The flights all went smoothly and a lot of ND bonding went on at O'Hare in Chicago. Upon arrival in London, we got onto buses and they took us to the flats. The flats are pretty amazing. It is an old hospital that they renovated that still has the old hospital name painted on it and everything. We are right on the South Bank and you can see the London Eye from my bedroom window.
I am in a flat of 12 girls. We have two bathrooms, which is a bit interesting, but other than that it's a lot of fun and very cool. I'm in a quad while others are in doubles, triples, etc. Everyone lives together in the same building which makes it super easy to see everyone all the time. And no parietals - ideal. Housekeeping is only done once every two weeks so we have to buy most of our stuff/keep it clean. With everyone chipping in it shouldn't be too bad.
On the initial day of orientation, we went to the Notre Dame London Center (our school) which is about a 15-20 minute walk across the river. It's an unbelievably scenic walk I must say. On the first day we talked about everything from living in London to safety to getting our books, phones, etc. My books were about $180 which is not so bad. They gave us these little T-Mobile phones that make us feel like we are in 8th grade trying to text on them, but they work! We can text everyone in the program on them so that makes communicating easier. I do miss my iPhone, though... We also got Oyster cards which allow us to use the London tube for a cheaper price. I have yet to use the tube so far. We have probably done close to 20 miles of walking since we've been here. People who wore heels wanted to kill themselves. Good thing I hate wearing heels anyway! It also rains here all the time. It has rained every day at some point. I need to get used to having my umbrella with me at all times.
The staff here are awesome. Our director Greg is literally the happiest man on the planet while another teacher, Cornelius, told us he had been to Club Fever in South Bend and that we should "work it" because there are more boys in the program than girls... bottom line, he rocks. Alice the librarian also very much wants us to check out books. We will see if that happens, I have yet to check out a book from the library on ND's actual campus.
We have quickly found the hot spots in our surrounding area by the flats. There are two mini grocery stores, Sainsbury's and Iceland, in walking distance, along with most other stores we would need. We quickly found out we all needed to buy a lot of stuff, like soap, toilet paper, school supplies, hangers, groceries, etc. so most of us got on that during the first day. It was a bit overwhelming at first with all the stuff we had to do, however it was all worth it once I was able to purchase champagne at the end of the night.
Speaking of champagne...
In terms of night life, I have had three of the most fun nights of my life during the past three days. Thursday night, although jetlagged and having not slept for 24 hours, we went out to a bar called Hole in the Wall which is right across the street from our flats. It's called that for a reason, and I'm pretty sure the locals were caught off guard by the number of Americans around, but whatever, it was fun. We then went on a search for the infamous O'Neils which has no cover on weekdays and a live band on Thursdays. We searched the streets of London for literally an hour, lost a few people, picked some others up, and eventually made it. It was an awesome atmosphere and they had these Clover Top drinks that were unreal. We danced around for a while and decided we must gather the entire program to come out the next Thursday.
Friday night, we ended up at a club called Heaven. Turns out that Heaven is the largest gay club in all of London. Don't ask me how or why... but we did. However, it turned out to be one of the best experiences ever. It was a giant dance party. Spice World the movie playing on all screens, fog machines, some Oops I Did It Again jams and an enthusiastic crowd made for a great time. We stayed there the entire night and got home around 3am. After making all the eggs we could find, we immediately went to sleep. So. Much. Dancing. We have since been recommending Heaven to everyone we talk to, who would have thought...
Saturday, a group of us headed to Piccadilly Institute. It was a club in the heart of downtown with multiple clubs/bars within it and five stories. We checked out all the floors and found our home on floor three where the DJ was going crazy. Eventually, a huge group of ND people made their way there, including my quadmates from school. It was nuts. We took over a section of the dance floor and had an unbelievable time. I drank more cider which we have quickly discovered to be non-beer drinkers heaven because it tastes so good and is everywhere in London. They sell it in giant 3 liter bottles at the grocery store which is proving to be a popular option.
Sunday, we had our opening mass (which I went to just for pageantry) along with a pub dinner. The dinner was really good and the school paid for it, and we all bought drinks to go along with our meal. We were completely ravenous and ate in about 2 seconds. I can already tell I am going to eat less over here because one, food is extremely expensive, and two, I don't exactly cook. However, Allie and I whipped up some fajitas for us and the boys on Saturday night, and they turned out surprisingly well. I think we underestimate ourselves. Right now I only have cereal, grapes and rice to eat so I should probably hit up the store again asap.
Tomorrow (Monday) is the first day of classes. Since I don't have classes Monday, I will be reporting to my internship at 10am. I found NBC earlier today so I know I won't get lost, luckily. It's about a 35 minute walk which is not so bad so I figure I will be walking there most of the time.
London is so alive with art, music and culture everywhere. It is extremely busy on the streets but once you turn into a park or residential street it gives off a peaceful aura. I can already tell this city has a lot more to offer than what may appear at first glance.
 |
| Where we live! |
 |
| So much love |
 |
| So official |
