(Tuesday 6/26)
The 26th brought the main part of this journey - the true beginning of my study abroad trip. We were told the taxi from the hotel would be 45 minutes to an hour.. but it ended up being only like 25 minutes which was very nice since we left later than we intended (I am not good with being on time and I got it from my mama lol so good luck getting us to leave somewhere on time when we’re together).
We swung by to pick up Stephanie and Nandi from their airbnb, but I don’t know what this taxi driver was thinking because he seriously thought we would fit the 3 of us, my mom, and all of our luggage. Needless to say, that was a far stretch, so he went back a second time to get them which was really nice of him and something that would most likely not happen in the US without a fee.
The University of Surrey campus was quite confusing on the way in and I had my map out and still had no idea how to get where we needed to be. We ended up at the cathedral somehow, but luckily there were people walking around outside who gave us directions to the Millenium House. Also very thankful that Dr. Kate happened to walk up as I was standing outside the Millenium House because I would have had no clue where to go and wasn’t able to pick up wifi from that particular spot.
That trek up the hill to University Court and our room felt so much worse dragging my suitcase behind me (which actually ended up not being overweight for the plane - go me). Dr. Kate gave us the grand tour and we headed off to our rooms to unpack and lay down for a minute, before we regrouped later for information and our tour. Before we regrouped, we walked around the campus on our own as a group, and everyone was very interested in the birds, which are very different from the birds back home. There was this black and white bird with a bright orange beak and other birds that weren't that weird looking but were just much bigger than the birds we typically see. We also found scary bush, which I could definitely get swallowed by or lost in or something - I would not be surprised if that thing came alive at night it reminded me of Little Shop of Horrors.
Also shoutout to the tour guide he did a good job but he definitely thought we were in high school and not college because we got that extensive tour. At least now I know how to open a bank account in England in case I need to do that during our extended stay here. Also know how to get a part time job around campus, which could be useful since I could always use a little extra money, but probably not going to be stopping by there on this trip..
Then we walked into town to get our railcards and eat at Wagamama’s - very tasty food 10/10 recommend. I had some curry I could not pronounce, but it was very yummy. By this point everyone was quite sleepy, especially those who had just gotten in that morning, so off to bed we went, to prepare ourselves for the full day ahead of us.
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