The mall...You know, where you buy stuff!

I'M HERE!!!!!!

After what feels like forever of planning, emailing, packing, shopping and traveling...I am finally here in Reading!

The journey over here went so smoothly and nearly perfectly, I really can't even believe it.  When I got to the airport, I was so happy that both of my bags were under the weight limit and I asked to take a picture with them so the ticket counter lady upgraded my seat for free because I was such an "excited traveler".  It was only up to economy plus...but it was great! I had a chair the reclined extra far, plus a leg rest, plus it was the bulkhead seat so I had tons of room in front of me!  They showed some good movies, served surprisingly good food, and I read a bit from a book I have been meaning to start for a while now! I couldn't sleep at all because I was just to excited and anxious to get here!

Getting through border control and all that jazz was a breeze. Only regret: carrying more than my body weight in luggage! I had to walk SO far (including taking a train) to get from my terminal to the central  bus station where I was supposed to meet up with everyone else.  My whole body, especially my arms, are extremely sore today!

Crazy story though...when I finally rolled into the bus station at Heathrow...I saw a girl from my high school, Jessica Thelander, waiting for her bus! She goes to the University of Illinois and I hadn't seen her since we graduated!! What a small world!

But the good news is, I met up with everyone else so quickly so I wasn't alone for very long.  There are two other people from my program at OU that are studying here with me this semester, Nathan and Stacey.  There is also another girl from OU here named Kayley who I just finally got to meet when we got here.  She is an absolute doll and I am SO happy that she is here too!!

Nathan and ALL of our bags!!

After a short bus ride and a taxi cab, we arrived to our dorms here at the University!  They are actually quite nice!! I will take a picture of my room once I get all settled in!  We spent the rest of the day exploring the town and shopping for some essentials for our rooms and such. It is crazy how even though they speak English..it's not at all the same!  They didn't even know what the mall was...it's a "shopping centre" haha! I still have some other things I forgot yesterday...including a new adapter.  I already blew up one of my converters (whoops!)...I guess I will learn sometime!

All of the other students aren't allowed to move back until today (Sunday)...so campus was very empty and kind of creepy yesterday. But that is definitely okay with me because I was so crazy tired and out of it (I had been awake for 28 hours straight...no caffeine!) that I probably wouldn't have been able to meet people or do anything as it was.

But now I am all rested and jet lag free (I think) and ready to start my second day here in Reading!! Bring it on :)