Reunited with London

I made it, I’m here! My flight got into Heathrow right on time. Unfortunately, I did not sleep at all on the flight. I decided that it would be better to stay awake so that I’ll adjust to the time difference easier. I did sit next to a very sweet old British man on the plane, though. Well, he wasn't really old, per se. He was probably not much past middle aged, but he was still cute and British! Very stereotypical, reserved kind of guy, but in more of a humble way than a pompous one. It was pretty hard to have a conversation with him, really, because he was so soft-spoken. Actually the man I sat next to on my other flight was talkative as well. Normally, people don’t seem to strike up conversations with me on airplanes. The first guy was a mechanical Engineer from Seattle, probably early 30’s. We just chatted a bit about psychology and video games. Neither of these conversations lasted long, of course, but to someone like me who never talks to strangers, it was quite an epic journey!

Getting back to the original topic, the lack of sleep means that I’m crazy tired right now, though! I took the Heathrow Express train into Paddington station instead of taking the tube from the airport to save time. I then had to get the tube from there to the Farringdon tube stop, from which I walked to the work abroad program’s (BUNAC) office. I learned something rather valuable this morning: lugging a giant suitcase up and down stairs in the Underground and down the sidewalk for a good 10 minutes is definitely something to be avoided if one can help it! Of course, I can’t afford to take a cab, so lugging a giant suitcase it is!

Right, so I arrived at BUNAC around 8:30 AM to find that they don’t open until 9:30. Apparently, I didn’t need to take the Heathrow Express to save time. -_- So I went down to a little café on the corner, had a pastry and a latte, and read through my Work Abroad Handbook for the thousandth time (hey, it was either that or stare into space for an hour). I then headed back to BUNAC and waited around there. I got a chance to check my email, which was nice.

The orientation was interesting. Well, actually it was pretty boring, but it was a room full of highly jet-lagged Americans and Canadians attempting to pay attention to information about taxes and the like for nearly 2 hours. Needless to say there was a lot of yawning going around, which, combined with the fact that almost everyone in the room had a sort of glazed look in their eyes, makes for mild entertainment says I. I’m no exception, though! My eyes are pretty dang blood-shot, I haven’t brushed my teeth in well over 24 hours, and I am not only am drinking my second latte of the day, but also took my pill this morning, and still I feel like if I close my eyes I will pass out.

So what now, you ask? Now I wait around for a few hours. I have to wait for Jon to get off work before going to Colchester, so I snuck out of BUNAC (not that they care where I go, but I left my big suitcase under a table there, and I’m sure they don’t want me leaving it there while I go out) and walked about 5-10 minutes to find a Starbucks, which unfortunately doesn’t have free internet like I thought it did. I already bought my coffee, though, and I’m definitely bored enough, so I’m paying for the internet.

There’s something about a vanilla hazelnut latte from Starbucks, man. Every sip is like a bit of liquid joy entering my system. All I want to do is SLEEP! As I become more and more delirious from sleep deprivation and exhaustion, my writing becomes less and less coherent, so I’ll stop here. Sorry if this post has been a bit whiny, but I r a sleepy Rachel. I’ll post this tonight and promise to write more soon!

Tchau!

Random little addition: There’s some old British man pacing around the sitting area in the basement of this Starbucks. He’s just walking back and forth, occasionally sitting down, then getting up and resuming his wandering. It’s kind of creepy! If I was a braver person, I would strike up a conversation with him in an attempt to understand why he’s pacing like this. Perhaps a disorder of some sort? Or maybe just too much coffee? My shyness forces the phenomenon to remain mysterious. XD