First Few Days in Brighton

Hey Everyone!
So I'm here! Everything went fairly smoothly, only a few little bumps along the way, and now I'm here in Brighton! I left SFO at 5:50pm (PST) on Thursday afternoon, and had a 10 1/2 hour plane ride to London Heathrow airport. My family all dropped me off, which was very nice for me :) They walked me into the airport and through the checkin line, where we discovered, to our surprise, that my checked baggage was .3 lbs  under the weight limit. GO TEAM! It was very exciting. So then we walked over to security... which was too short of a walk for my mom. She was not okay with me leaving her that quickly. But after some tearful hugs and goodbyes, I picked up my duffel bag to head over to the security line, and... the strap broke. We pretty much died laughing. So that made the goodbye a little easier, but it was still sad. I got to my terminal about an hour before takeoff, and met a British guy named Toby who was very nice and really helpful. He told me about a bunch of places that I should go while I was here. It was nice to have someone to talk to.

The plane ride was uneventful. I was lucky enough to be in 4-seated row with only two people in it, so both of us got to spread out onto two seats. I didn't sleep much... There was about a 4 hour period of time where I was trying to sleep but would wake up about every 15 minutes or so. I gave up after that. When I landed, I followed the crowd to the baggage claim area, where I freaked out a little bit after not seeing my bag for a while. It was the second to last bag to come out of the plane. Figures. Once I had my bags, I walked for FOREVER to get to the bus station, only to find out that I had missed my bus by 2 minutes or so and had to wait for the next one in an hour. I sat in the freezing cold bus station for that hour, and thanked God that I had packed a hat and scarf in my carryon. The bus ride was about 2 1/2 hours, during which I listened to my iPod and took in the scenery. I got off at the very last stop on the route, where I was left to fend for myself for the first time.
This was the only time on the trip I ever felt out of my depth. This little Sebastopol girl had to find a taxi. Not only had I NEVER had to hail a taxi in my entire life, but I didn't see a single taxi around me. I grabbed my bags and took off for the main street, where I asked a nice British lady pushing a stroller where to find a taxi. She pointed up a long, steep, cobblestone lane, and I set off, huffing and puffing as I went. After passing a couple of drunk old British guys, I finally reached the top of the lane. This was where all of the taxis hung out. I walked up to the nearest one and asked if he could give me a ride. The driver looked at me like I was crazy and said "No. You have to go to the front of the queue (American translation: line)!" Embarrassed at my apparent ignorance, I ran up to the front of the queue and climbed into that taxi. After telling the driver where I needed to go, I realized that he didn't know where my destination was. He had to look it up on a map, but we finally headed out towards my final destination. Just my luck, about 5 minutes into my supposed-to-be-15-minute taxi ride, we hit traffic. 15 minutes had turned into 30 by the time we reached my dorm.
At this point, it was 5:30 in the afternoon. I was stressed, tired, and to top it all off, the desk I was supposed to check in at wasn't open. There was a phone number on the door, so I pulled out my iPod to try and skype the person to give me my key, only to find that I couldn't get internet on my iPod. I was about to cry when I remembered that one of the girls who was already here had posted her flat number on facebook, so I set out to find her. Luckily, she was home, and she and another girl helped me get out of the cold and into a better mood.
Since then, things have been fantastic! More and more people are arriving every day, and I haven't met a single person that I didn't like. Everyone is so nice, and we all seem to get along really well! My days have been spent shopping for things to make myself more at home here, such as sheets. Fun fact about England: They only have bottom sheets on their beds. Fun fact about my bedroom: The bottom sheet I was given wasn't fitted. It was a top sheet that was tucked under the mattress, which was not what you would call clean. Yuck! Needless to say, I went out and bought myself a fitted sheet.
The next few days are going to be pretty busy. I have orientation on Tuesday, registration for classes on Wednesday, and a day trip to London on Thursday! I'm very excited to see London! All in all, it should be a fun week!!

Things I'm Loving: Fish and chips, Making new friends, Having a phone again (!), Getting internet for the first time today, Double decker busses, Being able to order a drink with dinner :)

Things I'm Not Loving So Much: Uncomfortable mattresses, Sheets that don't stay on my bed, How expensive everything is!

Things I'm Learning: No matter how much fun I am having, It is always good to take a little down time for myself, How to translate Celsius into Farenheit, That I really do need gloves, That British people are just as interested by us as we are by them!

American to British Dictionary for the Week:
Parking Lot = Car Park
Sweatshirt/ Sweater = Jumper
Line = Queue
Bus = Coach
Yield = Give Way
Elevator = Lift
Shopping Cart = Trolley
Throw up = Chunder (I CRACKED UP when I heard this one! Example: Brian had too much to drink, so he went off to have a chunder.)

I'll write again soon! Love you all!!
~Jenn