We've arrived!

Cheers from London! I've finally arrived! What a long journey. It all started at 11 AM on Friday, when my parents and I went to Toronto Pearson airport to catch our flight to JFK. Mom and Dad were flying down with me to visit Adam, and to make sure I knew what I was doing. Our flight landed, and we went our separate ways. It was hard to let go of both of them for a while because I know its going to be a long time before we see each other, but the idea of just getting to London was helping me hold it together. Next week, Mom and Dad are heading out on their bike trip down the west coast. If you want to read more about what they are doing, check out Suzie's blog here.

After I said goodbye to the parental unit, I ventured towards Terminal 7 at JFK, where I was going to meet my classmates. After taking the wrong train to the parking lots, I had to get off and switch trains to take me back to Terminal 7. Good thing I had 7 hours to kill or else I would have been in trouble. I arrived, and was lucky enough to find Leslie, sitting and waiting at the Terminal for Dani. So, we waited, and waited, and waited, until she FINALLY showed up. Then, we checked in, went through security, and sat at the gate.

While we were at the gate, a young man sat next to me. We weren't sure if he was with our group or not, so we started talking to him. We discovered that this guy was from Northern Ireland, and was in Vermont at a summer camp all summer. Much to our surprise, Leslie knew someone who knew him. It really is a small world, and out of everyone I know, Leslie is the only person that this would happen to. Then, more and more SLU students showed up at the gate, and at 8:45 we finally took off.

I watched the Proposal and Hot Shots on the plane. I really wanted to laugh, so I chose wisely. Unfortunately, I couldn't fall asleep, so when we met up with the group, I was tired, hungry, and cranky. But, I realized that that is not the way to start off such an exciting adventure, so I snapped out of it and started absorbing the fact that I am in London. It took us about an hour to get to the meeting spot where our families were waiting. Julia and I met Mark, our host father, who helped us with our luggage and showed us around the families nice home. Julia and I have a good sized room, with a t.v. and a lot of space for clothes, which is ideal for someone like me. We moved in by 1:30, and then we both crashed. We woke up around 4, and we each gave Mark and his wife Lorraine a gift. I brought them a Hudson's Bay Company blanket, and Julia brought some great stuff from William Sonoma. Then, Lorraine brought us some sandwiches, and we started to get to know one another. We found out that Mark is a huge Arsenal fan, so now, Julia and I are also!

I think I should be pretty busy the next few days, but I will do my best to write again soon! Hope you are all doing well at home!

Because of the amount of flying I've just done, I figured a quote from Bridesmaids was the only way to go. Here it is: 

Flight Attendant Steve: You have three seconds to get back to your seat.
Annie: Oh, you can't get any where in three seconds!
Flight Attendant Steve: Well, you better try.
Annie: You're setting me up for a loss already.
Flight Attendant Steve: Okay, thank you.
[pointing to his name badge as she gets out of her seat]
Annie: Whatever you say, Stove!
Flight Attendant Steve: It's Steve.
Annie: Stove! What kind of a name is that? 
Flight Attendant Steve: Well, that's not my name. My name is Steve.
Annie: Are you an appliance?
Flight Attendant Steve: No. I'm a man and my name is Steve.
Annie: You're a flight attendant.
Flight Attendant Steve: That's absolutely accurate.

Bye!