Definitely not in Kansas anymore...

 My room the outside of our dorm building- this part is where the computer lab room is

 The street my dorm is onsome neighboring houses

the walk towards Brockley

for the life of me, cannot get this picture to load vertically...

Wow, to sum up my first impressions of my new life in London is no easy task. I was overwhelmed upon arriving with the thought of all that I had to do, anticipation over my program, and being on my own after a summer at home followed by a few weeks vacationing in Northern Ireland and Scotland with Mark. The area around campus is a very diverse area (though in some places a bit sketchy as we've been informed by local police that gave safety talks). Any type of ethnic food imaginable is within walking distance.
Among the Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants, Carribean, fish and chips places, and the blaring signs for "southern fried chicken" I realized how different this would be from my study abroad experience in Cortona.  I thought being abroad before would have better prepared me for living in a new country, but I realize now that my experiences in Cortona are in no way comparable to my experiences here. I wandered through the most idyllic Tuscan village imaginable with not a care in the world and had amazing friends from home to share it with. Here I am required to fend for myself much more, the thought of which was at first overwhelming in a place that I knew nothing about. Also, the post graduate lifestyle seems as if it will be a lot more independent than our weekly Saturday trips to equally idyllic small Tuscan towns.

I did not expect to be overwhelmed when I first arrived, but I am so incredibly thankful that Mark was here to help me out so much. Whenever I was worried or overwhelmed he would take care of it for me and helped me find my way around and carried my luggage (both my actual luggage and all my emotional baggage of moving in to a whole new place). We found diferent routes in the beautiful neighborhood (see pics above- a lot nicer than immediately around campus) I am living in, bought supplies, discovered a great restaurant/coffee bar (The Orchard- already becoming one of our favorite date spots) right near my dorm, and even had time to take in some of the sights of London to take my mind off of all I have to do here. I was so sad to see him leave this morning, but so thankful for all of his help. He even paid an arm and a leg without me knowing it so that he could stay an extra day with me and make sure I was settled. After a sad goodbye, I am beginning to try to tackle the long list of meetings and things I need to do this week in order to get settled. So much information is thrown at international students, but I do feel fortunate in the fact that English is my first language (though Mark would dispute this statement saying that I do not speak proper English)