So I thought I'd start a journal of my days in England. I know people were interested so I figured this would be the best way to tell everyone what I'm up to. I'll try to write everyday. Enjoy! :)
Started off my Sunday morning with a lovely breakfast from my mom and then packed up the car. It was a great way to start the morning. We then traveled to Cedar Rapids for my flight. Got there 3 hours early only to find out I would be sitting around playing cards with my family until I had to board the plane. When I went to check in, I had to weigh my bag. It was 20 pounds over the limit. Oops lol. So I had to unpack about 20 pounds into a backpack, that I forgot I had packed in a suitcase until all my clothes were in the car so I had to go get, and then was able to check my bags. About half an hour before I was able to board, I said my goodbyes and went through security. No crying from me surprisingly and not sure if my family did. I had some tears in my eyes but I held them back to show them I was strong and would be all right.
The flights went pretty well and were both on time. The one to Chicago didn't take long at all. Then I got on the plane to London. It was a really long flight. I sat next to a girl that was going to medical school in Cambridge for the summer. She had a lot of stuff with her and was really funny. An older guy that was sitting across from us was a military man going to Afghanistan. He helped the girl put her bags in the over head compartments and talked to her a lot of the flight. He kept calling her "Doc" which was super cute. A had another guy next to me (I was in the middle) that slept through most of the flight. I only slept an hour and it was quite terrible.
When I landed in London, I had to go through customs. It took about 20 minutes before I got to the front of the line and talked to someone. It was the scariest moment of my life. He asked to see my passport and asked why I was there. I told him it was for academic field experience and showed him the letters I had gotten from the University telling what I was doing. He was not in a good mood because he said that paid or not, I was working. He said if I wasn't going to a US military base, I would have been sent home on the first plane to the US. I was freaking out. He then said the University needed to look up the definition of work. I'm just so happy I got in! He then said cheerio and it made me happy. :) lol.
I was the first to arrive at 6 in the morning London time and had to wait 3 hours before seeing another Camp Adventure person! It was the longest 3 hours ever. I was so scared that I had went to the wrong meeting place or that no one was coming. But I was sitting next to three older couples from the US so I felt pretty safe. After 2 girls showed up, we were picked up for our ride and had to drive around London until the other planes got there. And then when we picked them up, we drove 2 hours to our final destination. It was almost 1pm when we got there. So lots of travel with hardly any sleep.
We got the base and were shown the facilities we would working in and got to meet a few of the staff. It was all a daze for me and do not remember most of the people we met or where we drove to. We stopped and got dinner and then went about 15 minutes from RAF Lakenheath to another US base called RAF Feltwell where our lodging would be. We are staying in dorm type room and have the a whole upstairs hallway to ourselves. No one else is allowed up there so it's really nice. It includes a bathroom, day room, laundry, and about 15 bedrooms. Quite a nice place. I stayed up until 8 here so that I could try and adjust to the time change. It worked well. I was able to sleep 11 hours! Definitely felt nice to get sleep after being awake for more than 36 hours. :)
So, happy days in England so far. Hope this helps everyone back home see what I'm up to. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment