Planes, trains and walking

So I have finally made it to England!! ( or the land of fish and chips if you're Diana:))  My long trip started out yesterday evening, I left Dulles at 6pm.  Not a drop of ice was in sight as mom, dad, Cait, and Kim dropped me off.  I had been worrying al weekend that we were going to get another ice/snow storm right before I felt and I was going to be stuck.  Luckily though, the ice that had come the night before had melted and more wasn't due in the area until midnight.

Dulles prior to takeoff

Goodbye Virginia! See you in 4 months:)

Nothing too exciting happened on my trip over.  I was excited because the airline had amongst their movies the 5th Harry Potter as well as Monsters Inc. and Lilo and Stitch.  Needless to say I was able to watch all three on my way over.  I tried to sleep on flight but was only successful in getting about 3 hours max in.  Even though I had a 3 hour layover I didn't want to try to sleep out of fear that I would would miss my second flight.  They only announced the gate I was flying out of 30 minutes before the doors to get on would be closing and they don't tell you when they announce it.  I had to make sure I was watching the screen for when my gate showed up.  Luckily it was very close to where I was and I didn't have to go to separate terminal.
Once I landed in Manchester I had to get my bags which wasn't bad, but carrying 2 large suitcases from one end of the airport to the other while having an incredibly heavy backpack on was not a lot of fun.  I was successfully able to buy both the 16-25 yr old railcard as well as my train ticket into Sheffield.  Since genius me forgot the passport size photos I had printed out earlier this month, I had to cut up the one pictures I had the was supposed to be for my room.  The guy at the ticket counter noticed that the shirt that I had on in the picture was an American football jersey and he commented on it.  I told him yes, it was from the school I go to.  Then he started talking about how American football was big at the Universities in the states and that his favorite team was Michigan, he was there wasn't a real reason why but he liked them.  I told him that my aunt had graduated from their rival Michigan State and he asked me where I studied and I told him Virginia Tech.  What he said next struck me, he asked wasn't that where the tragedy had happened a couple years ago and I told him yes.  I was slightly surprised that they had heard about it all the way over here.  I know that when it happened it was news all around the country, I just never realized that it had made it to other parts of the world as well.  He was very nice and told me exactly where I needed to go to catch my train and when it would be leaving.  Even then, I wasn't completely positive that I had gotten on the right train since the only notification about it was outside on the board.  Instead of saying the train stops at certain locations, the train announces where it will be calling at, I guess it makes sense.
Getting off the train in Sheffield was interesting because I had put one suitcase up in the luggage area while I kept one with me.  However, I was sitting on the opposite end of the cart and had to drag my large suitcase through the other people who were getting off and wanting to use the door close to where I was sitting but not where my suitcase was.  I finally made it off the train and realized that one of the other students from Tech had been on the same train.  The two of us walked through the station together.  Since my hotel was close to the station I decided to walk there instead of taking a taxi whereas his was closer to the school and grabbed a taxi.  So another thing I've noticed about England, or at least Sheffield, the street names aren't very noticeable.  Unfortunately for me the directs of have from the train to the hotel are given in the street names.  Not only that but I realize I'm going to have to pull them up this large hill.  This hill normally would not have been a problem but I was toting along 2-50lbs suitcase plus my backpack and purse.  Again I was very fortunate and someone noticed that I was struggling and offered to help me.  I graciously accepted his offer but when I told him where I was headed he didn't know where it was:(  Using my excellent sense of direction (which I really don't have so it was sheer luck) I was headed in the right direction and was quickly able to find my hotel.
At the hotel I was once again lucky and was allowed to check in an hour and a half early.  After a quick nap since I was exhausted I've been exploring things to do in Sheffield via the internet and a magazine that was in my room.  I would go out and explore but I'm content to sitting in my bed and not having to worry about getting lost by myself on my first night here.  Besides I have a whole semester to explore!