BES Week 1

     Should I be scared? That was the first question that came to mind as I stepped of the plane into Heathrow, and into this new adventure...because to be honest I wasn't as scared as I thought I should be. I had made friends easy enough on the ride over here that I didn't think I would have a problem with people--well other Americans at least....
     The first week was awesome! Mark is MUCH bigger than I thought. I was expecting to dwarf the program director, but was taken by surprise when I found that I was the one craning his neck to the Scottish native. Jen is about what I pictured (sorry Jen). Mark gave us some valuable tips about life in London that first day. Most of which we had already broken multiple times, stupid Americans we are. I guess I'm not sure what I was expecting from orientation week but it was rather pleasant. I quickly made friends with the guys, and was slowly starting to work on the girls. Megan Weidner was first. On our walk I found out that we are both WAY into theatre, me the actor and electrics technician and her the director and management junkie. We fit like glove in hand. The others came along easily enough.
     I quickly learned that you need to be able to navigate the city by sight and make a map in your head as you go. I was late to my advising appointment the first week, not for late departure as some may think, but because I had not paid enough attention the first time we were shown Store Street. I must have walked past the building 5 or 6 times before I realized that I was at the right place. I won't make that mistake again.
     The only thing I didn't like about the activities planned for us that first week was the scavenger hunt. I am a competitive person, and my team was not in it at all. There are few things that make me more frustrated that when I hear people aren't having a good time, yet they refuse to buy into the assimilation set up for us. I think I did become more comfortable with the Tube after the hunt however, so at least one good thing came of it.
     On Sunday, Megan, Anna, and I visited the "Actor's Church". It was Megan's idea. I was starting to like the way she thought. That day turned out to be one of my fondest memories of the week. We walked around Covent Garden all day just looking at shops and getting to know eachother. We visited a shop dedicated to a very curious creature named "Moomin" which I'm assuming was for children. The shop was up some rickety, old stairs atop a pub. And when one exited, they got to meet Moomin, who seemed to be a big, white, fluffy hippo. Very curious indeed.
     Eventually we found ourselves in Leicester Square and on a whim, we decided to see a movie. We went to Argo at one of the 4 or 5 theaters around the square, and I received a culture shock. You could buy alcohol and take it into the movie. I ordered some popcorn and a drink, and even the popcorn was different! The regular popcorn was just lightly salted with no butter, and the sweet popcorn was similar to kettle corn! Both were very tasty and I think I may actually prefer British popcorn to American. This delight was also supplemented by a fantastic movie in Argo. After Argo, we strolled into the M&M shop. When those doors opened, one was hit with a figurative wall of chocolate! The smell coaxed us inside, where we found a child's heaven of mountains upon mountains of candy. There were also figures and mascots one could take pictures with.
     Once we left the candy store, we did something that I would have never done on my own or in the states even. Maybe it was the atmosphere, or maybe it was still the chocolate high. Whatever it was, it compelled us to listen to a man who stopped and informed us about a comedy show that was happening that very night in a hotel near the square. If we showed up with one of the fliers, then we got half off admission and drinks. We turned to eachother and agreed "Why not?" We then informed other members of our program, who met us at the hotel, and we concluded our evening with a great stand-up comedy show (in which we were the butt of most of the jokes of course).
     Made new discoveries in culture, friends, and memories. Week one was fantastic.