Landing in London, Lost Bags & "Where's Peggy?"

Hi everyone! You alright?,

The past five days have without a doubt been jammed packed with adventures, new discoveries and all around mixed emotions. Where do I even begin?? I guess I will start with seeing my AD for the “Be President” campaign at the Pittsburgh International Airport!!! It was surreal to see myself on multiple screens throughout the airport and knowing that thousands of other people would as well. I am truly proud to be considered one of the faces of W&J!! Go Presidents!!

Once I was finally on the plane to London it was exciting and nerve racking at the same time. I couldn’t stop thinking about EVERYTHING!! What will St. Mary’s University be like, what all will I get involved in, what’s the food like, Am I really ready for this, How will my host family embrace me and I can’t believe I am living my dream!! The plane ride itself was about 8 hours and time went fast between sleeping and watching movies. And finally, the time had come when I touched down to London! This was both scary and exciting at the same time. I had to first go through immigration and get my passport stamped. I thought this process was going to be worst than it actually turned out to be! However, it was fairly quick and then I was off to retrieve my bags...or so I thought!!!

Obstacle #1: Lost Bags!!

As I waited at terminal four for my luggage, I began to notice everyone else grabbing their bags and me still standing there anxiously waiting. After about a half an hour I gave up and went to baggage claim where I was told my bags were still at JFK airport in New York. All I could think was, “of course I had to be the one to have my bags left somewhere else.” I didn’t panic. The representative assured me that I would be reunited with bags more than likely by the end of the day, which was a relieve. Now of course we all know that didn’t happen right?! I must have called baggage claims a hundred times asking them the status of my bags to the point where they knew it was me calling. Thankfully my bags did arrive at my homestay the next day in the afternoon and all was well.

Obstacle #2: Where’s Peggy?

To gain the full cultural experience I chose a homestay for my accommodation. I was simply given an address and a name, Peggy Dean. What made me even more uneasy was while at the airport I began to spark conversation with the other international students about their living arrangements and almost everyone said they were living in the dorms on campus. I became a little concerned about my situation because I had not be in contact with my homestay. I just had a name. I began to wonder, does Peggy live alone?, what will her house look like? does she have kids, and I don’t know why but I just had this image of me and Peggy sitting at the table drinking tea and having conversation. Peggy became very popular in the group and once I arrived at the University I was told my homestay would pick me up at 3pm. Turns out Peggy was married and had five kids! However, it was not Peggy who picked me up, it was her husband! Unfortunately, Peggy’s mom passed away and she was handling the funeral. Still to this day I have yet to meet the infamous Peggy and everyday everyone asks me, “Have you met Peggy yet?” It has become quite the anticipated event.

The past few days have mostly been orientation stuff for international students. Meet and greets, tours of the campus and buildings, informational meetings about what is offered and all the fun we can have. I am beginning to settle in nicely. I have a roomie named Ben, who I actually met in San Francisco at a ice cream shop this summer while teaching and it was crazy that we ended up at the same homestay sharing a room. Initially when we talked about going abroad we didn’t realize we were both going to the same place at the same time. It was nice to see a familiar face.

Most recently, this past Saturday we took a walking tour of central London. My University is located in Twickenham, a nice quite area away from the city. The tour was amazing. Of course, we viewed a lot of the major attractions, Big Ben, The London Eye, Buckingham Palace, etc. I took many pictures and I will post some of my favorites! I look forward to exploring what all London has to offer and of course London Theatre!!!!

We still have the rest of this week before modules (classes) officially start.  Basically, this is time to continue to become familiar with the lay of the land and settle in nicely. There are also a number of events for the incoming first year students and international students to attend to get to know one another! I look forward to an exciting semester.

Fun Facts:

There is a bar on campus!! Yes! A Bar! The legal drinking age here is 18. The bar or “Pub” is open to students and faculty on campus and there are events held in this area such as, “Open Mic Night, Bingo and others social gatherings.

LONDON LINGO: 

MATE = Friend or Pal  

“You alright”= What’s up or How are you? 

PUB = Bar  

“Bunk class”= to Skip 

FAG= a cigarette (Smoking is very common in London!)  

CHEERS= Thank you.

Stay tuned for more exciting stories and updates on my journey here in London. I will also try to make post on Facebook and upload as many photos as I can.

Until next time!

Ty G.