Jet Lag

Well, we arrived at Gatwick airport yeasterday at 6:45 in the morning, and I didn't sleep a wink on the plane. Since everything was new and exciting I wasn't very tired. Baggage reclaim, it's what the British call baggage claim, was a breeze and the line for immigration was short too. Things were looking great. When I got to the front of the line I was sent to a miserable immigration officer, she was short, fat, black and on a power trip. I showed her my passport and she immediately called for backup. Two other immigration officers came over and after showing my drivers liscense and Tiger Card (I was about to pull out my SCUBA liscense, the only other form of photo ID I had on me) they finally believed the passport was actually mine. I then had to present every document I had on my person to this lady who took about ten minutes to read each one and asked as many questions as possible. This whole time everyone else in my group is standing on the other side watching me squirm. Finally after an eternity I was allowed to enter the country.

We then took the Gatwick express from the airport to Victoria Station in downtown London (on the train ride I saw a fox wondering through someone's backyard--I felt very British). Once we got to Victoria Station it was about a twenty minute tube ride to Baker Street stop, and then a ten minute walk from there to our dorm. The school is in Regents Park, a beautiful park with tons of ducks, joggers, and gardens. The school is beautiful as well but the beds are awful. Most summer camps have better beds. We hung out around the dorm for awhile and ate lunch there, I had a truly terrible chicken salad sandwich. After lunch a group of us set out to explore our neighborhood and purchase cell phones. We found cell phones and found out that British people drive awesome cars. I saw three Farraris, two Bentleys, and a slew of Range Rovers, BMWs, Jaguars, Lexus, and Mercedes. No Fords or Cheavys. A then smaller group of us set out to find bath towels. Finding Atlantis would have been easier. We asked about ten people and no one knew what we were talking about, or let alone where we could find one. We finally found a towel at Marks and Spencers. If a Target, Nordstroms, and Ikea had a baby together it would be M & S. After that we walked back to the dorm where I tried to get the internet on my laptop to work to no avail. Me and the other three guys then went to a pub called Volunteers where I almost fell asleep in my beer. I came back and ate dinner at the dorm and went to bed at 7:00. Which is why I am making this post at 6:00 in the morning.