First Day

My first thought upon arrival in London is that Heathrow is a surprisingly ugly airport for one that's so big and world famous. Unlike every other airport I've ever been in, there aren't soaring glass walls looking out onto the tarmac and big airy concourses. There are narrow, winding hallways with ceilings maybe 12 feet high. And it's hot. 47% of the reason I wanted to study in London was for the cool weather and I was burning up in a way I haven't since...well since August when I was living in Parrish, aka a bread oven.
So while pouring sweat, I manage to navigate my way through customs and find my luggage and only kill three people in the process (I'm not joking: I lifted one of my suitcases off the conveyor belt and nearly swung it into the woman next to me, who proceeded to fall over onto her child but luckily some guy caught her and all I could think as I apologized profusely was, "30 minutes in a foreign country and I'm already proving what asses Americans can be"). Then came the joy that was getting from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3, where Queen Mary people who want (free) Queen Mary transportation were supposed to meet. Heathrow has *free* luggage trolleys, which made me believe in Socialism as I thought about the 75 cents or whatever you have to pay in the US to rent them, and even the fact that I was convinced that my trolley had a bum back wheel couldn't squash my enthusiasm, especially once I realized that you're supposed to lean down on the handlebar to deactivate the brakes. However, when I tried to jam my trolley onto the train from Terminal 4 to 3 and succeeded only in knocking all my luggage off (I was feeling like Harry in Chamber of Secrets by this point, when he and Ron are at King's Cross and Dobby's frozen the entrance to Platform 9 and 3/4) and being snootily informed by a gentleman that trolleys aren't allowed on the train and snottlily pointed out the little sign that said this, my enthusiasm for Socialism's free trolleys fast waned.
Finally, after only about ten minutes of panic in Terminal 4 that I would never find Queen Mary and be forced to throw myself on the mercy of customs to deport me home and several more murder attempts at the people around me with my new trolley (which invariably listed to the right or the left, whichever way was most convenient for making me frantically scream, "Excuse me!" to South Asian families as I barreled towards their children), I found Queen Mary folks and sat down to wait for the bus, passing the hour and a half chatting with other American students coming to Queen Mary.
The bus trip to Queen Mary was incredible even though I stupidly decided to sit in the very front seat and within seconds of the bus moving gave a gasp of horror as it made a wide turn that brought it into the wrong lane and forced a car coming at us to go into the wrong lane...and then remembered that they drive on the lefthand of the street. Heathrow is on the west side of London, and Queen Mary the East. In the States, if you were going from one side of a city to another, you'd hop on the interstate and swing around the city, bypassing the downtown altogether. Not in London. We drove through London, and I ended up getting a chance to see sooo many beautiful old townhouses in Mayfair that I'm sure are disgustingly expensive, Westminster Abbey, the Eye, the famous roof of St. Paul's Cathedral, and Big Ben! The girl sitting next to me on the bus (she's from India and is here getting her masters in investment and finance) said, "Look, there's Big Ben!" and I was like, "Uh, yeah, ok" as I craned my neck trying to see it, but all I said was this tall plain brown building. Then she helpfully shoved my head down and I saw the white face and black roman numerals of Big Ben! And this impromptu sightseeing was all the more improved by the fact that despite London's infamy for rain and gray skies, Sunday was a beautiful sunny day!
After moving into my single room in the apartment, with its own private bathroom (toilet paper not included), I was saved by a massive wave of homesickness and regreat by the kind offer of my British flatmate Sushi (yes, pronounced just like the Japanese food) to show me around. I love, love, love the neighborhood that Queen Mary is in. It's actually much closer to the center of London than I thought (one mile! hence the name, duh, Liz) and is incredibly diverse. There are loads of South Asian immigrants in the area, which I knew but couldn't fully appreciate til I got here, and lots and lots of women who wear hijab, many of them the strictest interpretation of it, with only their eyes showing. And there are also many white adults in really snappy suits carrying briefcases walking rapidly to (presumably) important. Then there are a lot of trendily dressed Queen Mary students, South Asian and white and a few black, and then there are the Americans, myself included, who fall into two categories: casually dressed and girls with Gucci sunglasses.
So all in all my first day was excellent: I spent the afternoon with Sushi and Shaun and repaid their kindness by almost getting us all killed when I started across the street after looking left instead of right, had a delicious dinner at a Thai place for a pretty reasonable price (though not reasonable enough to be sustainable, that's for sure!) with another flatmate, Jill, also an American here for fall semester, and got some really helpful advice about the geography class I'm registered for from another flatmate, Greg, who's a Geography major. Unfortunately, the girls will be very disappointed to hear this, I didn't make it to the party with Sushi, Shaun, and Greg, because I was just too exhausted. I know, girls, I know what you're going to say, but in my defense I'd had maybe, maybe 20 hours of sleep in the past four nights, including only two or maybe three on the plane ride across the Atlantic, so I was just too tired to go. But there are many more parties coming up and I will be attending those! Though I was rather disappointed to be reminded that I'll have to make more of an effor than I'm used to (which is to say, no effort at all) in getting dressed up to go out as I watched Sushi and Shaun getting ready, wearing cute, sexy shirts and straightening their hair and putting on make-up.
Excellent start to my time in London all in all I would say!