favourite Indian food restaurant with my family and am pleased to say that they have reverted back to their old recipe for safron pilaf rice. Thank goodness! I was worried there for a second. Seriously, I could survive off of that rice for months. It's amazing. Indian food was my request for a last meal at home. I think it was a good choice. In the last week I've indulged in all my favourites. Orange chicken from Panda Express, Chipotle burrito, Indian food and I made my mum's enchiladas. I am pretty happy. I also got to meet Danielle's school friends including the infamous aforementioned Elliot. They are all really cool. I was pleased to find out that they are all (except for Elliot) Harry Potter fans! That was a nice surprise and I was a little shocked that Dan hadn't mentioned this most important tidbit when talking about them.

I also got in an accident since my last post. I was in my mum's Subaru and I was driving to switch cars with her or something when I drove by the Retirement Home complex in my neighborhood. I was listening to Josh Groban when all of a sudden I saw this huge white thing a couple feet from my head. I tried to swerve out of the way but there wasn't really room or time so she nailed the side of my mum's car. I was really shocked and I got out to call my mum and happened to catch some of the other girl's tearful conversation with her dad. She mentioned something about her fifth time. Fifth time?! That was my first wreck and I'm 20! She didn't look old enough to have been in four previous accidents. She looked younger than I did. We were both fine and it was very apparent that it wasn't my fault. I was kind of shaken up after and I always drive really slowly when I drive by there. Just in case. There's also this big sign by the entrance/exit of the complex so I'm always afraid that she's hiding behind there waiting for me in some bigger, more sturdy vehicle.

*Insert Transition here*

So I'm Italy bound. It has finally arrived! I'm really excited. I'm even excited to fly although I'm sure all the excitement will vanish only to be replaced with apprehension once we're getting ready to takeoff. I hate flying. I don't know if I've mentioned that before or not. I really hate it though. I always manage to tell myself that it's not that bad and that people do it all the time without anything going wrong but when we actually start getting up in the air I'm like, "This is the stupidest thing in the world. Really. What the hell are we doing up here?! This is so high! This thing is way to big! And it's carrying HUMAN LIVES! WHY?!?". I plan to pop some Benadryl once I'm up there though so that I can sleep. It's British Airways so that's cool. I was going to fly on Lufstansa and I was really excited for that because that just sounds awesome, but then we booked with a different agency. I'm also putting together a playlist of all my Harry Potter music. Well, all the good songs at least. So many of them are just repeats. It's Year 1-6. It will be epically long. I love the POA soundtrack. It was very different for John Williams yet you could still tell it was him. When you listen to them all together you can totally tell that he's the best. There's just no comparison. He's amazing.

I'm really excited about getting there. I'm landing in Heathrow and I'm going to get some British chocolate! I haven't had a Mars Bar in forever! I also want to get a pasty. Danielle said the might have them in the airport. I should mention that she used to live in London. She lived there for about two years in high school. She's also studying abroad in France the same time I'm studying in Italy so we are going to meet up a couple times. We are definitely meeting in London because I've seen most of the touristy stuff and I really just want the normal experience. She's going to take me to see her old house in Surrey named Maryhill (they name their houses in England. So cool! I want to name my house) and to Tesco (I am really freaking excited about going to Tesco. If you don't know, it's basically their main grocery store. I am probably more excited for this than I should be) and to he favourite Indian food restaurant. It will be really cool to see her while I'm there. I'm happy that I'll get to see her London life. We might even see her school! I'm also going to see a West Ham match while I'm there as well as visit the Who Shop (Doctor Who). The Who Shop is right next to the Boleyn Ground! Seriously. It's like it was destiny. Two of my favourite things on the same street!

I suppose I should talk more about Italy as that is where I will be spending most of my time. I arrive in Rome on Monday and I meet with the rest of the group at a hotel where we stay and have orientation and stuff like that. We are touring Rome and get to have free time and stuff there. I can't wait to meet my roommates! One is from New Jersey and two are from San Diego, I believe. One is a surfer! I used to be obsessed with surfing and wanted to learn to surf SO bad when I was younger. Unfortunately that dream died because I realised that I was in the wrong area of the world for that most exciting activity. I did get surfing lessons when I went to Hawaii though. It was really awesome. We saw turtles and I learned pretty fast! But then I graduated to a shorter board and fell every time. Those short boards are freaking hard! And this one was only a little bit shorter!

OK. That'll have to be it for the pre-departure blog post. Sorry that wasn't very interesting, but I'm pretty tired. Buona Note!