WELCOME TO LONDON!

Hello all!
Sorry it has taken me a week to get this blog, but I'll do my best to make it perfect.  I'll start this recap with the plane trip over here.
While I was at the always great Hartsfield Jackson airport, waiting during my two hour delay, I met a Jewish British couple.  So, naturally, I had to talk to them to find about where all my people would be hanging out.  Turns out they are really nice and they told me about a place called the JLE and extended an invitation for shabbat to me that I plan on going to once I get a tad more settled.
On the plane, I was seated next to another study abroad student, who is not on my program, ARCADIA, but it was nice to know someone else had to navigate the airport by themselves. Besides that the flight was uneventful.
Next was immigration, no problem here, except the immigration officer... AKA the Home Office ... explained to me how these backwards Brits write their dates: day/month/year.  (I'm just getting used to this).  From there I had to take the airport tube to a different train that goes to a HUGE station called paddington.  Once I lugged my two bags onto the paddington train, I got to sit down and relax for 15 minutes, until we arrived at the station.  
When we arrived the adventure began to find a taxi.  I wandered, more like struggled through the station, until a nice British man asked to assist me.  (Clearly I screamed lost and American) He kindly pointed out to me that the way the taxi queue was the dark black line that was on the ground about five feet from me.  Man, did I feel like that stupid tourist.  He offered to help with my bags, but I refused (dont worry Meema, I know, "Stranger Danger")
After about a 15 minute struggle, I made to the queue, where the taxi hailer asked if I was having a rough go at getting around.... UH  DUH.  He got me a cab and put my bags in for me.  My taxi driver was very social and told me which areas to avoid and informed me that London College of Fashion is a hard school. This is not comforting because I am taking 4 fashion courses there.
I got to NIDO, my student living building and signed in without trouble.  I went up to my room and met my roommate.  We had a introduction session and then got to explore the area and go out for dinner.

Tuesday we had orientation at our host school, City University.  The staff went over the ins and outs o what not to do and we had an introduction to the English grading system.
The nots:

• do NOT talk to people on the tube
• do NOT look people in the eye on the tube

Tuesday night me and a few people from my program went to a pub near us called the Big Chill and had some cider, which is DELICIOUS. We also went down towards the London Bridge area and walked around.... surprisingly i really remember the area well.  

Wednesday was more orientation and then we had the rest of the day off, so naturally I went to Harrods. I love it..... I would move into there. The clothing is amazing and the food and the shoes....

Then we went to TopShop which is by far my new favorite store (insert dad rolling his eyes).  Oh and we went and got our cell phones all set up.  Shout to Steven for being awesome and giving me the droid! (i still have no idea how to use 99% of the stuff on it). 

Wednesday night my roommate, Justine, Rebecca, Lianna, and my self (all in Arcadia programs) went to a pub for dinner and it was fun to just hang out and drink.... legally drink.

Thursday was more orientation.  Thursday was pretty uneventful with just hanging out around the dorm and meeting people.  There is a French student who lives in our building who I talked to for a few hours and she had very good and funny insight into the London scene.

Friday was course registration for our Arcadia taught courses.  I am taking two courses taught by study abroad program: Sex, Gender and the City in Contemporary Literature & Intro to British Art (taught mostly at museums).  I am also taking three London College of Fashion courses; however, those do not begin until next week and registration is this Friday.  BUT friday night is when the fun began.... me and 5 other girls (Ashley, Emily, Libby, Megan, and Becky) from program decided to skip the club and go on a pub crawl around our area.  SO FUN!  We finally found places where people our age hang out and it was awesome. 

Saturday me and my friend Emily went on a shopping expedition.  We started off at H&M and then we went to Camden market, where we saw a very interesting collection of people.  We decided to walk from the market to Regents Park.  We walk through the park which is absolutely beautiful and was filled with cute puppies.  We then decided to walk home, guided by GPS on my phone.... turns out we walked over five miles.  We grabbed lunch from a small restaurant on our way and ate when we got back.  We then had to shower and get ready to go to a club, Amika.  Amika is a small club, which is known for hosting celebrities, and one of the boys in the Arcadia program has a cousin who is a promoter for it so we all got in for free.  The attire was suits for boys and the equivalent for the gals (dress, tights heels).  When we got there is was fun, but the bar was EXPENSIVE.... 11 pounds for a mixed drink.  We eventually got bottle service, but by that time the bar was packed with about 70 Arcadia students and it was just too crowded, so me and two other girls decided to leave while the tube was still open and go hang out at big chill.  When we got back all the Arcadia students who live in my building hung out in the cafe and got to get to know each other better.  It was a fun night :)

Sunday (today), me and the same five girls I pub hopped with decided to go to the British Museum, which is free and unbelievable.  We got there around 1/ 1:30 and spent all day there walking around and seeing the exhibits.  The Partheanon exhibit is amazing, but I would be so annoyed if I was Greece and some random British Duke decided just to take my national monument.  Another great exhibit was the Africa one.  ( I will upload pictures to Facebook, so someone help meema and poppee :) ).  We got lunch near there and then left when the museum closed.  We stopped to grab some school supplies on the way back. I doubt anyone will go out tonight because classes start tomorrow and we are all exhausted.

The past week was awesome and I really cant wait to get started with classes..... I probably left a ton of stuff out, but if you have questions (aunt lenore, aunt toby, etc.....) post them for me and I'll try to answer them  :)

Cheers