Welcome to Bath!

Welcome to Bath!

I've arrived! 

Friday I said goodbye to home and hello to a sore butt, stiff neck, and eyes that can hardly stay open due to fatigue. One quick flight to Charlotte then a 8 hour flight over the Pond and I had arrived in London! Amazingly, the whole airport/airplane thing went well. There were no delays - despite tropical storms, no mechanical failures, and most amazing of all, the flights landed early each time! 

Only one thing I could complain about. And that was that my seat on the transatlantic flight was broken and wouldn't go back to the semi-laying down by a 5 degree angle that airplanes are so nice in giving their weary travelers. 

Landed. Got through customs fine. Then I went to wait for three other people from my program. My roommate for the next month and a half was flying in with a few of her classmates and we decided we would all meet together. Our flights were due in around the same time and the train system seemed kinda complex to us. If anything, we could be stupid Americans together! 

We got a train from Paddington Station which took us straight to Bath. There was a little confusion because the ticket kiosks would only take half of our credit cards, but we just went ahead to the info desk and they helped us out. 

My roommate, I, and another of our housemates were the last out of the house to arrive. We got some time to talk and bond before the others came in for our 4 PM house orientation. We are living in a beautiful, old family-style row house in the Widcombe section of Bath. It's four stories high and very narrow, but very nice and comfy. 

The girls are all great. There are 8 of us living in the house. Most of us share rooms but a few girls have their own. There are many diverse personalities, but everyone seems to be open to just having a fun time so hopefully people won't rub against each other the wrong way too much. 

After our house orientation, we got a little bit of time to explore Bath. I didn't bring my camera because we are scheduled to have a city orientation tomorrow where I'm planning to take a billion pictures and be a very obnoxious tourist. 

I'm loving Bath already. It's a quirky little city. A little like Richmond in size. The buildings are pretty, but rather plain without the decor and upkeep that is seen in Paris. Every Saturday, one will see the members of Bachelorette Parties (Hen Parties) going around dressed up all crazy - the bride in a mini veil and often her female friends in hot pink satin sashes, bows, or garments. We saw a few groups like this just in the few hours since we've arrived. On our way to dinner, we also ran into a Stag Party (Bachelor's Party). Like their female counterparts, they too dress up. However, the groom in this case was wearing a wedding dress. I apologize for not having pictures of that beauty.