Landing in the City of my Heart

***This entry was written on the night of my arrival in London, Friday, June 29th 2012***

I am in London.

I.                   Am in London

I am in LONDON!!!!!!!!!!

And you know what? The reality of this statement has not quite sunk in yet for me. The day hasn’t exactly gone as smoothly as possible. I woke up at 4:30 to eat, shower, and get to the bus in Helsinki that would take me to the airport. Believing my contact had rolled into the back of my eye, my morning was considerably delayed as I tried to get it out and I ended up missing the 6:00 bus by 5 minutes. Then Sanni realized that I needed to find a different bus anyway—a regional bus that I could actually use my ticket for—and we had to run to the other side of the bus station to find it. I tugged my two suitcases onto the city bus at 6:15 and sat awkwardly with them, feeling self conscious that I was taking up four seats. (Oh, and I was wearing glasses because I thought a contact was still stuck somewhere in my eye.) When the bus finally did make it to the airport 45 minutes later I hauled my suitcases back off of the bus and into Terminal 2. As soon as I walked through the doors I was struck with utter and absolute panic. I hadn’t been able to print out my boarding passes so I knew I needed to do that, but there were about 20 desks on one side of the room that said “Service Desk” and probably 30 on the other side that said “Bag Check,” all of them for Finnair. And the lines for these were completely insane. I had 50 minutes to catch my plane and thought that, at best, I could make it through one of these bag check lines in an hour. Thinking that I was about to see what it was like to miss my first plane ever, I suddenly thought to look up at the screen that showed which desk you should check into for which flight and saw that British Airways to London, Heathrow should go to desk 201. I almost passed out with relief when I saw there was no line whatsoever at this desk. My passes were printed out, my bag was checked, and I went quickly and easily through a short line at security. Then of course I had to run clear to the other side of the terminal to get to gate 38 (out of 40), but before I could get there I had to pass through Passport control, which took another 10 minutes. I finally made it to my gate when the plane was already halfway boarded and it probably took about half an hour for my heartbeat to return to its normal pace. Never again will I run that close when it comes to catching a plane.

On the way to London I sat by a lovely couple—the woman was Finnish and the man was from Montana, and they had gotten married in May. They were very interesting and fun to get to know, and by the end of the flight we were exchanging names so we could look each other up on Facebook. After being in the air for two hours I looked at the screen tracking our plane and knew that we were flying over London, and this is the part of the day where tears began to perpetually fill my eyes. The window by seat 15F on a particular British Airways plane zooming around out there somewhere is completely covered in forehead smears right now. I plastered by face against the window and watched as London came into view, certain that I would burst into tears at any minute as they kept brimming up in my eyes. I have literally waited for the moment I would see London appearing through the clouds and dreamed of it for so long that for it to be actually happening was a feeling of joy at its purest.

This momentary basking in utter happiness was a nice respite from the panic and anxiety of the morning, but it wasn’t long before these two feelings crept up on me again as I disembarked for the plane and realized I didn’t really know where I was going or when I would meet up with the British Studies programmers, but I kept hoping somewhere I would see a familiar Southern Miss face. 

Well, I saw plenty of them looking jet lagged and exhausted when I made it to border control and was winded at the sight of an enormous line that I had to wait through to get my passport stamped. However there was a whole crew of USM students who had just landed a ways in front of me in the line and relief flooded my body instantly. After waiting through another painfully long, 45 minute line I was graciously allowed into the city of my heart and collected my bag from baggage claim. 

Probably one of my favorite moments of all was when I rolled my bag up the “arrivals” ramp and saw the shining, smiling face of Honors College Dean and Professor of Journalism (as well as TEAAM USM advisor and friend) Dr. Dave Davies holding up a sign that said “British Studies Program.” I beamed at him in greeting and was overjoyed because this is exactly the face I had always imagined and hoped I would see first. More professors holding more signs smoothly ushered me in the right direction and before long I was loading the coach bound for Kings College in downtown London. Needless to say I was totally pooped and slept most of the way, but I managed to wake up just in time for the coach to round the corner of Parliament Square and Big Ben—and again I was thought I might burst into tears. I gazed up out of the window at the symbol of the city I had longed to explore for so many years and could hardly believe that I was finally seeing it with my own two eyes. It is just as big and beautiful as I have always imagined it would be.

Upon arriving at Kings College we were all given the keys to our tiny, cozy, VERY tiny and VERY cozy rooms and were finally able to begin settling in. I immediately and excitedly introduced myself to all of my flat mates (there are 4 one person bedrooms and one kitchen to a flat) and we planned to go get lunch together as soon as possible. It really felt like freshman year all over again—meeting new classmates, asking about year and major and bonding almost instantly only because we just so happened to be thrown together. Three of us girls left King’s College to venture out to lunch and were pointed towards a pub on a nearby corner where a lot of USM students had already gone. We joined a few other British Studies guys at a table and had delicious hamburgers that were ordered off on a ipod menu; it was great! Then I left with one of my flatmates to do some grocery shopping and stock up on breakfast food, and we came back to the dorms to settle in

I was concerned that I hadn’t seen my good friend and sophomore year roommate Jamie yet and had no idea how to get in touch with her. As I listened to music and unpacked my room, waiting for 4 o’clock to roll around so that I could meet up with my class, I happened to look out the window into the courtyard and who should I see but Jamie Jelinkski! I grabbed by key, ran to the elevator, and then darted outside where I attacked her with a gigantic hug. We were so relieved to see each other that we were nearly crying (surprise!) and then she came up to my room to chat while I kept unpacking. A half hour later we were meeting our classes in the courtyard for a neighborhood tour, which for me consisted of being shown the local grocery stores and buying an oyster card then taking the tube to Big Ben and Parliament and completing the circle back around to Kings College. We are literally right in the center of London, it’s amazing! 

Unfortunately the evening was full of more anxiety as my card was declined by ATM machines, I had left my key in my room, and I had no way to get in touch with Jamie even though it was her birthday and I promised we would do something special tonight. I ended up joining a few other girls for a cheap but satisfying vegetable stir fry dinner at Marie’s Café, and made it back to my room around 8:30 thinking I would settle in some more, read my book, and go to bed early. 

Well, I was folding clothes in my suitcase when I looked up and noticed somebody talking on the phone in the window across the courtyard from me. I stared long and hard, thinking I might know who this was…and then Jamie began jumping up and down waving at me! Again I was SO relieved that I had finally found the birthday girl that I ran downstairs to meet her, and we got dressed to go out and explore London a little bit more! We walked towards the touristy boulevard (I don’t know ANY street names yet) where the London Eye is and we had a fantastic view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. We were in search of desert and ended up taking lots of pictures, chatting with locals, and then drinking steaming hot chocolate and eating ice cream on the bridge while we gazed out at a glowing Big Ben and listened to the bell chime first at 10:15, then again at 10:30. 

Now THAT was a good way to end a first whirlwind of a day in the city of my dreams, London England.

I think it goes without saying that right now, happiness is mine. 

A first view of Big Ben

Doing the tourist thing, under the London Eye ;)

Happy Birthday, Jamie! And welcome to London to us :D :D