This morning, my family jetted off to Rome. I spent last night with them eating at Hard Rock Cafe and getting lost in the city...pretty fitting for the last Csaszar-family outing for 9 weeks! I said good-bye to them on a tube platform, gave them hugs, and got on the train. As the train pulled away, I didn't look up to see if they were looking at me, and tears started to form. In the blink of an eye, the platform was gone, along with my family, and I was literally alone in London.
The tears that welled up in my eyes never actually fell down my cheek. After a couple of minutes of hard blinking and avoiding eye contact with the London residents I was sitting next to, my eyes were suddenly dry. I felt exhausted...but relaxed. In a way, I think having my family there was kind of holding me back. Don't get me wrong, I loved every minute of having them here. But the balance of family, new friends, and new city was very difficult, and it was hard to wrap my head around moving to Europe by myself, but also seeing my family every day for the first weekend I was there.
I know they couldn't come any other time though, so I'm happy they could at least visit, and I don't regret any time I spent with them. My flat-mates and I are getting along really well. Myself and the two other girls kind of have free reign of the apartment, because the two guys that are staying here too have a separate bathroom and bedroom with their own desks. The girls room is pretty crammed, so we do our hair out in the family room (because our room and bathroom doesn't have outlets) , our homework (the one assignment we've had so far at least!) in the family room, and cook our meals in the kitchen.
Speaking of food, we made our first (and second) trips to the local grocery school called Budgens that's a few blocks away from our apartment. It's pretty small, but I managed to find the bare essentials. So far I haven't cooked a REAL meal for myself, but peanut butter, salad, and fruit salad has been good enough for now. One of the girls I live with used a frying pan to make zucchini today, and I was amazed. I obviously have things to learn.
Today, we went on a bus tour of pretty much all of central London, and it kind of helped us to get our bearings. It was really enjoyable, and the tour guide was adorable, always calling us "love" or "deary". After that, we hooked up our international phones, so we can now reach each other and don't constantly have to travel in a huge group for fear of someone getting lost. After that, we had an orientation at the Florida State Centre where we will be using the library, student lounge, and classrooms for our in-class lessons. It was another exhausting day of walking, (probably about 5 miles all together!), but we're about to head up to Budgens to reward ourselves with a chocolate bar. Hey, I may have started a new life in London, but I'm still a choc-aholic :)
Here are some pictures from out of the bus window:
Tower Bridge
Cool art made out of umbrellas!
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