London Recap

Hey I didn't really have a chance to use the internet much in London, so in summary, LONDON IS AWESOME! We only had about a day and a half to explore, but we managed to see these wonderful sights:

We were talking to a local police man and he joked, "Yeah, that thing is getting old. Next year, they'll be replacing it with a digital one." 

 Buckingham Palace

 Telephone booth!

 The bridge that was in the Harry Potter movie!

 Tower Bridge!

 Me in front of Tower bridge

 The tower of London. We didnt go inside because it was a little expensive

The eye!
Sorry this post is long, its mostly pictures. Anyways London was amazing and I wish we could have had more time, but the good news is that early this morning we flew to St. Petersburg!! I am in my dorm and we currently are sharing the internet which means I should sign off to let my roommate have a turn. I'll post about St. Petersburg more tomorrow, after we have explored and moved in but for right now, I'll just tell you that I love it here, its not as cold as I thought, and it looks like its gonna be a GREAT semester! Also, I am on 2 hours of sleep, so sorry if this is not very coherent. 

Off I go!

With my 49.2 lb suitcase (getting as close to the 50 lb limit has become somewhat of a sport for me), butterflies in my stomach, and no idea of what's in store for me, I leave for London TODAY! It's a direct flight and I hope we miss any bad weather as we fly east. I also hope I sleep. A lot. Love you all and thank you!

Work in Progress

So I decided to get serious about packing. So far, the small bag on the left has only books, but that will have to change soon. As you can probably tell, the suitcase is almost full, and I still have a ton to pack. Chargers, toiletries, some clothes, among other things. I am notorious for forgetting really important things like, por ejemplo, a toothbrush, so if you have a chance, please let me know important things that I should not forget in the comments section. I'd definitely appreciate it, as I will probably forget it otherwise. 3 days!

5 days!

After clearing up some concerning confusion regarding my loans/scholarships, I can once again concentrate on the fact that I am leaving in 5 days. My itinerary arrived yesterday, along with my plane tickets (ALL of them, which means I have to be in charge of not losing yet another important item for 4 months), my passport with my beautiful Russian visa, my insurance card, some luggage tags,  an invoice, a letter from my foreign admissions officer, a note on baggage allowances, and a participant list. It felt like Christmas! The participant list includes everyone's college as well as departure city. Looks like I'm the only one flying out of SFO and the only BU student (though there are many BC kids), but it is really exciting to see that there are people from all over the country! And the itinerary is extremely exciting. Well, not the part where it says to check in 3 HOURS before my flight, but all the parts about getting to London, seeing Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace, having free time to explore the city, and especially the part where we get to St. Petersburg! We have orientation, tours, meetings, and then class. It goes over the excursions to Moscow, Finland, and Estonia (all included in the program). No lie, I am super nervous, but WAY more excited, which I think is a good sign. 5 days left in sunny California! My suitcase is almost full, but I don't think I am even close to being packed. Hopefully my posts get more exciting and contain more pictures once I get there. Thanks to Alison for being my first follower!!! Hello to everyone in Boston, I hope you are all staying warm, and thanks to everyone in California for making this break so enjoyable!

New respect for bloggers!

I used to think blogging was quick and easy. A dozen templates and and two hours later, I now know that it is a bit more intricate than I thought. Or at the very least, I  have no idea what I am doing when it comes to technology. Anyways hopefully it is all downhill from here (in terms of the blog at least). Quick shout-outs to Alison  for the blog name and Stef for putting up with millions of blog questions and for checking it each time I asked how it looked and telling me that it was good. And of course, thanks to the Gilman scholarship for making this trip (the purpose of this blog) possible! I leave for London then Russia in a few weeks and I can't wait!