first three days in London!

Ok, so I don't have a WHOLE lot of energy, but I am going to try and remember everything that has happened so far!

SO:

Friday afternoon I was still in Calgary. Chilling with my mom, having lunch and slowly packing up everything. Then Dad walks in the door and is all...so...you all packed, because we're leaving in 4 minutes?! After this I start panicking, but get everything together, say my goodbyes, promise mom to let her know when I arrive in London so she doesn't think I'm dead, and head off to the airport with Joelle and Dad. I KNOW I have traveled a TON, but I have never gone anywhere international by myself before, so I was quite nervous to try it out on my own. Dad gets me to mt gate, gets me in the nice maple leaf lounge, and then...BAM, Kesinee is on her own. I make it to the gate alright, get through and onto the plane, and what luck is in store for me? WELL, the guy who was supposed to be sitting next to me didn't show up, which was nice because I could sprawl and fidget as much as I wanted, and even sleep all curled up but lying down at least. The downside to this is, knowing my luck, if the man HAD shown up, he would have been the British love of my life, I would have been married by the time I came back, and could be eligible for dual citizenship and not have to worry about how I am going to eventually live here. BUT, I have to admit, being able to lie down was pretty nice too. So I get off the plane, follow everyone else like a sheep, and find myself in the line for British customs. Now, there were two lines...one for British and EU citizens, and one for eeeeeeeveryone else. THAT took a good 45 minutes of my time, just waiting. But I finally got through. And NOW, my friends, was the part I was most nervous for: the trek from the Heathrow, to my residence.

I followed the signage and got myself to the underground and bus terminal, but didn't see where to pick up an Oyster card (a card for bus and underground for a week...very handy little thing), so I took an elevator up to the bus terminal and asked a help desk where to get them. I got looked at like I was completely soft in the head, and she was like..."um...downstairs?...you know...like, where the UN.DER.GROUND is?" So I smiled and said thank you as politely as I could, and headed back downstairs in search of said Oyster card. I found the little place to buy it, bought it, got instructions to get to my residence, called Chester House, and was on my way. Finding the underground was easy, as Heathrow is the farthest west the tube goes, so I got on, and had a veeeeeeeeeeeery long tube ride to a stop called Bounds Green. A very hot Spanish boy who looked like Johnny Depp made that ride seem alright though! Also, the last stop on that line was called Cockfosters, and it was announced a few times with this British accent, and it made me really happy to be there! NOW, I had to find a bus to get one...WITH a 50 pound bag, so I dragged my large suitcase up the escalators, and thankfully the close bus stops were given signs at the station as well. I went to the bus stop, and got on and TRIED to remember which stop to get off. Well, I ended up getting off a stop early. I didn't have a CLUE where I had to go, so I asked this super old woman where my house was, and she told me I was just five minutes away! So I lugged my bags up this hill, turned a corner and BAM, I had made it to my residence all safe and sound...if a little hot.

I came in the door, got a key and a tour, and such and found out there was only me and another girl from our program there yet, but we never saw each other that day. It took all I had from not sleeping immediately from the jet lag, so most of the rest of the time was spent either practicing my songs for class, or counting down the hours and minutes until I could finally just go to BED. I tried and tried to get on a computer to let mom know that no, I had not died, I was fine, but I hadn't set up internet in my room yet, and all the rez computers were being used, so I was able to do that after supper, then I showered, read a chapter of my book, and went to bed.
Day ONE DONE.

Day two:

I had gone to bed at 10pm London time, so I woke up at 7am all ready to go, which is nice because it gave me an hour to get ready before breakfast. Most of the morning and afternoon I was alone in the rez, just getting to know a few people not in my program. I practiced my songs a bunch though. Then, at 5:30pm we had a meeting with all of the Mountview people staying at Chester. It was SO good to meet them all. All of them are SO nice, and it was really good to see the people I had met on facebook in person! The remainder of the night was spent getting to know each other, having dinner together, going out to a pub (just one drink, we ALL had to get up early), and practicing together. I am known fondly here as Canada by all the people in my program. I also sang the Canadian anthem for them all, and was able to answer a lot of questions about how living in Canada is! Yes, we do have bears, and snowdrifts taller than me, no it's not always cold, in fact it can get BLOODY hot! I then went to bed at 10:30.
DAY TWO DONE

Day Three: TODAY

Woke up at 6:30, for breakfast at 7;30. All of us Mountviewers at Chester house had breakfast together. Then we had to head off to Mountview at 8:45 to get there at 9:30. We had to take the bus, and tube (just one stop) and walk a bit, but we made it. I paid the remainder of my fees, got a little package with info about my course, and then we all waited in the cantina for further instructions. The musical theatre group was finally called in at about 10:15 am, and we had circle time with more info about facilities and such. There are 32 people in the group all together, but will be split up tomorrow into two balanced groups, so it's more manageable. After the meeting, we all headed to the dance studio. We began with a big "warm-up." I call it "warm-up" because what it should ACTUALLY have been called was "slow-and-painful-death." It was really excruciating, and I forsee many a sore muscle in my future, but I pushed through it, and afterward I felt really good, if a tad shaky. Then we did some across the floor stuff, like kicks (mine were pretty much 180 degrees because of how warm my muscles had become from the slow-and-painful-death, so that was good, hhaha), and turns, and things like that. Not too bad. Then we did some fun choreography from A Chorus Line, and we presented it in groups of four. Did I mention that all of the teachers who will be working with us over the next two weeks were watching everything? Well they were, which was good because it pushed me to work really hard today! They were watching to see what experience we had in everything so they could base their end of course showcase on it, and so that they would be able to put certain people in the two groups so there is a range of talent in both of them! There is no good and bad group, which let the pressure off a little bit.
We then had a little potty break, and was back to do 45 minutes of acting...which was basically a walking exercise, and playing the "party game" which is a pretty standard theatre game. Then it was lunch time, and I had roast chicken and salad...which was HUGE, but much needed after dancing for so long.
After the break it was singing time. We all sat at one end of the studio, and one at a time in alphabetical order, we sang our chosen songs...or at least no more that 2 minutes of it. I was SO nervous, but I think it went well. I had to begin halfway through, which I had never done before, so I accidentally sang the first line of the first half, as opposed to the second, but corrected myself, and the rest went pretty solidly I think. yeah, then we thanked the instructors and were on our merry way. We got a bit lost on the way to the underground, but we made it there, and to the bus again (on which I was nearly hurled down the stairs of the double decker when it stopped...but I'm all good, never fear), and made it back to Chester. I promptly went to my room, got my towel, had a nice long shower, came back to my room, and started writing this! So yes. I THINK that is about everything that's happened in very broad strokes. If you want to know specifics, you'll have to ask me, because my brain has died, and I am about done writing now! Plus, it's time for dinner!

So I love you all, am VERY excited about the rest of this program, and I will try and remember to blog again. Until then, adieu! <3 Mucho Love!