After leaving Western New England, it took us about 2 hours to get to Logan Airport. After going through security (which was very painful since people apparently don't know that laptops have to be taken out and no water bottles and belts have to be off), we waited around in the small airport. Professor Hamakawa let us leave all our stuff with him while we went to go get supper. I really wanted Earl of Sandwich, but we all ended up at Sbarro :( . After that, we basically just sat down and read until we boarded the plan at 9:05. Luckily I ended up in between two other kids from our group so I didn't have to sit next to strangers while enduring the middle seat. We took off, and I tried to sleep, but the lights stayed on because apparently they were serving us dinner? It was pasta with zucchini and cheese and a roll and a brownie and a salad. When I realized the lights were not going to stay off, I had also started watching Cinderella so finished that movie and then fell asleep. They gave us a croissant, yogurt, and orange juice for breakfast.
We landed in Zurich a little late at 11:15 and our next flight was at 12:05 and on the total opposite side of the airport. We were pretty much running because we had to go through security again and none of us were prepared to take off everything again just to catch the next flight. Finally we made it, and took off, and I fell asleep for most of that two hour flight. But they did give us a cheese and some sort of sauce sandwich which was really good for lunch.
We landed in London at 1:00, so it felt like an hour flight when it was two hours. After getting off, we headed to customs, but Professor Hamakawa didn't tell us we needed to fill out a landing card, so we had to do that and get in line all over again. Then security moved us to a separate line for students, so two men were letting us go through. However, one of the men left, so it was a really slow process getting all of us through because they had to open and read our letters from Richmond University saying we were studying there. After getting through customs, we were ushered to get our suitcases which were the only ones left at that point. Then we were told to go to the fifth floor so our bus could pick us up, so we dragged all of our stuff there and waited for about an hour until he were told that we actually needed to be on the ground floor. We then dragged all our stuff back down, and waited for another half hour until the bus found us and climbed on.
The bus ride was supposed to be about 40 minutes but took more than an hour. I also forgot that the steering wheel is on the opposite side because I almost tried getting on the bus that way. Our bus driver was interesting to talk to because he was from Somalia and talked about how he escaped the fighting and the wars and how he came to live in London. However, he had put in the Kingston Campus, so we first got stuck in traffic for a while, then went to the wrong school. I fell asleep once we hit traffic, but woke up when we drove through Richmond Park to get to Richmond University. Richmond Park is 3x the size of Central Park and used to be a hunting ground for a king. There are deer roaming around freely and people go up to them because they are so used to people. There's a lot of trails and paths and there's a garden and little cottage.
Once we got to the school, we were given IDs and an assignment pad. We were then shown to our rooms. Our room is the nicest of everyone's apparently. We have a sink in it which is useful to brush our teeth without having to go to the bathroom. We also each have a desk, desk lamp, trash can, 2 sets of sheets, 2 pillows, a closet to share, and 6 drawers each. The bathrooms are really cramped with two toilets and three showers. The toilets are in little closet rooms that have no light so it is impossible to go to the bathroom at night. The showers are also really small and I hit my head on the shower head every time. There is no shelf or anything to put shampoo on and its very uncomfortable. There's also only one sink at the end of the showers, not near the toilets, so it's inconvenient to wash your hands if people are showering because there's no shower curtain, just glass doors. The rest of the school is really nice though. There's a common room in the basement with pool and ping pong. There's a flat screen TV and a lot of movies to choose from and there's couches and soda machines and a Ben and Jerry's vending machine. It's also has a courtyard which is nice. The common room is right next to the 'gym' where there's only two treadmills, two ellipticals, and two bikes.
After that, since were arrived at the school at 5:00, instead of 3:00 as expected, we went down to the dining hall for dinner. It was an average selection and I forgot how small the school was because the dining hall to eat is about the size of our kitchen and dining room combined. After that, we were supposed to go shopping, but Professor Hamakawa didn't wait for everyone, so only three people actually went shopping. Instead, four of us just walked around Richmond. At 7:00 we had to go to a residence life meeting which was boring, and then at 8:00 there was an ice cream social and a social at a pub called Roebuck. A group of us went first to get ice cream, and we met some new people, including a girl from Denmark and a girl from Ohio. After that we walked to the pub, and the line was out the door. Right across from the pub there was a walking path that overlooked Twickenham and Central London and was so beautiful at night. We all kind of just stood in a circle and talked and met other new people which was fun. At about 10:00, Emelia and I went back to the rooms so we could finish unpacking and we were exhausted, especially since I wanted to get up at 6:00 the next morning to go on a run with Professor Hamakawa. After about unpacking for an hour, I went to sleep, and my roommate came back around that same time. <3
These were the deer as we drove through Richmond Park.
This was the Roebuck pub.
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