Hello Readers,
I will be studying abroad at Queen Mary in London, UK. It’s always been my dream to live in London and I shall finally be fulfilling it this semester. I’m very excited about living on campus at the university. I’ve known other friends studying abroad that had to live in apartment complexes 20-30 minute away on a bus. I will live in Feilden, which has a restaurant on the first floor, and is considered one of the better buildings. I’m still unsure of who is living with me. I haven’t heard from the university and all I know so far is that there will be other study abroad students and first-years who are allowed to live on campus. At Feilden, there’s about 8-12 students in a flat and I have no clue how many people my flat accommodates. So this will be an exciting challenge for when I get there.
The packing is endless and a tad difficult considering it’s completely different weather in London. I’ve lived most of my life in Florida and, while I’m super ecstatic to live in colder weather for once, I don’t really have the clothes for it. It did give me an excuse to go shopping, which is always wonderful. I may have bought too many jackets/trench coats, which are useless in Florida but I’d rather bring too much than too little. I’m bringing two heavy checked bags and a backpacking backpack. I filled both checked bags, but I still have plenty of room in my traveling backpack. So either I’ve gotten good at packing or I should pack some more. I’m still worried that I don’t have enough cold weather clothes. But most places are closed for the hurricane and may not reopen by Wednesday. I guess I shall just have to wait and see.
I’m suppose to leave this Wednesday for Reykjavik, Iceland to travel for a couple days before arriving at London on the 16th. However, Hurricane Irma may alter the plans. Flights have started getting delayed since Friday going into Saturday and I imagine that the airport will be closed on Sunday through who knows. The not knowing is slightly killing me. I had just been about to book some tours for Iceland and I’m glad that I hadn’t had the chance because if my flight is delayed, then it would have been lost money better spent elsewhere. I’m worried that I may not be able to keep my hotel reservation if I come a day or two late. I hope they take pity on me with Hurricane Irma, although that’s the least of my worries. For the last couple of days, I haven’t even thought about leaving. My concentration was with getting enough supplies to survive should the electricity be cut off for a couple days. Although, they’ve been warning Central Floridians that the power may be out in some places for weeks.
The waiting starts tonight and we shall see how the weekend turns out, hopefully with less destruction than they’re predicting.
Sincerely,
Sara