We Are Actually in London!

So, we started out trying to go to our lecture, but our professor did not show up. So instead, we got to walk over to the British Museum and, for about three hours, explore all the treasures that they have acquired from their centuries of conquering great civilizations. The Rosetta Stone, mummies, samurai swords, Greek statues, even a room full of super old grandfather clocks, everything packed into the small amount of time we had there.

Later, we took a bus tour with a local London tour guide. It was then that we saw everything you would see in a movie and I realized that we were actually on another continent. Just as I was realizing how far away from home we were, we headed to a pub near our hotel and met up with the OU Alumni Club of the United Kingdom. These people were awesome! They gave us so much advice and answered all of our questions about living abroad. One guy introduced me to his friend, Mike, who was an old man from Scotland. I don’t think I have ever met anyone so friendly to someone they just met. We actually shared stories for several hours. By the end of the night, we were friends with the alumni, friends with the staff, friends with the Scots, and friends with their dog. Good times.

Getting Across and The First Day

Despite Minneapolis to London being the longest flight I have ever been on, it was actually quite enjoyable. There were fancy TV computer things in front of everyone where I got to choose from a ton of movies. So, though I probably should have been sleeping, I watched movies instead.

I had heard that no one knows how to cue quite like the English, and my very first experience was the very intimidating and long line to get into customs. But I am getting bored just writing about it, so let’s skip ahead to the fun parts.

We had quite the experiences on the tube today, from squishing people into the tiny cars to getting stuck on elevators. It sounds bad, but everything has really gone quite smoothly. We walked around at Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus and then to Covent Garden. All of these places have a lot of shops and it reminded me a whole lot of New York City except the buildings were shorter, prettier, and a couple hundred years older.

So, a lot of very stereotypical England things happened, we ate fish and chips, almost got run over a couple of times, and saw an endless number of awesome looking pubs. Overall, it was not a bad time, but I think I have not realized where I am yet.

This place looks like a shopping center across from my dad's office. But instead of being 50 years old, it's more like 500. 

Trip Beginnings

I am not really familiar with this study abroad stuff or what an e portfolio is. Perhaps I am wrong, but I think I was told that I could just set up a blog for this to work. Either way, that's what I have chosen to do, so lots of somewhat interesting thoughts on international organizations for IAS 3003 will be going up here. Maybe I will figure out how to add pictures and maybe even get some style points.

Enjoy!