Sitting in London

Yesterdays flight to London was probably the best flight I have ever been on.

We left the guesthouse at 5am and drove to the Entebbe airport. I remembered our first ride in Uganda when we got here in January and I realized how now, everything looks familiar. Life in Uganda is normal for me, life in the States seems so foreign and far away. At the airport, we waited outside until the ticket counter opened. I didn't realize that a few people had already asked the security guard if we could enter, so I asked, and the guy seemed really annoyed. i overheard him commenting on how impatient we were. hmmm.. I thought Africa would have cured me of impatience by now, but I guess not. When we got to the gate, we ran into other students from Messiah that had studied here with the Ugandan Studies Program, so we chatted with them.

The flight to London was fantastic. THe lady sitting next to me wouldn't trade her aisle seat for my window seat, so I moved to an empty row, and Tim joined me. We chatted for a while and then decided to buy a box of delicious looking strawberry champagne chocolates from the SkyMall catalog. Our flight attendants were so friendly, and had the sweetest accents. They started joking that I was always asking them questions... because I did every time they walked by. The chocolates were delicious; an absolute delicacy. We watched a few movies, and were disappointed when the entertainment was turned off 40min before landing. I think all of the traveling by bus that we have done this semester made this flight seem like a vacation. There were no potholes to jiggle us around, and we all had our own TVs to watch. I almost didn't want to get off.

In London, we checked into the Quality hotel. We joked that they didn't tell us what kind of "quality" it was; but we soon found out that it was a very nice place to stay. I was roommates with Janae and Cassie. We decided to go find a pub that was supposedly just down the road. We ended up walking for 45min down a bike path until we got to the Royal Stag Pub. It was a nice walk, but London is COLD! There was absolutely no sun in the sky (which was actually the first thing I noticed when we got here). The food at the pub was delicious. I ordered a burger with sparkling apple juice. Our server was also very friendly (and probably a little bit amused at how enthusiastic we were about the menu).

For some reason I got really overwhelmed while we were waiting for our food. It had been a great day, so I don't know what the problem was. Michael Pucci had said that one of the symptoms of reverse culture shock is feeling strong emotions at strange times. A few people asked if I was okay and I tried to pass it off as nothing, but then I burst into tears. Kate took me outside to talk, and Cassie came out to give me a hug. I was okay after that.

We walked back and had the best showers we've taken in four months, and an amazingly comfortable nights sleep. This morning we had a fabulous breakfast, which almost set me off crying again because there were too many options.

We have been at the London Heathrow airport for four hours. Luckily flights are able to leave Europe. We weren't sure if the volcanic ash would have cleared by now. This airport is like a palace. Everything in bright and shiny. There are Prada, Dolce and Gabbana and other high end stores everywhere. I feel like a kid in a candy shop. But it is hard to see so much materialism. I had no desire to buy anything here, it's just so fancy to look at! We bought some great food to eat, and I bought some internet vouchers to use. Now it's about time to leave.

Next stop, America!!