London Calling

Hello from London!
 I arrived safely on Thursday; I had very smooth flights and my Aunt Jenny was right there at the airport to pick me up.  We went straight to her house where I had a shower, food, and a nap in that order.  I had forgotten how cozy and warm Jenny's house is--she lives in a small village called West Ewell, just south of London.  She more than spoiled me with constant cups of tea, good meals, and so much more.  She had to work on Friday so I had the day to be lazy and get over my jetlag.  That evening we went for a pub meal, and I had sticky toffee pudding which is one of my favorites! And Mum, you'll be happy to know that we watched a lot of the British version of House Hunters...so we were probably having a very similar Friday night to you :) Saturday we went shopping in Epsom (a nearby town) for a few things and then attempted to go to Richmond Park, but all of the carparks were totally full.  So instead I got a lovely car tour of the park (it's massive!) and then we walked along the Thames in a little place called Ham.  By the way, the weather has been beautiful.  It's chilly, but the sun has been shining every single day.  Saturday night my uncle and a couple of friends came to Jenny's for the night, as they were going hiking nearby the next day.  We had a lazy Sunday morning and then I packed up all of my things (it's amazing how spread out you can become in just a few days) and headed into Central London.  We had a bit of a change of plans in order to get there (thank you, British Rail..) but we made it.  Jenny's friend Manju came as well, which was so kind of both of them as they helped with my luggage.  After we dropped my things off at Vandon House we had tea at a nearby cafe and then they headed back home.  I got back to Vandon just in time for our initial orientation and then a pub meal with everyone in the program.  We met both of our directors, Jen and Mark, who both seem wonderful so far.  There are 34 students in the program, and everyone seems nice so far.  Most of them are very young, in fact one girl is only 18, so I feel a little bit old!  And, as I've been to England before, I've been asked question after question.  I don't mind though--it's nice to share about a place I love.  Abby, my roommate here, arrived late Sunday night, so we unpacked and organized our little room.  They had us up bright and early today (which was worse for everyone else, since they had just flown in Sunday) for orientation and all of the information they feed you at the beginning.  We did have a very entertaining talk from a Metropolitan policeman though.  Then they had lunch for us and we headed out for our afternoon walking tour.  Mark and Jen took all 34 of us on the tube, which I think was very brave, but it actually went better than I expected.  We saw most of the historic sites in Westminster, and a few others that I'd never seen.  When we came back, we had a house meeting, and then we were finally free.  Abby and I rearranged our room, went to Sainsbury's, made supper, and now I'm just relaxing.  Tomorrow I have an advising appointment and we're going bowling in the evening, and Wednesday I have my initial internship visit.  I am so excited for it!  I found out right before I left that the offices have just moved to the new Olympic Stadium area, and Jen told me that the staff at the magazine is wonderful.
Anyway.  I will have more as well as some pictures soon--I must admit I wasn't very good at taking pictures today.  Soon though!