Hull, England–It was 5 a.m. and I was already up and ready to go. My flight wasn’t until 11:45 a.m., but I was ready. I had packed all my things and as I was brushing my teeth I looked at the mirror and it hit me—holy crap. I will be in the UK for a little more than nine months. I looked around my house, took my dog on a walk, and looked around. It was really calm and beautiful. I never really noticed it before.
Ok, now we have all the sappy stuff out of the way, let me tell you how it really went down. I woke up and I couldn’t find a single pair of shoes. Apparently I had packed them the night before. So I took my dog out without shoes and almost fell over a stick. My parents were trying to convince me to take more things and I tried to shove everything in my suitcase. After stating I didn’t want breakfast, I was forced to eat toast as we drove to BWI. We had a surreal conversation about the roadways in Baltimore and arrived at short term parking. My parents helped me carry my bags to check them in, and wouldn’t you know my one bag was one pound over weight. Of course. I really didn’t feel like going through all of my stuff at the airport (especially since I had used travel Space Bags for everything), so I just paid an additional fee for the overweight bag. When I finally checked in and found the American Airlines gate, my parents left.
I was on my own now, sink or swim. Sitting and waiting for my flight to Chicago, I took the time to do my favorite hobby: people watching. Let me say that I love Baltimore. It was a Ravens game day, so almost everyone had some kind of purple on and was exclaiming how “wacco they are for Flacco.” Shortly, I boarded my flight and arrived in Chicago without too much of a hitch.
In Chicago, I decided to go all out and get as much America in as I could. I sat and watched the football games while eating McDonalds and drinking a Coca-Cola. After a few hours, my flight to Manchester was ready to board. At this point, sheer panic set in. It was really happening.
I will be honest: I’m not a fan of flying. The thought of being on an airplane for six hours is not appealing to me. I would have loved to have taken a boat over. Sadly, this was not an option. I was in the back of the plane in the second to last row in economy class next to the bathrooms. Awesome. After takeoff, the in-flight movie started. It was Mamma Mia. I never saw the appeal of ABBA or of the musical’s concept. The man sitting next to was fascinated by the movie and hummed along with the songs. I found this more entertaining than the actual film. I was able to fall asleep, and when I woke up we were flying over Ireland. There was an announcement about customs and the pilot said that we were getting ready to land.
When we landed and passed through immigration, the University had a shuttle come pick up the international students from the airport. At this point, jet lag had set in and I fell asleep on the ride from Manchester to Hull. Once I got to Hull, we had a short info session for international students and I got my accommodation information. I had arrived. I made it. And now the adventure can begin.
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