My first week across the pond

My first week in London has been amazing to say the least.

Tuesday/Wednesday (August 30/31): Arriving in London was quite an adventure in itself because after travelling for over twelve hours, trying to find my ride to Vandon House took about an hour and then another hour to get to Vandon. A total of about 18 hours of travelling time by the end of it all, and then having to unpack and stay awake until that night proved to be one of the longest days of my life, but that day marked the beginning of my adventure.

Thursday (September 1): It started off with hours of meetings to give us all the important information we would need to know, and then began the never ending walking around London. We went on walking tours, had to walk to the grocery store and markets, had to walk to the bank...it seemed like we never stopped walking. Thursday night Andie and I met some interesting locals who proceeded to welcome us warmly and introduce us to the after work life of Londoners. There is apparently a lack of boundaries between the boss and employees as they pelted him with peanuts attempting to have him catch one with his mouth. 

Friday (September 2): An epic scavenger hunt occurred where we had to run, and I literally ran, all over London to get pictures, brochures, and small trinkets. Our team didn't win, however, we gave it our all and got to bond as we tried to navigate the cities many routes of transportation. 

Saturday (September 3): I ran for the first time in London and it was fantastic, only ran for 30 minutes but through the most beautiful park, St. James Park, surrounding Buckingham Palace. The weather was great to run in and I once again displayed my American side by greeting people at first when I ran past them like I do at home, but here they do not respond with kindness but more annoyance or confusion. We had another walking tour that morning showing us a different part of London. The best part of the day was hands down seeing Dr. Faustus at the Globe Theater that evening. We stood the whole time like they did in the past and watched a magnificent play, where I got "peed" on by one of the characters (it was just water but it was very cold) 

Sunday (September 4): We had a free day to explore and rest. I ran again in the park but got more adventurous and branched away from the main paths and found some very interesting parts of the park. The rest of the day was spent exploring different markets around London and shopping for better walking shoes.

Monday (September 5): Intercultural training in the morning had us thinking a lot about how different the UK is from the US but it did not seem to help us understand what we should do to bridge these culture gaps...I guess that is for us to figure out the hard way. 

Anyways these past few days have been very busy with exploring and learning about the different culture and trying to adapt to the different lifestyle.