After spending two weeks back home in Tucson for Christmas, I am back in dreary Newcastle. It was really weird the first few days in Tucson, and now it's kind of weird here in Newcastle. The weirdness surely has a lot to do with long spurts of traveling, lack of sleep, and a bit of culture shock both ways. I did have culture shock the first few days in Tucson, which was also strange, but it passed rather quickly.
I left Phoenix Saturday morning. My flight left at ten, so Noah kindly took me to the airport, and we left at six in the morning. My girlfriends came over the night before I left for one last round of quality time, so needless to say, I didn't sleep much. My flight itinerary said I flew from Phoenix to Las Vegas, landing in London Sunday morning at 9am. But when I got there, I learned that I had another flight in store. I flew Phoenix to Las Vegas, Las Vegas to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to London. Not terribly horrible, especially since the woman helping me put me in exit rows against the window for the two longer flights. My bag was also 20 pounds over the weight limit! Noah and the woman helping me, patiently watched me try to re-arrange some things to my smaller bag so that I would not have to pay $50. I left some things out for Noah to take back, and got the weight down ten pounds. I decided to suck it up and pay, since I didn't want to deal with it anymore. However, a different lady that helped me with my final details didn't charge me! She put in the computer that I had medical supplies in my bag that made it heavy! I was so thankful, and it was really nice. Noah walked me to security, where we had to say goodbye, and I started crying (of course). Walking through security I had a few women look upon me with pity because of my tears, which wouldn't stop, and I didn't want the ladies to look at me anymore either!
The flights were pretty straight forward. I picked up some lunch in Vegas since I wasn't going to be fed on the plane till Philadelphia. My layovers were quite brief in general, which was nice. Philadelphia to London is a little over six hours, and I did my best to sleep a bit since it was technically an overnight flight. I landed in London, went through customs, and the guy asked if I had a letter from the university stating that I was accepted into a program. Of course I didn't since I brought all that crap with me on the initial flight over. I then didn't know that my visa itself was supposed to be stamped when I first entered the country, and they didn't do it in Dublin. Oops. So the guy was nice and stamped my visa and put me on my way, but it could have been yucky! So I gathered my bags and try to find a way to King's Cross to get my train.
Well apparently, no trains go to King's Cross, so I had to take a train to London Bridge, and either take the tube, or take a taxi to the train station. I opted for taxi since I had a huge suitcase, and another smaller, heavy bag, and a backpack. Really didn't feel like fighting the crowds in the tube, if you know what I mean.
Once I got to King's Cross, I had over an hour to wait for my train. Since it was the weekend, and still holiday time, there were ridiculous amounts of people. Plus there is work being done on the rails on the weekends, so the trains are a bit disrupted. So I finally get my giant amount of luggage up on the train, only to find that the luggage racks are full. So my giant suitcase sat next to the door the entire way! I was so tired at this point that I kept falling asleep on the train.
Since work is being done on the rails, the train didn't go all the way to Newcastle. It stopped at Darlington, an hour outside of Newcastle, where we all had to shove ourselves into coaches/busses like sardines. It was a madhouse. Finally pull into Newcastle's train station, and get a taxi to my building. I felt so greasy from travelling around 28 hours, and I just wanted to brush my teeth. I got here around 4:30pm. I took a shower, only to discover that my drain isn't draining properly. The day I left, the porters came by all the en suite rooms to check the drainage, which was working fine in my room up to that point. Good thing the office was closed till today! I also didn't have any toilet paper, or food, since I was avoiding the grocery store before I left. So that meant I had to suck it up and go out again to get some necessities. Except I forgot that it was Sunday, since I left on Saturday, and basically lost a day. The grocery store was closed! Fortunately, they opened the British equivalent to a Circle K right near me, with more food items, so I was able to get some supplies.
I fell asleep around 8pm Sunday evening and didn't wake up till after noon on Monday. A whopping total of around 15 hours of sleep! I then started putting all my clothes away, that I had just dumped on the floor the previous evening. I had to run out again that afternoon since I forgot toilet paper the night before, and I needed a few more food items since nothing would be open on New Years Day.
My classmate James invited me to dinner with his girlfriend and friend for New Year's Eve. We went to the Blackfriars Restaurant near China Town. There was a set menu, and I had the smoked salmon with a lemon risotto as my appetizer. I had the filet mignon (they call it something else, but I forget what it is) with potatoes and green beans for my entree. They also brought vegetables for the table to share. We also received at least two bottles of wine that were included in the meal, between four of us. For dessert, I really wanted the trio of creme brulee, but of course so did everyone else, so I had to have the vanilla cheesecake with fig and honeycomb. Not bad, of course, but not the coveted creme brulee. We also had a cheese plate after dessert, and coffee for those who drink it. At midnight, there were fireworks in the medieval courtyard, which were to be followed by a pinata! Unfortunately it was raining, so no pinata. I had to explain what a pinata was to a few people. Then there was a disco in the restaurant, but we didn't stay long. James (my classmate) invited me over for a big breakfast the next day.
On Tuesday, I woke up to go to James' for breakfast. It was still raining, and everything was closed. Literally, it was like a ghost town. The metro wasn't running, so I had to take a taxi, which was like four times more than the metro. Oh well. James cooked a huge British breakfast of eggs, bacon, baked beans, three different kinds of sausages, mushrooms and stewed tomatoes. We watched a couple movies, then I headed home. I put in a movie here, and fell asleep around 7:30. I thought I would sleep till morning, but no, wide awake at 11pm. Couldn't fall asleep at all, so at 3am, I took some Valerian Poppy to sleep. Finally did at around 3:30-45. Didn't wake up till almost 1pm. So of course my day was basically gone! The sun goes down around 3:30 here. I also feel really scatterbrained, which is not conducive to productivity. I went to reception to report my drain, and as of yet, no one has come to check it out. I am not too worried, since my bathroom is a tiny, waterproofed area, so nothing will be damaged, it's just a total pain.
I hope to be more productive tomorrow. I plan to take some more Valerian Poppy tonight to ensure I fall asleep at a decent time. That way I can get up at a normal time, run and do a few errands, and hopefully get a good amount of work done. Looking forward to a great year...!
Happy New Year everyone!
