I made it.
After eleven years (give or take) of planning, hoping, dreaming, and waiting, I finally made it to the UK.
And what were my first responses you ask? Well, that depends on what you actually consider to be my first moment in England.
1. Flying over it: Wow! I see land! Oh, wait that’s a cloud. No, it’s land! Oh, that’s Ireland. I think. Or a cloud. Or a very ugly fish.
2. The Heathrow Airport: Follow the yellow signs…follow the yellow signs…Aha! The last yellow sign! I’ll be able to get to my baggage and start my adventure! Wait, no…first I have to talk to the UK Border Agency.
“Here’s my passport!”
“Why are you coming to the UK?”
“To fulfill my dreams!”
“What?”
“To intern abroad.”
“What?”
“It’s like studying abroad, but I’m working.”
The conversation got pretty boring from there. There were a lot of stern looks from the Border Agency lady and lots of over-excited responses from me.
3. The Heathrow Airport (after following the yellow signs): How do I get out of here???
4. Getting out of there (the tube): Must hold stuff, must hold stuff. Are you looking at my stuff? This is my stuff. I know it’s a lot of stuff, but you can’t have it. It’s mine.
5. The Nido student housing building: Now, this is where things start getting fuzzy. I got to the building around noon London time. I hadn’t slept on the plane, and was just hitting 24 hours without sleep. I do remember filling out some forms and sitting around for a few hours in the building lobby before finally making it up to my room.
And those were my first impressions of England. A little anticlimactic, I know. But there’s plenty of time for more climactic events.
