Arrival!

Until I get internet either on my phone or at the flat my posts may be a bit sporadic.

I had a pretty easy travel yesterday. My flight left Chicago about 5:30pm. I flew British Airways. WOW There was NO way I could've afforded that if I hadn't had a student discount. [fyi I got the flight through studentuniverse.com not BA; wish I had know about that earlier in my life] Each seat had it's own TV that the passenger controlled. First I watched the movie Bling Ring then Side Effects [SOOO good] then episode of Downton Abbey. I tried watching Season 3 ep 3 at the end of the flight and the big event kept getting interrupted with flight announcements. I had requested a vegan meal since that is what my mother made me suffer with all summer. It was actually pretty good. The salad had fancy greens that I didn't like but overall it looked a lot better than the regular meal. In the morning we got a croissant and coffee.

I landed in London about an 40 mins early which was fine since customs was a drag. First you have to be herded like cattle from one wing to another then you get in line and wait. I did forget to have one paper out but I knew exactly in my case it was. Then I was in the UK ready to wait in another line. Before getting to security you have to have your picture taken which I thought was interesting. Then I had to go through security again. Its basically the same as the US but I had unpacked my liquids so I had to repack those. I forgot to drink my water up so I had to get my bag rechecked. Thankfully they dumped out the water and didn't take my bottle. One interesting thing is that London Heathrow doesn't announce the gate until like 30mins before the flight so I sat in a quiet area until my gate was announced. The flight out of Heathrow was about 30 mins late but that was ok. I arrived in Glasgow at noon.

After collecting my bags and dragging them around a bit, I got a cart and met Gordon. He is my dad's friend's wife's cousin and very nice. He gave me a tour of the area and let me use his mobile to call my landlord. We met my landlord and took my heavy bags up to my top floor flat. I will have to cook him dinner or something as a pay back. The only thing he asked for was that I register to vote and vote for Scottish independence. [I'm not sure that's legal but my bags were heavy and went to the 4th floor so it might be even]

Once I got in the apartment and everyone left it was 3pm. so I took a nap. I'm 5hrs different from Michigan so I was awake from 8am Weds to 10am Thurs. I did wake up when an accordian started playing down on the street! I was really hungry so I walked to Greggs and then walked a few blocks to check out the neighborhood. After that I walked home and up the 3 flights of stairs without stopping! [I think all the hill programs I did on the treadmill helped] Then I made sure the windows were closed tight before going to bed.

Today I woke up about 7am and moved stuff around until 8am when I decided I NEEDED coffee. I am now at starbucks using their internet while the coffee wakes me up.

Now some fun stuff. Scotland is interesting. Everyone is very nice when I can understand them. All the signs are in English but it's like they'er speaking a different language. Unless I really listen I can't understand conversations. Hanging out at Starbucks is helping and I get to watch all the people on the street and coming out of the subway/tube. So when I go to latte places I order a 16oz soy latte. I say 16oz becasue every place is different it's either grande or tall or medium. I walked in to starbucks and placed my order and the guy gave me the weirdest look! The other girl was like we don't use ounces here. OOOOOH I know that they use the metric system but my coffee order was so ingrained it stopped meaning 16 ounces to me and just was a way of saying medium. Well now I know.

Sorry no picutes today. My memory card isn't working so I'll have to go find a computer place now. Today my roommate arrives about 1:30pm so I have to clean and arrange my stuff before then.