London, England

Well, I'm here guys!!
i wish i could say that i am having a great time, that this place is absolutely wonderful and i'm never coming home... but, truth? not so much. i'll get into it in a little bit though...
first of all, my first flying journey: it was a piece of cake. i love flying. my wonderful family (who i miss like crazy) met me at the airport. i loaded up my $180 luggage (that's what i had to pay extra) and waited for about an hour before going through security. just waited with my family, not waited in line. then after a tearful goodbye, i went through the security checkpoint and was searched. not really anyone else it seemed, just me. (over the clothes guys, over the clothes...) anyway, i boarded the plane, which was tiny as heck, and made it to philly in 45 mins. i made a new acquaintance along the way (dave from the navy) who had actually lived in london for 4 years. so that helped ease my fears of flying in the tiny plane. so i get to the philly airport and rush to my terminal - i haven't eaten anything by this time and wanted desperately to stop and grab a bite but was unsure how far my gate was. i didn't want to be late. so i find my gate, take a seat and wait. and i hear on the loud speaker through the airport "boyd to terminal 4, boyd to terminal 4" ok, did they say boyd? "hi, i'm jamie" - "ms. boyd, do you want to fly to london?" - "um, i think so" - "would you like to check in?" - "sure, um, where can i do that" - "you do that here, how long have you been sitting over there?" - "ah, not that long - i didn't know i was supposed to check in....." i'm sure he was very impressed with my vast knowledge of traveling. i'm retarded. so i finally get on the flight, starving, and there is a wait. then i see a lady wearing a flight attendant's uniform headin straight for my seat 33k. "33k, are you jamie boyd?" - "yes, i'm jamie, is there a problem?" - "we don't have a receipt of the extra baggage, do you have that with you?" - "well, the guy at the gate desk took it from me" - "sorry miss boyd, he says you have it" great i'm thinking, i'm holding up the flight. Evidently it wasn't too much of a problem because we took off shortly after that. the flight was fine - i ate my food like someone who hadn't eaten in days though. the tiny portion of lasagna and little piece of cheesecake was gone before half the people even opened the aluminum foil i think. then it was off to sleep - right... i think i may have shut my eyes for a few moments, not long though. ok, so we arrival in london - my right ear completely deaf from the landing (i couldn't get it to pop). my seat partner was an older lady from leeds (i believe) - she was the sweetest thing ever! she kept saying "i'm acting like an auntie aren't i?" - i told her that was fine because i had no idea what the heck i was doing. so i arrived to customs following her - she went her way, i went mine. and then i got my passport stamped! yay my first stamp in my passport! i'm such a dork. anyway - i then went to find my luggage - there was little auntie!! it was a cinch finding it with the blue tape i put on it, the smartest idea ever. ok, did i mention that my luggage had to way atleast 100 lbs total. try lifting it quickly off the belt. we made our way to customs (ok, i don't know if the first one was customs or this second one - you'll get the idea) and just when you thought someone would stop and ask you a question, pat you down or something - they just looked at you as you walked by. ok.... so then we went to a waiting area (she was waiting for a bus, i was waiting for someone holding a sign). she left shortly after that. then i hear "jamie boyd, jamie boyd to airport information" are you kidding me??? paged in both airports. i was thinking 'what didn't i do this time', there i see someone with a sign for london met. they told me that no one was going to be there to meet me, but i guess they had a change of heart. so i met him and we waited for the other students. here is the part of the story that changes with a down tone...
so i meet the students and they all go to millersville, they know eachother already. we take a bus to the dorm, i've made friends with them by this time, and once we get there we have to carry luggage to our rooms. i'm on the top floor of this labyrinth type maze. honestly - it's a flippen maze. i still can't get to my room without going the wrong way. so, the friends i'd made so far are all on different floors of the different buildings. ugh, great. i know i am outgoing, but it's hard to just go up to these people (who by the way are 19-20 yoa) and be like "hi, want to go to the store with me? oh, you came with friends are in a clique already, ok, that's cool too." i want to do things on my own, but when the city is huge and well, huge, you get a little nervous. oh, and my room? a flippen hole in the wall. the place is so old and small, it's not what i had in mind. i'll post the pics next time when i am doing this from my computer. i'm in an internet cafe right now using a dirty keyboard that my fingers are sticking to. oh wait, that's kind of like the environment of the police department with their dirty & old equipment - never mind, i feel like home!! anyway, the dorm - nothing as i expected. and to top it off, the people who have roommates have rooms the size of small stores - they're huge. way to go jamie, ask for a single room. i never chose the right choice - grass is always greener for me on the other side isn't it... oh, the other thing is that the faucets here are 1 for hot and 1 for cold. they don't mix. so you get scalded or you get frozen. i don't get it. that's the dumbest thing i have ever seen. oh, another thing - when you go to fast food places (the people i went to eat with are poor and have no sense of adventure (lora, erin & rachel, please come here now!!!) wanted to eat at this chicken place. anyway, they use little wooden forks for the ff's. the wierdest thing. ok - i'm off track now ---
right, the dorms. how about there are flats that these other students are staying in - nice, i don't remember being given a choice. i would have paid the xtra $. ugh. ok, so the people here are (meaning the students) are not what i'd expected either. they're really young and if you can believe this, very much like freshman in college. noooooo. a study abroad program with college age kids - wow jamie, you really are a genius. oh, and my school is a 40 min walk and one of the other buildings in 20 mins from that building - an hour? splendid. i don't mean to make it sound so negative, it just wasn't what i thought. i was wanting this really posh environment with cosmopolitan type people... hasn't even come close...
ok - my time is running out. i will post more tomorrow hopefully - with pics.
i miss you guys already.