Sunday, September 27 2015

left Buffalo to catch a flight at JFK over the pond to London. My flight was great on the way over. Free alcohol and food is always a plus. A captain and Coke to star and  a bottle of red wine for dinner. Dinner was mashed potatoes, a variety of vegetables and beef tips. Not bad for just a microwaved meal. 

I arrived in London around 7:30a.m. About a hour ahead of schedule. Getting through the line at immigration took about 90 minutes.

I then went to catch one of the famous 'black cabs' out to my dorm in Harrow (northwest of London). I had the address written in my notes on my phone and as I was getting ready to put my bags in a cab my phone died so I couldn't look at the address. I went back inside the airport to charge my phone. I bought an adapter because the outlets(plugs) are not the same as in the U.S.. I was at a station trying to charge my phone and the station wasn't working. I found a computer and I plugged my phone in. It started charging slowly but it died after it had started up. Luckily enough, someone with an Apply computer sat down next me and I asked if I could plug my phone into his computer. Thankfully, he let me plug my phone in and we got to chatting. He's originally from Orlando, he went to Stanford for school and he graduated with a marketing degree this past June. He was in London for a work conference for a few days. After about 10 minutes I thanked him again and I was on my way back out to cabs (I even wrote the address down in a notepad in case my phone died again.) 

After a 40 minute cab right to Harrow, I finally made it to where I'll be living for the next few weeks. The cab was 50£ but I was later reimbursed by my CIS Abroad program director, Regina. 

After I got my things to my room, I met up with Regina so she could show me around where I was staying. She showed me where the closest grocery store is and how to read the Underground (tube) map. She showed me which lines to take to go from where I'm staying (Northwick Park, right outside the Westminster campus in Harrow) to London Bridge where my internship at Sport Inspired is located. I took the Metropolitan Line to Finchley Road where I took the Jubilee Line to London Bridge (30-45 minute commute). 

After walking around the Tower Bridge area, I asked someone if they could point me in the right direction towards where my internship is. 

The building that Sport Inspired is refurbished building that uses the original brick but it maintains a modern and open field because of the amount of glass and oak wood is used. Quite an awesome building at 169 Towerbridge Road.