Byng Place

Song: Keep it Together
Artist: Guster
Lyric: "Everything starts today."

The flight over to London was perhaps the longest 7 hours of my life. At first I thought it would be fun to sit on a plane for 7 hours next to some stranger and have good conversation, watch good movies and eat descent food. My expectations were all the opposite. First, I was lucky. They sat me next to a 16 year old american boy who was traveling alone. However, the conversation wasn't that good. Funny how you can't really seem to relate to the youngin's these days. Haha. The movie selection were mediocre to say the least. Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride" and "Just like Heaven" with Reese Witherspoon (yea I haven't heard of it either). The food was actually pretty good, but then again I've been eating shit at the fraternity house for the past 3 years so anything is comparable and better than that grease meal plan. The flight was fun up tunti l we hit this ridiculous turbulence in the sky over Ireland. Then it just got damn too damn nauseating. I felt like i was on a really good rollercoaster that at first you wish it never ended, but then you reach that one sudden drop or the last loop and your stomach just tells you get off now or you'll puke. Then I realized that the airplane doesn't provide those convenient little barf bags anymore for you and I had to coach myself through the stomach churning.

As soon as the plane landed there was an intolerable desire to piss. It was6 a.m. and I hadn't slept a wink while on the plane, except when it took off so I missed the fun part of the flight at the beginning of my journey. As I got off the plane I headed straight to the currency exchange. Let me just tell you that the most difficult thing that I've had to adjust to is their money. They have bills, that bigger as the amount increases, and then they have coins. The coins are the most d confusing things of life. They have all different shapes and weights and sizes that you sit at the check out counter and you look like one of those stereotypical idiot Americans who doesn't know how to count. The amount of the coin is printed in small digits and written around the edge similar to our coins, but unless you memorize the shape, size and thickness of the coin it's hard to find the exact amount. For instance they have a 5p (which is the size of our dimes), a 10p (which is the size of our wuarters but in the shape of an octagon), a 20p which is a smaller hexagon, a pound which is equivalent to a dollar but in the form of a coin. Let's just say I've had trouble. I exchanged money and the rate is so unfair. I gave the guy $40 and he gave me 18.33 in pounds. To ride the tube to my dorm it cost me 3 pounds. You can hardly get anything with 18 pounds in europe and thats basically equivalent to the way Americans look at 18 dollars in their pockets.

I found my bags at the baggage claim and rapidly walked to the underground station. I say rapidly because everyone seems to be in such a hurry to get somewhere in this city,. I guess its true with any city though. I hurried along as fast as I could with a large 50 pound bag, a 40 pound carry-on, my laptop and a backpack. It got heavy lugging that shit around. before coming to England I was told that the underground was very tiny and crowded. Lucky for me the station that I got on was the last stop of the route, which turns into the first stop on the northbound route so there was hardly anyone on there when I had to fumble with my bags onto the tube. The tube took off and it looks nothing as I expected. I was expecting some grimy, new york style subway but on the contrary it reminds me of something you make out of legos. It looks like it was made out of ikea furniture, its white and colorful on the inside. NO BODY TALKS ON THE TUBE. it's dead silent and sort of eerie from the screeching sounds of the walss and tracks below. The trip on the tube was very sceneic it took me through the country sort of and as tit kept climbing northbound it got fuller and fuller. eventually I had people breathing down my back and squishing me in. Kind of comfortable considering it was really cold outside. I make it to my stop about an hour later and I was told to take a taxi from the underground station because the walk was a 10 minute brisk walk. I said screw it for two reasons, but more so because I'm cheap and a taxi would cost me 20 bucks for a half a mile. So I walked and it was more fun that way. I was dragging these two bags around the city and their sidewalks aren't smoothly paved like ours they are like cobblestones. The wheels got cauight on the crevases a few times and the people behind me were getting annoye and with good reason. I walked quickly (because everyone else was) and it was soo cold, but somehow lugging the two bags around I managed to work up a sweat. I recognized the building from the pictures on the Huron website. I walk up the sairs and walked in. It looked like a small New York style flat. The receptionist took me to my room and one of my roommates was already in the room. His name is Andy and he's from Ohio, but he goes to smaller college. He's a nice guy... he's into comic books and future-a-rama. Need i say more? H'es the only one from his college unlike me where there are 20 people from UF alone. We got a long great quickly. I think when you do something like studying abroad you know to be just very open minded about the whole experience. The room was a lot larger than I anticipated. I took pictures so that will be posted soon. It's got this huge bay window that looks out onto the main street. There's a coffee vendor that stands outside selling hot chocolate, mochas, tea and of course coffee. Young people run around the streets, while bikers crowd the designated bike trail. It reminded me of campus for a bit. My other roommate is Chris. So I've been told. It's the second day and he hasn't arrived yet. He's from UF though. I immediately started unpacking my things and realized that I have one closet with 6 hangers, a small night table with tiny drawers and one rubbermaid box to slide under my bed. I didn't know where I was putting all the shit I had brought. I was really impressed with the room though. I'll be living in this "flat" for 6 months so i better like it.