Judy's in London!

Can you believe it? Me neither. The total travel time was just about 12 hours, which was short compared to my trip to South Africa which was over 24 hours. The trip was made much more pleasant than it otherwise might have been since I was seated next to a psychologist from Birmingham. She was delightful, although she did share some stories than made me feel ashamed at how easy it is to forget those who are suffering as a result of last week's tornados. The who day was tough, leaving Tallahassee at 2 p.m. and arriving in London at 7:30 local time (which is 2:30 a.m. according to my body!) I did manage to stay awake all day and am so looking forward to a full night's sleep!

The picture above is the front of the study center. If you look closely, you'll see a 99, which is the street address. I am actually staying at 102 Great Russell. My flat has two floors with the two bedrooms upstairs. I am sharing a room with Katie, an actress who is getting her Master of Fine Arts! That is my twin bed tucked back into a corner,
which I love! We agree that we will most likely be on totally different schedules, providing both of us some alone time, which I think will work out very good. Having the living space downstairs (pictured below) will make it much easier than it might have been otherwise! An MSW intern, Cozy, has the other room. I think that it is all going to work out very well!

The buildings that FSU owns (I think there are 7, in all) are all on Great Russell Street. What is cool is the buildings are connected underground. This was the only option since, because these are historic buildings, FSU was not permitted to make any structural changes above ground level! So after hours, there is only one exterior door that is available and we go through the building to get to our flat.

Today was an adventure on many levels! I got a cell phone to use while I'm here. It was really cheap and is pay as you go. It is just good to know that I could reach somebody if I needed to. I also purchased an Oyster card. This is the card that is used to access public transport ion. I got mine with a picture of Will and Kate as a forever reminder that my visit coincided with their wedding! I've heard a couple of reasons that they call this the Oyster card, but neither made much sense to me! Tonight, I went to a grocery store. Oh my! I don't shop much in familiar territory, so I really didn't get much. I finally decided that peanut butter and jelly would be a safe thing, but then a guy who is also here from FSU told me that he brought his cousin Jiff from the state, because the peanut butter here was so bad. I bought it anyways, so I'll let you know!

Although I am certain to be up much earlier, the first thing on the agenda is an orientation breakfast at 10 a.m. I may have mentioned to you that there is a required alcohol awareness meeting. It is my understanding that I'll be excused from it since I have been over the legal drinking age for some 30 years! Later, I'll be taking a "practical walking tour." I may stop in a museum for a few hours since there are several just down the street!