London!!!

Oddly enough, I find myself sitting in a shopping mall right now... the last place I'd expect to be on my first day in London. I arrived at about 7:3o a.m. and miraculously found my way from the airport to the area of town where my hostel is located via the underground (thank god for friendly subway employees who guided me on my way!). It's raining steadily outside, as it should be, this being London and all... (thank god, also, for wonderful brothers who give their little sisters things like rain jackets and waterproof backpack covers - Bless you, Si!!). After about an hour on the subway, which was SO much cleaner, better smelling, more punctual, and less full of crazy people than any of the NYC ones, I arrived in Bayswater and found the street that my hostel is on. Because it was still so early I decided to find a semi-dry spot in Kennsington Gardens, which is right down the street from the Hostel, to collect my thoughts and eat the rest of the grapes I had bought at JFK before my flight (this totally reminds me of the first "meal" Kate and I ate in Spain all those years ago). I nearly got hit by a double decker bus because being in my exhausted and semi awe-struck state, I forgot completely that they drive on the opposite side of the street here (duh...). I pulled up a seat under a tree and ate my grapes and watched people playing with their dogs. I wanted to take a nap but figured it wouldn't be good to get in trouble for being asleep under a tree in the park in the first hours of my visit here. Instead, I headed for the hostel, where they let me drop off my backpack early, and headed out again to wander around and see what there is to see in my neighborhood. I sat in a cafe and drank a four dollar cup of coffee (!!!!) and wrote in my journal for a while and now, here I am in this totally American-esque shopping mall writing this so that everyone out there will know I'm alive and I'm ok. So far (that is, about 7 hours into my first day of a three month trip), I'm totally happy to be on my own in a foreign place. I'm excited to see what this journey brings me.