Free Bird

It was a good start. Everything was on time. I arrived at the airport early, and passing through New York’s outer boroughs with little traffic during rush hour is rare. But after tossing my bag onto the conveyer belt, exchanging hugs goodbye, and heading to the plane, I was finally on my way out of the United States.

The plane sailed off into the stars and, one sleepless night later, I found myself in the customs line at Heathrow airport. I had arrived. Along the way I met the guy in the seat next to me, who was a NYU student originally from Minnesota traveling to London to study computer science. On the shuttle bus to the dormitory I met other students. In the 90 minutes of painfully slow traffic between Heathrow and Bloomsbury, I learned that many NYU students come from all over the country, unlike Manhattan College. My roommate, however, is a New York City native who seems like a nice guy with a relaxed personality. As soon as I saw the bed, I wanted to sleep. Determined to fight jetlag, I left the room and took a walking tour of the neighborhood, bought a cell phone, and got groceries.

So far, this study abroad adventure seems to have a lot of potential, but I haven’t really been here long enough to enjoy any of what London has to offer. After dinner I’m going to rest up for a day of orientation activities tomorrow.