Day One!

And so the story begins...
I would start with once upon a time, but this story of mine begins differently. Initially it began with a decision, followed by weeks of paperwork, meetings, and preparation. But the real beginning was Monday...
I zipped up my suitcases...with some difficulty..., checked my paperwork for the millionth time, and said farewell to the world I was familiar with. I said goodbye to my mom and got in the passenger seat of my dad's red truck. The world was coated in white silence as my dad pulled out of the driveway and away from the big blue house I called home. We drove from Rochester, NY down to Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC. It was a long drive, but I filled the time with conversation, music, and books. Pulling up to the airport I could feel my nerves start to churn in my stomach. The airport was so much bigger than I had anticipated, but I couldn't pay attention to for much longer. Dad and I emptied the truck of my luggage and I made my way to the British Airlines check-in counter as dad went to park the truck. Dad caught up with me after a few minutes and we checked my bags and said our goodbyes. Then I went down an escalator and made my way to security. By this point my nerves had peaked because the one thing I hate about airports is security. They always make me nervous...I still don't know why...but anyways after a short wait I got through security with out any mishaps...which for me meant that the worst was over. I met up with Tyler and Michelle and together we made our way to our gate...B44. We found our gate...thankfully we didn't have to travel between terminals...just went up and down some escalators. After checking in with our chaperon we sat down and began our wait. It was probably about 7:30 and our flight wasn't until just after ten. Sometime between 8 and 9 Deanne showed up...so we all just sat, relaxed, made our last phone calls, and waited for our flight to board. Close to ten o'clock they told us that our flight had been delayed...which we had been suspecting but hadn't been completely positive about. It wasn't a long delay. Just a few extra minutes. Finally they started boarding, so I gathered my stuff and got in line when they called my row. I took my last few step in the US going down the covered ramp thing and into the plane. Of course when I was told where my seat was by the man standing at the door, I didn't understand that there were two rows and that I had to go to the far row. So I was stuck in one row and had to somehow get to the other while trying to not be a pest and climb over a bunch of people already seated. But I managed and found my seat. After a few minutes everyone was seated and there was the customary show of safety instructions, and shortly thereafter we took off. I was so incredibly tired that i fell asleep instantly. The smell of food however brought me back to earth...so I woke up to have some dinner...pasta actually...and then promptly fell asleep again. I didn't wake up until after they had served breakfast and were cleaning up in preparation to land. Unfortunately I was still really tired because getting decent sleep on a plane is practically impossible and I had not slept all that well. But it was enough to get me though the next few hours. After getting off the plane, I made it through customs, and went down to get my two giant suitcases from the conveyor belt thing. Then we left the airport and loaded onto a bus that would take us to Cheltenham. We drove through lovely English countryside with lovely rolling green hills. It was very pretty. Then suddenly there was a change...starting with some snow covered sheep that were dotted along the green hills. Within the span of just a few minutes there was a blanket of snow on the ground. And it wasn't much longer that the bus came to a stop. Clearly the British don't deal with snow all that well, because there were only a few inches on the ground but people were getting out of their cars and walking...our bus was sliding everywhere...and I'm pretty sure we never went above ten miles an hour. Needless to say our two hour bus ride turned into a five hour bus ride. I did manage to sleep a little but I was getting rather ansy to get off the bus. After what seemed like forever, we finally got to Regency Hall, which is where most of the BCA students were being housed. We got our luggage and were showed to our rooms. My room...or flat as they call it here...is on the second floor. It's small but nice, complete with a bed, desk, dresser, closet, and a bathroom. But I didn't have much time to relax yet because we were all supposed to meet in the kitchen to eat dinner...pizza. After we ate, we got our itineraries for the next few days and were then released to do as we pleased, which for me meant going back to my room and relaxing/unpacking. I ignored my suitcases for a while and got on the internet to email home to let them know that I had make it safely and to go on facebook. But I couldn't ignore my stuff for long...I hate leaving things unorganized...so I unpacked and organized my room. By that time it was nealy midnight and I was completely wiped out. So I made my bed, put on my flannel pajamas...it was still rather cold in my room because the heat hadn't been turned on until I got to my room...and promptly fell asleep, thus ending my first day in England.