I made It!!!

I departed the O'Hare airport yesterday at 4:45pm. It was a beautiful, sunny day for traveling! Even though I was at the airport and on the plane to London, it still hadn't sunk in that I am going to England to stay for 3 months! I have never been able to sleep on planes (or anything that moves , for that matter), so I decided to try taking Tylenol PM to help break that barrier and help me sleep. It made me drowsy, but I still did not get any sleep on the flight. :/ Instead, I spent my time watching two movies that the airline provided: The Social Network and Life As We Know It. The airline also provided two meals...most people get grossed out by airplane food, but I am the exact opposite! I rarely ever fly on planes that give yo meals, so when I do, I get really excited about the food! For dinner, they served a choice of chicken and rice or cheese tortellini (I chose the chicken and rice) which came with a salad, dinner roll and butter, crackers and cheese, and a chocolate caramel brownie! Our second meal, breakfast, consisted of a warm croissant with butter and jam, and raspberry yogurt. I took pictures of the food before I ate it, because I'm a nerd like that, and I ate every last bit of each meal! :)

Anyway, we arrived in the London Heathrow airport at 6:30am London time, which is 12:30 Chicago time (since England is 6 hours ahead). Once at the airport, my group and I found a women who was holding up a sign that said Canterbury Christ Church University, and she led us to our bus that drove us 2 hours to our flats. The flats were not as nice as I expected, but with a little rearranging and special touches, I made it feel more like home. As soon as I got in England, I opened up the envelope hat my roommate Tia gave me before I left. I was right! Inside the envelope were letters from all of my best friends from Manny 17 telling me how much they will miss me and wishing me good luck on my semester abroad. They brought a tear to my eye :'( Thank you Manny 17! I'll miss you...Love you all! <3 Before I unpacked and rearranged, though, my study abroad group and I went to grab a bite to eat at a local eatery called Run of the Mill. I got a cheeseburger and fries, and I'll have to admit that it was not the best thing I've tasted, but it was food and I was hungry. After eating, we all went to the supermarket right by our flats called ASDA (it's a lot like a Walmart in America). There, I picked up some necessities like toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner, hangers, bread, and peanut butter. When we got back to our flats, we met a few of our flatmates. I already knew that i was living with Deema from ISU, but our other four roommates turned out to be British girls. They seem really nice, and they welcomed us by helping us unpack and adjust to the flat, and one of our flatmates, Ellie, even cooked a delicious pasta dish with veggies and cheese sauce! I'm really looking forward to this semester in England; it's finally starting to hit me that I'm actually here! It's about 9:00pm English time (3:00pm Chicago time) and I'm ready for bed. I haven't slept in 36 hours, so I need my sleep; especially since I've got a long day of orientations and tours tomorrow. Cheers!