I'm here!

Hello to everyone from "Jolly Ole England!" I've only been here about two days, and I have adventures to tell you all about already!

To begin with, Dad, Mom, and I left on the morning of the 7th, MOM'S BIRTHDAY!!! (Happy Birthday, Mom!) to travel to Michigan to Karen and Bryan's house. They were recovering from sickness, so I was sure to take a lot of Vitamin C! Anyway, we stopped several places along the way for last minute items I needed before the trip, which Dad generously paid for! We got to Michigan by 1am and fell quickly into bed. I got up the next morning and fixed a few pairs of jeans and we left for the airport at 1pm. Karen drove, with me next to Carter and Hayden in the back! That was a fun 2 hour drive - the boys informed me that they would miss me, which made my heart very happy! We ate some delicious pizza at Giordono's in Chicago, and then went to O'Hare where I checked in and made several luggage changes, which I later discovered I didn't really need to do! I soon parted from the family after a wait in the security line with Dad, said a tearful goodbye, and waited at the gate. And waited, and waited. Then Laura came from her other gate, since she had to fly from Charlotte to get there. We finally got on the plane for a 7 hour plane ride! I promise you, there were more crying babies on that plane than there were regular passengers! I managed to get about a half-hour of sleep, somehow! They fed us three times - one was a pack of some spicy nut-like things I'd never had before, then dinner which I found out after I'd already eaten that I had lamb! It was pretty good, but airplane food leaves a lot to be desired. They later served "breakfast" which was some fruit and a roll with jelly. I arrived in London around 3am U.S. time, but 8am London time, so the sun was up.

We got our baggage and met up with the rest of the I.E. group, got onto a bus, and went to our flats! One of the directors of the program, Brian Austin, told us all where we would be staying, and Laura and I discovered we'd be in the same room! We were excited to hear this news. We got to our flat after a 45 minute drive, which would have only taken 10 minutes except for the traffic! Wow - they drive CLOSE together here! Everyone drives as fast as possible, when given a space to drive in, even if it's only 50 feet! I'm glad I won't have to drive while I'm here! We got to our flat and again discovered something great - Laura and I have a flat to ourselves! There's only one two-person apartment and we got it! Here's the flat - with Laura comfortably lounging around.It's a pleasure to have our own place, especially after hearing some of the comments from other students about what they are going to do in their free time. We unpacked a few things, and got ready to go on a walk to see where a few things are! We all walked to the local library at which we have borrowing rights, and then on to a pub for a lunch of fish 'n chips! It took a very long time to get the food, with 100 people to feed in one pub! The professors we will have for our classes joined us for the lunch as well. It was 4pm London time (but remember that's about 11am U.S. time, so it's as if I just never went to bed the night before!) by the time we left for our next stop, which was Imperial College. We were given a talk on safety by a local "bobby" who was quite funny and gave us some good pointers for traveling and walking place to place. He also informed us that no cops in London carry guns. This was a surprise to me, but apparently they are efficient at what they do, and carry a big night stick! After this talk, we walked back to our flats, exhausted even more! Laura, our new-found friend Teresa, and I all walked to the local grocery store, Sainsbury's, which is said to be the cheapest in the area, and got some food for a quick snack that night and breakfast. Let's just say that it's going to be expensive! A box of low-quality cereal was 2 pounds, or 4 American dollars! We got the cheapest of each thing we needed, including some cleaners and toilet paper for our flat. (*Side note - we will be laughed at here if we ask someone where the "bathroom" is because that's ridiculous! There's no bath in the bathroom! We must ask for the toilets, or the washroom, or the water closet.*) When we returned to our flat, we both took showers and had a snack, putting lemon curd on our toast with butter, which is an English favorite! It was good too! We went to bed about 10pm London time, ready to sleep the night away!

I didn't wake up at all until the alarm went off at 7:30 Thursday morning. (which is about 2:30am U.S. time!) We showered and got ready to go on a guided tour with the whole group to a few of the more famous sites in London. The tour guides that are known as "blue badge" tour guides here are trained in college for at least two years and must be certified to be offical guides. Our guide, Deborah, was very nice, and funny too! It seems Britons do have a good sense of humor, but some of their jokes are lost on us Americans. I've also had to train myself too not to look at people in the eye when passing them on the street. It's my tendency to look at people and smile, but here it is considered offensive because it's like you're invading their private lives by smiling at them! It's a hard habit to break, because of my friendly nature, but I'm doing the best I can!

Here's a few pictures from my trip...beginning with Laura and I early in the morning on the bus!

Next we saw this place here. Do you recognize it? Think a little more, come up with an answer, and I'll tell you more about it in a little bit.

The next one is a picture of the "Royal Albert Hall," which is a well-known concert hall in London. Few buildings are known as "Royal" unless so named by a monarch. Queen Victoria dubbed this hall "royal" when she visited it after King Albert died. She also wanted to remember him and had a statue made and placed right across the street from the Royal Albert Hall in Hyde Park. That's the next picture. There are 93 life-size statues of notable Englishmen at the bottom of the larger statue, men such as Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and John Milton. The statues are gold-plated, with 4-5 layers of gold leaf. When asked if they have trouble with vandalism, the guide replied that they did not have trouble with that because most people respect it and most properties around London.

Next we went to Buckingham Palace, just in time for the changing of the guard! They do this parade-type change once per day between 11 and 12. We got there just in time for the main parade. There were lots of people there, but our experienced tour guide was able to take us to different sections of the street quickly to see the good parts! Here's a picture of the new guards getting ready to go! (That's not Buckingham Palace in the background...I tried to upload the video I took but it wouldn't go!

If you want to see the video, email me and I'll email it back to you! - kdramey@bluefield.edu).




On our walk back to the bus I saw Big Ben, and on the way to Piccadilly Circus where we were dropped off with instructions to find our own way home, I saw Westminster Abbey. Laura and I both plan on going back to these places for a closer look, but I thought you'd all enjoy the pictures.

Okay, so back to the "mystery picture." That is St. Paul's Cathedral, known for its beautiful structure. There is a statue out front of Queen Anne. She was queen at the time the cathedral was built, so they made a statue in her honor. The tour guide told us it was a flattering statue, because in real life, Queen Anne weighed over 700 pounds at her death! Anyway, here's a picture of me on the steps. Look any more familiar! These steps are seen in the movie "Mary Poppins" where the Bird Lady feeds the pigeons, selling feed to others for "Tuppence A Bag." Did you guess this?


Laura, Teresa, and I then walked to Chinatown and had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. It was good sweet and sour chicken! Here's a picture of me and Teresa under the archway to Chinatown. We then walked to Primark, which is a Wal-Mart like store for clothes and bedding. We both got another sheet for our beds, because we were only supplied one! Then we all walked to the bus stop and rode a double-decker bus back to our flats. Here's Laura on the bus! It was an adventure, considering we didn't know which stop to get off! We ended up going one past where we needed to get off, but we realized it a few seconds too late. We made our way back to our rooms and are now planning to spend the night getting settled, cleaning a little, watching a movie, and going to bed early! There's much more to come, but that's all I have for now.

Thank you so much to all of you who have helped make this trip possible. I know I'm going to have a lovely time, and if I can just remember that in the midst of homesickness and missing my family and boyfriend! But I know I'll be okay! God has blessed me tremendously with this trip and I cannot wait to share it all with you! Tune in for more later!