This is now my home.

A little sleep can make a world of difference. I woke up that morning and already felt refreshed...even though I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted. Little sleep was a theme I needed to get adjusted to quickly.

After my first cafeteria meal, I walked to my first class of the summer semester. Oh, yeah...that's right. I went to London to study. Got it. Jokes aside, I really was excited for this class. I really do enjoy my major and International Public Relations sounded just as interesting. I was excited to expand my view of the industry and the career I will soon begin. On our first day, we had a guest speaker from Kaizo. I was enamored by the deep detailed look at social media and how it's affecting the world today. I love social media and love that it's becoming a major factor for all industries. I strongly believe it's a great tool of power and influence. The lecture reaffirmed and strengthened my previous beliefs.

Class ended a few hours later and I eventually made my way back out to the city. A new friend, Cassie, and I started off the journey by walking around the park surrounding Regent's College. The willow trees, swans, bridges, ponds and greenery were all breathtaking.

We followed one of the paths over a bridge to Baker Street. Our college was right near the Baker Street stop on the Underground. We spent time talking and discovering little restaurants, shops and sites. We found a few pubs, italian restaurants, movie theaters, parks and a Sherlock Holmes museum. This walk around Regent's Park and Baker Street rejuvenated my broken soul. I loved walking around, just discovering new things and acquainting myself with the area I called my new home. Why waste my time in it being sad and homesick? This was my new home. I was living in London. There was no need to continue on with the tears from yesterday. It was a new day and I was going to make the best of my time here in London. I had so much to look forward to!

After our walk, we reunited with some other classmates at a nearby pub called "The Globe." They were all standing around a tall table with drinks already. They had tall glasses filled with fruit and what I thought was tea. They let me know that they all ordered a british alcoholic beverage called Pimm's. It looked good and it was unique to the area so I decided to give it a go. I'm only 20 so this was my first alcoholic beverage and I'm glad it was. It was as good as it looked. The only bummer was that I knew I couldn't find it back in the States.

We finished our drinks and shared laughter over our horror-like travel stories. Yep. Things were definitely turning around for the better. I was enjoying a drink with friends at a pub in London. Life couldn't be better, right? 


We all went our separate ways once again when the glasses emptied out. Another classmate, Elizabeth decided to join us, though. We weren't quite ready to go back to the dorms and our stomachs were growling. We decided to find a nice spot for dinner. We headed back on the path that Cassie and I took earlier in the evening to rediscover cool restaurants we saw earlier. We came across an interesting pub and decided to try it out. We sat down on a couch near the bar and I was already eyeing the macaroni and cheese dish on the menu. We sat for fifteen minutes and posed for a photo before realizing that it was 9 p.m. and the kitchen was closed. Defeated and still hungry, we got up in search for another restaurant.

We found a little Italian restaurant named Zizzi's that I had earlier stopped to take a picture of. Its sign said "y'all" (one of my favorite words) and it reminded me of home. I thought this just had to be a great place. The kitchen was open and we were happy. We had a great time talking, laughing and ordering glasses of risotto (inside joke). Goat cheese and spinach ravioli finally made its way to my table to ease the growling of my stomach. This meal was hands down the best italian meal of my life. I know Cassie and Elizabeth enjoyed their risotto as well. It was my first real meal in London and I was impressed.

Goat cheese spinach ravioli from Zizzi's

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the company, the food and my first real day in London. It was the first time so far on the trip where I truly felt happy. It was a lovely ending to a lovely day. The homesickness was gone at last. I was in a city that I've always dreamed about being in. I was in it and I was ready to enjoy every second.


I raised my glass that night to new friends, new experiences and many more happy days to come. Cheers!

If the city never sleeps, then that makes two.

My travel into London began with no sleep and ended with no sleep. I woke up in Charlotte at 3:00 a.m. and could not go back to sleep. I ended up on the couch and watched reruns of Friends and Boy Meets World. Nothing seemed to calm me down. I spent the rest of the day packing last-minute items and denying the fact that I was leaving for the airport in the late afternoon. I counted (and dreaded) the hours until my 6:25 p.m. flight.


Before I knew it, I was sitting in the front seat clutching my tissues while pulling into the Charlotte airport. I was a complete nervous wreck and I couldn't stop the tears at that point. I have always been scared of flying even though I've flown quite a bit before. Saying goodbye to my parents was really the toughest part. It made everything seem real. I was going to be getting on a plane to London and living there without my family for four weeks. I mustered up every ounce of courage in my body as I forced myself to walk to the gate. Talking with classmates who were on my flight really helped me, though. I was the only one who had a fear of flying so everyone was really comforting.


I finally stopped crying when we all boarded the plane. Yes, I was still nervous but everyone's excitement was starting to rub off on me. Thirty minutes passed and we still had not taken off yet. The pilot eventually came over the intercom and told us they were "finishing paperwork" and we would be in the air shortly. All right. Fair enough. Fifteen more minutes passed when we heard the pilot's voice once again. "Folks, we're going to have to deplane you all. There's a bit of a mechanical problem on the right wing that needs to be fixed." What. What. What.

This didn't ease my mind about flying, but the hours and hours of waiting sure did. I was certainly ready to get back on the plane around 10:00 p.m. My lack of sleep the night before was slowly starting to make me miserable. A few of us got some food at Chili's in the airport but all I wanted to do was get on the plane and go to sleep. The delay surely dialed down the excitement a bit.

The crew fixed the right "phalange" (and put many extra on board. Friends reference. Of course. What else did you expect from me?) and completed all of their "paperwork" and we were finally in the air for an eight hour flight. I was hoping for a smooth flight but that's not what I got. What I got was a lot of turbulence and very little sleep. I really did try to sleep through the flight but I wasn't successful. I woke up every 20 minutes and I was feeling more and more homesick the further we crossed over the Atlantic.  

After a flight like that, I had never been happier to touch down on land. We were greeted by our professor and hopped on a bus to the college. It took about an hour from Gatwick to Regent's College and that hour was surreal. It felt so bizarre to be riding on the left side of the road alongside red double decker buses. It looked just like the movies and those few London episodes of Friends. After student introductions, I was lulled to sleep for 30 minutes when we reached the freeway.


I woke up to find us at our destination - Reid Hall.  I towed in my two suitcases and was greeted by my roommate. She had arrived a few hours earlier than everyone. She took one of my bags and showed me to the staircase when I heard the dreaded words, "There's no elevator...and we're on the top floor." Lovely. Just one more damper on my challenging trip. I was grateful that she helped me lug my bags up the stairs.

Our dorm room looked pretty decent. Not going to lie, I was a bit disappointed at first. It could have been the lack of sleep affecting my mood. After I put on my sheets from home and added some pictures to my desk, it felt a little more like home. But I couldn't help that stabbing feeling of truth in my heart that it wasn't home...it wasn't home at all. I forced back my tears and met the rest of the class downstairs for our first class adventure. 

As a class, we trekked to the Underground. I was terrified of London's subway system at first. Everything around me was so fast paced. I remember thinking to myself, "Huh, this must be what a city is really like!" It couldn't have been more different from Charlotte. I felt extremely claustrophobic crammed into little trains with way too many people. But the less I thought about being under the city, the better I felt. When we stepped off the Underground and rode up the escalators, Big Ben was staring me right in the eye. I turned around and saw the London Eye right behind me. Even though I was completely miserable and homesick, I couldn't help but feel in awe of the scene in front of me. It took me a moment to catch my breath. The intricate details of everything was so incredible. There is no word that can describe it. It didn't feel real. All of the pictures I had been staring at since I was a child had suddenly come to life.



Our professor surprised us with tickets to ride the London Eye. I was wary of that at first. I had enough of being in the air for one day, do I really want to get on this thing that's in the air for 30+ minutes? No. But the magnificent scene in front of me seemed to convince me otherwise. If it was all this beautiful from the ground, imagine how amazing it would be from the Eye? I was right. It was the perfect way to see London for the first time. I'm absolutely content with my decision to hop on with everyone else, even if I did safely sit on the bench the whole time.

The group split up after the Eye. We walked the streets until we ended up at pub near Trafalgar Square. I should have been excited but I was so sleep deprived and sick that excited was the last emotion I was feeling.The lack of sleep was making me more emotional and more homesick.  I have scoliosis so my back was absolutely killing me from the past events. I had not had anything to eat on the day of my arrival and couldn't even think about eating at that pub. While everyone else dined on fish & chips and cidre, I sat at the table completely zoned out, sick, light-headed and worried about everyone's first impression of the sickly version of myself.

I was so happy to get into bed that night around 11:30 pm. Shortly after I received my initiation of dorm life. There was so much commotion and noise heard through the walls. A girl on the hall ended up getting sick all over the bathroom floor. The commotion increased when the rest of our neighbors discovered that. Shrieks and screams and yelling sent me over the edge. I hit my breaking point. I cried myself to sleep after texting my mom that I wanted to go home. What mistake had I made? What had I done? I was in a completely different country...alone. I finished searching flights to Charlotte and ended up only getting about 4 hours of sleep.

I never knew that a lack of sleep and a backache could make me want to leave London. After successfully worrying both of my parents, my arrival day finally came to an end. Everything felt backwards and far away, but unbeknownst to me my misery wouldn't last for long.

Location:London