Hurry up and wait

As I type this, I’m sitting in one of those hard, fake-cushions-that-are-really-plastic chairs in Heathrow Airport in London. The flight to the UK actually landed about an hour sooner than it was scheduled to, so now we have an additional hour to do… nothing. The flight to Belfast doesn’t even board until 10:15, and it is currently 6:15 am. So I figured that I may as well get a head start on my blogging.

Leaving was a lot harder than I expected it would be. Like I said before, it never really hit me that I am actually doing this. It finally clicked around 11 this morning (yesterday morning?) when I was finishing packing. If there were any way that I could have changed plans and gone back to Kent, I would have. But I obviously couldn’t at that point, so… here I am.

As soon as I was on my way and met up with the other students, it became a bit easier. There were other things to focus on rather than what I was leaving behind. The flight to DC was really cramped, with one column of seats on one side of the aisle and two columns on the other side (luckily, I got a window seat). The flight went smoothly, though, and we landed in DC in the early afternoon. The airport was crowded (probably something to do with the inauguration), and it reminded me a lot of the halls at Revere (RHS grads will know exactly what I mean). To add to the feeling a bit, I saw a pilot and a flight attendant pass each other. As they walked by, the pilot asked, “Hey, where are you off to?” and the flight attendant replied, “Albuquerque” and they went on their ways, kind of how like two friends might pass each other as they hurry to class. It amused me, the way that they were so matter-of-fact about jetting across the country.

Anyway, we didn’t have to wait long to board our flight to London. Again, I got a window seat (yay!), and this jet was much bigger. It was already dark by the time we took off, so I didn’t get to see the Atlantic or anything. Occasionally, I’d see what I assume were ships or something, but they looked like stars floating in the middle of the darkness below the plane. I tried to sleep, but I would wake up every twenty minutes or so to a different noise or movement in the plane. (It’s gonna be a loooong day…) As we neared London, I could begin to see lights. It looked like a three year old randomly drew shapes with a glue bottle on black construction paper and then added gold and silver glitter. It was pretty- I managed to get a few pictures.

it was so nice to see the sun again! the clouds were amazing!

the plane that took us from DC to London


the view of England as we flew overhead


just inside Heathrow airport

These signs were all over the place in Heathrow. I think they're supposed to represent a traveler arriving and leaving, but it just looks like someone with antlers to me.

As we entered the airport, and we were surrounded by all the British accents, I noticed myself beginning to think in a British accent- I hope I manage to keep mine for at least a few weeks! We’ll see. The security was pretty tight as we entered; we went through three or four checkpoints (and we still have more to go). I’m thankful that they’re being so cautious, though. One amusing note: as I went through the checkpoint where they make you take off your shoes, some of the guards were singing “I’m Too Sexy for My Shirt.” In British accents, of course.

For all the males reading this- there are not one, but TWO sweet cars. Don’t ask me what kinds- I don’t know. One is orange and one is red. All I know is that they look amazing, and that the lone male in our group stopped at each of them and started to drool. I took pictures for your benefit(s), so you can decide among yourselves what they are and leave a comment about what an ignorant female I am.

Car A


Car B

So typing this has taken me all of forty minutes- it is now 6:55 am. Still three hours twenty minutes to wait- woohoo! Fun fun.

As I have nothing more to write, and I feel like I’ve been blathering on the whole time anyway, I’ll let you go do more productive things. Not that I’ve been keeping you here. But whatever.

Love and hugs from London,
Erin

P.S. It is only 2:00 am in Ohio right now on the 21st of January (there’s a five hour time difference). However, the Internet service here costs money, so I’m just going to wait to upload this. Just fyi. K bye.