Today was our first full day in London! We had to be downstairs in the Hampden House Lobby at 9:30 to all walk together to the Dilke House. When we walked outside, it was lightly raining and the wind was crazy today! Jose told me he went to have coffee on the top floor of Selfridges and it was so windy that even a fork blew off the table! It was cold today at 55 degrees fahrenheit but the wind made it much colder. We checked the weather beforehand so thank goodness we were all bundled up.
We walked to the Dilke House as a group and everyone was surprised at how long it took us to walk there. However, that was probably partly because it was raining and we were in a big group. When we got there, we went across the street to the student center and upstairs to a classroom for our orientation. We heard a "safety talk" from Sergeant Paul, who was absolutely hilarious. Even though I was struggling to keep my eyes open because somehow I was still tired, Sergeant Paul kept my attention because he was so funny. Later we split up into two groups - the people doing internships stayed in the classroom and my group, the people taking classes, went across the street to the Dilke House. I was surprised at the number of people in my Store Design class. I thought it was only going to be one other person but there must be five or six more people in it. Jose told us what to expect from our classes and what is expected of us. I'm really excited to start visiting stores. Monday will be our only lecture and after that we get to go to the stores. One of the first ones is Selfridges, which I'm so excited about because I'm doing a presentation on it at the end of the trip.
After hearing about our classes, a group of us went to the phone store to get a few more girls phones. Four other girls were there when we got there so we decided to combine groups. We had plans to go back to Oxford Circus. Haley and I desperately wanted to buy rain boots and someone said they would definitely have them at Selfridges so we decided to go there. I was ecstatic since I had already done research on the store for our first presentations. We found it pretty easily. The store was so...overwhelming. First of all, there was so much to look at. The window displays are so creative, there are lights everywhere, and the displays were so interesting. The store was so crowded, which I'm sure isn't surprising since it is the biggest department store in the world but you would've thought it was Christmas or something. It was that crowded. We both ended up finding the boots we wanted so we decided to buy them. The cashier asked us if we would like to pay in pounds or dollars. We both paid in dollars. Mine were more expensive than I was expecting and after checking the prices of the same exact boots on the American website, I realized they were $45 more in the UK. :( They were worth it though.
At this point, the weather was going crazy. It lightly rained all morning. Then it was absolutely beautiful out. It was still cold because it was windy but the sun was out!! Then, as we were walking back to Hampden House from Oxford Street, it would rain for about a minute and a half then become sunny for a few minutes. Then it would rain for a minute and a half and become sunny again. Over and over. I kept my umbrella handy.
Then we came back to the apartment and got ready to go to Alison's house. We took the tube there as a group. It was so fun and such a great experience we all had together. I talked to people I haven't met yet. Alison's flat was so cute. And the part of London that she lived in was even cuter. It looked and felt like a little town. Emily, Kelsey, Anna, and I decided we were getting tired so we headed back to the apartment while everyone else stayed behind to go out. Now it's about time for bed after another exhausting, fun-filled day!
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