What a journey THAT was!

Well... I'm in Wales. Finally! The trip was good. The wait in Halifax was bearable (I saw Laura Holland from high school and we were on the same plane to London... It was weird) and the plane rides were good. When we got into Heathrow, we had to wait in this HUGE line up for immigration (it seemed like there were a million Asian, African and East Indian people in front of us and they were going as slow as cold molasses). Finally... After an hour or so we made it through and Kat and I went to get our luggage... We had to walk to the far end of the luggage pick-up area to get carts (whoever thought that was a good idea must have been on crack). Then we had to find the Central Bus Station to catch a bus to get to Swansea. We got there around 10am and we thought, perfect that gives us 30 minutes to get our tickets, hop on the bus and be on our way... But I'm pretty sure that's what 200 other people were thinking because all the buses were sold out. The earliest one we could get on was 6:45pm... SOO we waited in the bus station... With pigeons flying around our heads (and leaving a nice present on Kat's suitcase). We then realized that we wouldn't be able to get into our accommodations because we'd be arriving in Swansea at 11pm so we had to try to get hold of the accommodations office. But, because we're GENIUSES we couldn't figure out the phone number (they're messed up over here let me tell you). So Kat called her mom and she did all the leg work for us. When Kat called her later to get an update we found out that No One answers the phone in the accommodations office, so we'd have to find a place to stay in Swansea on Sunday night. Kat did find one. Heathrow airport has everything you'd ever need. They have a service where a person helps you to get a place to stay. Anyway... That got sorted out. Meanwhile, we're both trying to NOT fall asleep because we don't want to screw our bodies up even more than they were as a result of the horrible sleep on the plane (3 hours tops). The funnest (and only good part) about sitting at the bus station for 8 hours was the people watching. There are some crazies in London. :)

Anyway so eventually we got on the bus. The Driver lifted my two 50lb bags into the storage compartment and told me I should have removed the heavy stickers from it... Because you're only allowed 24kg bags (and I'd like to inform you all that those are pretty much the SAME... But he didn't believe me). I then FINALLY submitted to sleep... And got about 1.5 hours. The signal light sound was so loud I think it woke me up. (It didn't help that the bus driver switched lanes like a madman). I wish we could have rode the bus during the day because the country side would have been nice, but it was dark so I guess I'll have to wait until Christmas to see it.

We finally got into Swansea and got our heavy suitcases and found a cab. Got to our "Guest House" which was in the opposite direction of where we thought it was. Had to climb 3 flights of stairs to get to our room... With our heavy suitcases because of course I couldn't pack my toothbrush in the same bag as my pajamas. Then we passed out.

We had to meet the exchange advisor guy Rhys at 8:45 on Monday (supposed to be at 10, but he had a meeting so he rescheduled us instead of them) so we woke up at 6:15, had our continental breakfast and caught another cab to the University... And the cab driver had no idea where we were supposed to go so we kind of drove around looking for it. Finally he asked someone for us and she pointed us in the right direction. We got our room keys... Threw our stuff in our rooms (barely get a chance to check them out and meet a couple people) and we're off to meet with Rhys and all the other exchange students. 20 minutes later, we're out of there and free as birds. We have a week to figure out our schedules and pretty much do WHATEVER we want.

Kat and I want pillows and blankets so we went for a 45 minute walk or so. To Tesco... This big grocery/liquor store/anything you need to get it's there. EXCEPT FOR PILLOWS AND DUVETS!!!!! So we wandered around and found this other store where they sell them. I have a double size duvet for a very small single bed and 2 uncomfortable pillows.. But hey... I have SOMETHING to sleep in now.

I have to say farewell for now... Plus my carpal tunnel is kicking in. just joking

I will keep updating though. I hope I can use the internet in my room soon. :)