Across the Pond

We made it! I am now sitting at my laptop computer in the room that will be my home for the next three months. I am exhausted and experiencing a little jet lag, but so far, so good. We arrived in London at 6:55 AM after about an 8-hour flight from Atlanta. I only slept 4-5 hours of it, and have pretty much been up since 3 AM London time. It was so weird jumping ahead six hours; it feels like one long day. I also feel like I have had breakfast six different times in multiple time zones!
When we left the Gatwick airport, a coach took us through rush-hour traffic to our home. It took two hours and the number one rule for our first orientation day was NO NAPPING. Our rooms were assigned when we got to the house. After they issued us our British cell phones, we went out to the grocery store and to buy our weekly Tube passes. (The Tube is the subway). We got on the Tube, rode to Victoria, walked through Green Park & saw Buckingham Palace, and then got back on the Tube and went to Covent Garden where our chaperones left us and told us to find our way back to the house after an hour or two of exploring. Grace and I did some shopping (but no buying!) and then began to navigate the underground system. There are so many cool and trendy people in London; she and I just enjoyed observing the people who passed us by. We came back to the house, showered (finally!), and got settled in our rooms.