Landing in London

So, now that I've been here for nearly 3 weeks, I thought I better start the story. I flew out of Spokane on the 3rd, changed over in Minneapolis and lifted off for my first international flight. It was around 9pm and there were fireworks lighting up everywhere as we flew over the city. Exciting and sad at the same time - to be leaving the U.S. right before a purely-U.S. holiday that I really enjoy celebrating each year. Hours later, I looked out to see the sunrise over some unknown terrain. Was peacefully beautiful, and the loud crowd of high schoolers on the flight with me were content in watching their movies or sleeping, so that made it even better.

After dinner and a few more hours of trying to sleep in the freezing cold of high-altitude flying, I got my seat partner to raise the shades and was greeted with my first glimpse of London!
Managed to get from the airport to the place of lodging with only one unexpected change in plans. The underground I was told to take was closed for maintenance for the weekend, so I ended up on a train, which then connected to the underground, and then a few minutes of walking to find the dorms. Found them and my tiny room for the next 3 days:With quite a different view than I'm accustomed to in little Viola:Went to a pub for dinner - had courgettes for the first time. Was pretty good. Then crashed and slept off the time difference. I will attempt to tell the stories of the weeks following this arrival in London - internet is hard to come by over here, so bear with me!