OMG, I'm Here!!

 I MADE IT, I MADE IT, I MADE IT! Safe and sound in my dorm room, where I had to carry my 50lbs. suit case, my 30lbs. carry on, AND my ginormous purse up a flight of stairs.  Carrying all my luggage around from airport to airport and all around campus realllyyyy made me wish my Dad was there to help me!

After sad goodbyes, annoying security checks, and plane delays in Indy, we finally made it to Chicago.  Since we had a delay in Indy, we only had a few hours to wait until we boarded the plane for MANCHESTER!  All of us students were pretty much in one big group in the middle of the plane, which was nice.  However, the food and the 7 hour plane ride was not so nice—but it was all worth it now that I’m here! :)

Once we arrived to the airport in Manchester, we had to wait in a long line at the UK Border to get our passports checked.  Since I’ve never been out of the country I was so confused, but I made it through and got my luggage quickly after.  Then we all met Liverpool Hope’s Coordinator, who met us at the airport and took us to a charter bus.  We will be working a lot with the coordinator, Mr. Cowell, and no, he’s not related to Simon, dangit! He’s an older man and seems really nice and funny, so it should be fun working with him! Also, I LOVE the way he talks—he calls us “love” in his cute little English accent.

The charter bus took us to the University.  It was so weird driving on the other side of the road and seeing the steering wheel on the other side of the car.  The scenery was beautiful—very green, lots of horses, cows, and sheep.  It reminded me of Harry Potter with the adorable brick houses everywhere.  I can’t wait to go out to see more of Liverpool and take lots of pictures. :)

The bus ride took about 40 minutes to get to the University.  It was chilly and rainy; it was also only 9:30am so hopefully it’ll warm up! We got inside and received our dorm rooms.  We all got split up for now because there are still students here finishing up their finals.  There are only 7 of us in my dorm, where 2 pairs of girls had to share a room.  I got lucky and got my own.  It’s pretty small with a bed, night stand, desk, closet, and sink.  The hallway has 2 ½ baths for us to share.  I unpacked and tried to get things organized, but didn’t want to get unpacked since we will be moving out soon. Mr. Cowell said we all will be moving soon and should all be in the same dorm within the next 2 weeks.

We met at noon to grab something for lunch at little markets.  The food here is so different—bacon crisp chips? Fried fish balls? Me and a few of my friends just grabbed some chicken sandwiches to heat up back in my dorm… but little did we know we were really supposed to go back with the group to go over some things with Mr. Cowell. Oops… Once we got to my dorm and heated our sandwiches up, we noticed there were no other students on my floor.  We got worried so we ate our sandwiches on the go while we went searching for our class and teachers all over campus.  We finally walked into the room they were in, just in time for the meeting to end.  What a great way to start of the first day at the University… haha oopsies. (Dad, I know you’re freaking out and think I missed a bunch of stuff, but don’t worry, we got all caught up and didn’t get into any trouble. :) )

Tonight we’re all meeting together to go to the pub for dinner, which should be fun! Then back to the room to Skype with family and friends before I hit the hay for tomorrow's orientation.  I probably slept for about an hour on the plane last night and haven’t slept all day today so I can’t wait to cuddle up and get some sleep!

Cheers (Thanks) for reading and Ta! (Seriously, how adorable are their sayings?!)