I arrived wearily on May 11 at Heathrow airport after my, approximately, eight hour flight from Chicago. I made my way through the airport and found the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station in London. Once I arrived, and drug my luggage up and down a couple of flights of stairs to the main lobby area. I looked outside and saw a red double-decker bus pass by on the street, and it finally hit me... I am in London!
I went to the ticket machine and printed my ticket, grabbed a coffee in the train station, looked at the touristy merchandise (mainly stuffed Paddington Bears, one of which I plan to buy on my way home... I mean how often are you in London? ;), and sat to watch the TV monitors and figure where I would need to get on my train. I watched the variety of people walk buy, some families, some alone, some British, some American or another nationality, some speaking English, some speaking Russian and other languages, the diversity was exciting.
My train popped up on the board, and I watched for it to say it was boarding. Eventually, it flashed up, Platform three. I grabbed my luggage, and headed to the platform. I found my seat, and almost immediately remembered one of the things I love about the UK (and Europe in general)... people bring their dogs with them everywhere! A woman had her cute little, well-behaved Cocker Spaniel looking dog with her who just laid under the seat in front of her quietly. The train began moving quite unceremoniously, and for the next three hours I alternated between watching the beautiful countryside hills and dozing off. After a number of stops in small towns along the way, and what seemed like no time, the train reached Swansea station. I felt a sense of accomplishment in making it to my destination unscathed.
Photo from https://www.facebook.com/pages/Study-Abroad-Swansea-University/145053856729
I have a friend from Iowa State who is currently here in Swansea visiting friends (he studied abroad in Swansea during his undergraduate career and also participated in the same internship that I am here for, last summer). He met me at the station, and we grabbed a taxi to the Hendrefoelan Student Village. The rest of my first day entailed taking the city buses to the city center, purchasing some bedding at Wilkinson's (sort of like a Walmart), grabbing a bite to eat at a pub, returning to my flat at the Student Village to clean up, and going out for my first night in Swansea. It was an exhausting and exciting start to my summer here! I'm looking forward to all of the adventures to come...
I have already started to notice, and love, the language differences here (in addition to the accent), so I have decided to share these, along with other little observations, at the end of my entries :)
Fun phrases:
"You alright?" this is like our "what's up?" Just a brief informal greeting not intended to solicit a long response.
"Hiya" a very friendly way to say hello.
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