The first REAL day

Wow. Today was such a whirlwind of excitement! We started the day off with orientation and all of us got dressed in our London apparel - sporting sweaters, blazers, statement necklaces and boots. Strange for me being used to slipping into running shoes and leggings everyday but simultaneously exciting. The culture is so very different here from everything to the way people walk in the streets to what they wear. Boy oh boy do British men know how to dress. Wow. And I've yet to see a pair of basketball shorts on a guy here (all us California girls are weak in the knees seeing men with style who aren't sporting t-shirts and shorts.) First of all, the classrooms in the Pepperdine house are a dream. Floor to ceiling, 12 foot curtains with balconies extending from the french doors complete with crown molding. Expansive white boards and deep-buttoned leather chairs fill the room and give a since of traditional, English education. We walked around the South Kensington area, familiarizing ourselves with our new neighborhood and strolled into quaint little shops and bakeries. We settled for lunch at a delicious cafe and oh how my body has missed fresh vegetables for the last 24 hours that we've been stuck in planes and airports! An interesting difference between the U.S. and the U.K. - instead of asking to see your ID when you swipe a credit card, they compare your signature on the receipt to the signature on the back of your card. We continued walking, and I couldn't help myself but to peep my head into one of the grocery stores to check out the produce and fresh foods! Everything here is far more expensive than in the U.S... Chelsea and I stumbled our way into Harrod's - oh what a mistake that was. The price tags read numbers bigger than my SAT score. Harrod's truly is a wonderland though... a money devouring wonderland but a wonderland nonetheless! As we got back to our lovely abode we bought our books for the next month... that ate up 50 pounds from our wallets. Also they're going to eat up hours of my time tonight considering we need to read 200 pages by tomorrow (I should probably finish that up soon. Oops.) BUT, I started reading the plays and they're just so interesting - my appreciation for the arts is definitely being brought out again after not dancing for a couple years now. I'm certain 200 pages will fly pretty quickly considering they're enjoyable - more enjoyable than the chemistry textbooks I'm used to at least. We ventured to dinner and passed the home of Prince William and the ever so perfect Duchess of Cambridge. Dinner was great and we strolled in the Kensington park afterwards. Chloe, Alenni and I wandered into a small bakery for lattés afterwards. We found ourselves walking in the streets of London with hot coffees in our hands, warming us from the brisk breeze - such a dream! Something out of a movie I SWEAR. Who are we?! 18 year olds walking the streets of London with lattés?! Oh these next 2 months are going to be blissful.
Also... I'm beginning to realize that my posts are becoming longer and longer. For those of you who read all of this- wow, props to you! Also, to those of you who read all of this- my most sincere apologies for rambling like the London-obsessed teenager I am. On that note, I'm going to sit in the confines of my warm bed and begin diving into the literature that I will be learning about for the next month!