Day 2: Registration!

Hello again! I figure while I have the time, I might as well keep this thing updated.

Yesterday afternoon my roommates and I took a 20 minute nap that morphed into a 2 hour nap...then our host mom made us an early dinner (they are vegetarian!!) and we decided to brave the darkness and walk around the area. We're really close to Alexandra Park and Alexandra Palace, so we made our way up there (literally up some substantial hills). We got an amazing view of London from the top of the park though, and we saw lots of people of all ages sledding in the park. A few guys even tried to start a snowball fight with us. Our first thought? "How do they know we're American?!?!" We tried not to talk around people for the rest of our walk.

Today we successfully navigated a train to the tube all the way to Central London. The train is actually about a two-minute walk away, and as we were getting our day passes we could hear one coming, so our host dad (who was showing us what to do) very calmly said he thought it would be best if we just rushed for this train, then took off sprinting for the platform. We got instructions about where to get off for the tube as the doors were closing.

Once we made it to Cromwell Road and FIE (Foundation for International Education) we had a brief talk with Walt, the Earlham professor leading the program, got yet ANOTHER ID (with yet another unflattering picture), and got a small walking tour of things associated with FIE. Those things include Foundation House, which is where our classes will be; Metrogate House, which is where the student computers are (I'm not sure how much our program will be using this); and Imperial College, where we can apparently join student groups and use the student center (including two student pubs).

After the tour we had some free time that most of us used to get mobile phones and walk around a bit. To get to Imperial College from Foundation House you have to walk on...Queens Gate Road (where I stayed for a week last January)!! It says hello to the Detwiler family!!

We hopped on the tube yet again to have dinner at Walt and Rabun's flat. We also got a short talk from Danielle Wilson, the housing coordinator, about life in London. She had the strangest accent--she's a native Texan but has lived in London for the past 28 years. Yeah, imagine that. Her talk...well, let's just say she scared the crap out of some of us. But it was all useful information (like how to tell if a minicab is legit or not). She also told us that no matter how we think we look or act, we will stand out. Hmmmmm...

After dinner we got a very small amount of groceries, then got back on the tube and train and came home! It was a long day, but I love the amount of walking we're doing. We have orientation tomorrow, then a bus and walking tour on Saturday. Classes start on Monday!!!