Settling In

So I survived my first week in England! Things were a little shaky at first - from my land lady failing to be at my incredibly dirty house (which we spent our entire first day cleaning) when I arrived, to the several wrong/missed buses, to our many sleepless nights due to jet leg and a semi-uncomfortable bed. But other than that (and the culture shock I am still experiencing) things have been going well.

On Monday, my mom and I, along with my roommate Sabrina, her mom Sue, and Cara, another girl teaching with TimePlan, went to Leeds Castle. The entrance fee was only £16.50, and your ticket is good for twelve months (we are thinking of going back in November for a fireworks spectacle). The grounds were very beautiful - the walk to the castle was quite long, following a path through ancient trees, gorgeous flowers, and fascinating birds, which borders along a large and shining lake. The castle itself was amazing to see - I loved the outside especially.

On Tuesday we took the train to London - it only cost £9.30 and we had access to the train, the underground railroad (“tube”), and all the buses for the ENTIRE day – pretty cheap we thought! We went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards, although with thousands of people there we didn’t see much. Then we walked through St. James’s park to Big Ben, the Parliament Buildings, Churchill’s Museum, and Westminster Abbey (where Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married). We took the underground railroad (which was kind of tricky at first) to Harrod’s Department store - the most amazing store I have ever seen. It has five floors (with access by both elevator and escalator), and sells everything from grocery items to fancy chocolates and coffees, designer clothes and purses and shoes, jewellery and perfumes and cosmetics, home decor, sporting equipment, and so much more that we didn’t even see. They even have a pet department where you can buy a cat for £800! It was pretty amazing to see (and see is basically all we did, since we couldn’t really afford anything apart from a bit of chocolate and a couple bars of soap).

On Thursday we took the train to our school, Holmesdale Technology College. It's in Snodland, which is a bit of a distance from Maidstone (it took about an hour to get there). It is a really nice school - it has four buildings and tons of different subjects for the students. It was renovated only two years ago, so it's quite nice. Some ladies teaching in the maths department with Sabrina took us out to a local pub for lunch - so we had a fun day.

Other than that, we have been doing a lot of grocery shopping and organizing of things so that I am prepared and settled in. It has been a very busy week - but I've had a wonderful time with my mom!