Deplaning.

So right as the doors were shut and the captain announced we were ready to depart, the emergency slide deployed next to the boarding doors. Therefore, the entire plane had to deplane. They moved our gate to the other end of the airport and we are set to board at 8:30pm. We got a $12 dinner voucher and a coupon for $100 off our next flight with Delta. Can someone say spring break airfare?! Here's my healthy $12 dinner (a bottle of water, a fruit and yogurt parfait, and baklava)!

The Terminal

Made it to my gate successfully! Now I'm just waiting until we board. Boarding is supposed to start at 5:50pm and I'm crossing my fingers that everything is on time. As soon as the two girls I'm traveling with arrive, I think I'll go grab something to eat and drink. Until then, just waiting!

Packed!

Well I repacked my carry-on, moved a few things around the suitcase, and reweighed it. The scale is now reading 49.1 pounds ... :/ Oh well!

Reality is starting to set in.

So it's just hit me that in just over 12 hours I will be boarding my plane to London (hopefully!). I am so nervous that I haven't gone to bed yet, and as I lay in bed trying to get a quick nap in, my stomach is so queasy I think I might be sick. To top it all off, I can't help but think I've packed too much and am already reconsidering re-packing my carry on luggage. But the girl scout in me wants to be prepared for every possible scenario! Unfortunately, that weighs more than the allowed 50 pounds. Currently, my checked baggage weighs a healthy 48.7 pounds and while there is a little wiggle room for souvenirs, there isn't much. I guess photos and memories are pretty light so I'll have to keep that in mind. Well I'm off to try and catch some Z's, but I will check in when I'm at the gate! Cheers!

London 2012 Olympics

As I'm sure many of you know, this year's Olympic games will be held in London!  Even better, they will be occurring while I'm studying there this summer.  I thought it would be really cool to attend an Olympic event, but after looking into the process to buy tickets, I gave up.  Since there are only a limited number of seats available for each event, each country is allotted a certain amount of tickets.  Therefore, to buy tickets you have to "apply" for them through your country's ticketing office.  I figured it wasn't worth the hassle if I wasn't even sure which events I'd be able to attend in the first place.
 
However, one of my fellow students from the study abroad group posted a link about the Olympic Torch Relay Finale being held on July 26th at Hyde Park on the study abroad group Facebook page.  The event marks the end of the Torch's journey across the UK to its destination in London and is one of the first events to kick off the Olympic Games.  The event is sponsored by Coca-Cola and organizers are expecting around 80,000 attendants!!  So for only £15, I bought a ticket!  A visit to the Coca-Cola sponsored site provides more information about the event, including the list of performers, which boasts acts like The Wanted, as well as pictures of the Torch Relay.

When Peace is Insulting

Recently I've been trying to watch a variety of British television shows, so that I will recognize some of the programming when I'm abroad.  I began watching the British comedy-drama Shameless, which has also been remade in the US and airs on Showtime.  The show focuses on the Gallagher family, where the patriarch Frank is perpetually drunk and unemployed.  His oldest daughter Fiona then must shoulder the responsibility of raising her five younger siblings: Lip, Ian, Carl, Debbie, and Liam.

Throughout the show, I saw some of the characters give the "peace sign" gesture to another character, but could infer it was not meant in a friendly greeting sort of way.  Upon further research (ok, I looked it up on Wikipedia), I learned that in the UK and Australia giving the V sign with the palm facing towards you is an insult, almost equivalent to that of giving someone the finger.  The gesture is also known as ""The Longbowman Salute," "the two," or "The Tongs."  To read more about the origins of the gesture as an insult, visit Wikipedia: V sign.  So moral of the story is I must be careful in the non-verbal greetings I give to the locals while in London!

Enrolled!

I enrolled today in the summer course that I will be taking while studying abroad. The course, HM491, is through Michigan State University College of Human Medicine (CHM). It is the only CHM course offered for undergraduate students, kind of exciting if you think of it. The name of the course is Special Topics in Bioethics and Medical Humanities, with a focus on the comparative Health Policy and Medical Ethics in the United Kingdom and the United States. Our program leader, Dr. Fleck, has arranged a pre-trip meeting to discuss logistics as well as distribute the course syllabus and give an introduction to the material.