Day one in Winchester

Yes, I'm finally here in Winchester. I got here safely and with no problems, so thanks for all the prayers.

The fun thing about this trip was that we took off in the evening (around 5:45 pm out of Chicago) to head toward London, which is six hours later than the US. That means that when we finally landed in London, our bodies said it's 2 am and about time you got to sleep, when it was really after 7 am here-- the start of another whole day. We still hadn't had a chance to sleep from the previous one (unless you call a couple restless hours on the plane a night).

Well, fun jetlag stories aside, this trip is going splendidly. We took a bus from London Heathrow airport to pull into Winchester around noon, which seriously felt like wandering into a Beautrix Potter illustration or a Jane Austen novel. All the streets are narrow and the buildings are brick with black or white trim. It is just so completely charming and British. I'll be sure to post pictures soon.

Our rooms are single person rooms in co-ed dormitories. Mine is good sized (probably the size of my sister's room back home), with a small closet, a sink, a desk, a dresser, a book shelf and (best part) a huge bulletin board that covers almost an entire wall. Can't wait to start filling that up. I'll post some pictures of this later too. Right now though we can't access the internet from our rooms (not til we get passwords and accounts set up tomorrow) and I didn't feeling like bringing my camera stuff down to the lab. So maybe tomorrow. There are about 7 other people from my group living in the same dorm, so there'll be some familiar faces around. There are also about 50 US students total on the campus this semester, and I keep bumping into students from Missouri and New Hampshire. It's funny, cause once you're out of the US, you pretty much feel like anyone from the US is practically from the same city.

Well, first thing on the schedule is a NAP, then hopefully a shower, then maybe some supper (haven't eaten since the airplane breakfast this morning.) But, just now I'm alive and well and will send you some pictures as soon as I get organized. =)