"this is the beginning of a GREAT adventure."

Okay, to preface this post, I am so jet-lagged right now I can hardly see straight, so if something in here doesn't make sense, cut me a little slack :)

LONDON!!! I'm here! I can't even believe it, to be honest it's still so surreal that I catch myself doing double-takes every time something catches my eye, ear, or nose ;) I left MSP yesterday at 2:30 after arriving far too early and ditching to go to the Mall of America with Mom and Dad.  Thankfully the flight went according to plan, because my layover in Chicago turned out to be much shorter than I thought it was!  Before I knew it we were boarding and I was sitting in a window seat (!!) next to a 30-something Bon Jovi lookalike (that's a good thing) who was telling me about his career as one of the corporate pilots for the Saudi royal family (this is just the tip of the randomness iceberg, folks).  After a restless night of attempted sleep and a viewing of "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Cars," we finally landed at Heathrow at 7am as scheduled!  Funny story: the pilot pulled the plane up to where he was supposed to but for some reason the landing crew couldn't seem to get the deplaning gate to line up where it was supposed to.  A comedy of errors ensued for the next half hour while we weary travelers all waited (not-so) patiently (in my case anyway) to get the show on the road.  Finally we were off, through Customs very painlessly, and entering a pouring-rain soggy London morning!  I had forgotten how crazy the drivers were and how disorienting the switched-road thing is...I was a nervous Nellie the whole time we were en route to the flats.

They're really very nice, actually, considering that they're located very centrally in London!  I'm in a flat with four other girls...my direct roommate is Kelly, while Joanie and Nicole share the other double bedroom and Ellen is in the middle in a single room.  We have a darling little kitchen and some VERY classy tartan plaid couches.  The sink drips and one of the toilets seems to be a little funky, but this will be a great home base for the next four months!!

After some unpacking adventures (Mom, thank you SO much for making me pack less, I still have almost too much!), we all departed for the 40-minute walk to the London Centre, where Notre Dame's London branch is housed.  The walk, which I will be making every day, takes us through a major theater district as well as past Piccadilly Circus, through Chinatown, and by some majorly beautiful scenery.  The Centre itself is a 1907-built BEAUTIFUL building full of big windows, high crown moldings and vaulted ceilings, but it's like a maze trying to get around there!  It will definitely be an adventure.

We all dozed off (and fought valiantly against real sleep) in the afternoon info session...I can honestly say I don't remember a single thing they covered, although the sensation of my head nodding and jerking as I tried not to fall asleep will be unforgettable.  All the interns had their first session of info after afternoon session and I'm really looking forward to starting with BBDO next week!  Then we got our ghetto little early-00's cell phones (haha) and had an epic adventure navigating home without using a map (we made it, thanks to our landmarking by pubs, theaters and cute restaurants!).

By this point, we were so tired we just wanted to collapse and die, but it was only about 6pm, so we headed out for some nosh at a pub down the street from our flats.  Called "The City Pride," it was so adorable and cliché British...we all had pints of Strongbow Cider and some really yummy pub food...burgers and fish and chips (SUCH good chips!).  After a really fun game of trivia, we headed back and now I'm sitting in bed trying to synthesize such a long and awesomely full, crazy day.  Some thoughts/lessons so far:

-Having a passport in your hand makes you feel so adult and at the same time so young.  I love the sense of power and sophistication...passports are so legit.
-When offered the choice between chicken and vegetarian pasta on a trans-atlantic flight, NEVER pick the chicken.  NEVER.
-Ambien or Lunesta or something might have seriously helped alleviate the "it's impossible to sleep on planes" curse.
-Landmarking based on notable bars, pubs and cafés is an excellent life practice.
-Cider is stronger than it tastes.
-Digestive biscuits are not in fact meant to help digestively-challenged people...digest.  They're really quite delicious actually.
-Always check that the tops of nail polish bottles are screwed on tightly before tossing them in with shower supplies.
-Make sure you know important things like how to lock your flat, the access code to your flat complex, and where the fire exits are located at all times.
-If your goal is to blend in, it's best not to walk the streets exclaiming "Oh my god...that's so cute!" and "Oh my god, look at that!" every thirty seconds. 

More to follow...this sleepy-eyed girl is going to call it a night!  Cheerio :)