Our plane left Atlanta on a Friday evening. The flight lasted all night and we finally arrived in London around 8 AM, but it felt like 2 AM for us. Although I was exhausted, it did not matter. I was excited and ready to go.

The first day of our trip was spent exploring the city of London. It was surreal to be pacing through the tunnels beneath the airport with a giant hiking bag on my back and another backpack on my front. I felt like I was preparing to hike Mount Everest with all the gear on me. Thankfully, we were able to drop our bags off at our hotel before we started on our adventure.

And then we were off again! There was so much to see in London. The city seemed endless. I had no idea where it began or where it ended. It felt bizarre to have no idea where I was. At least back at home, I can get a grasp of where things are located even when I am in a new town. However, I had no sense of direction in London. Fortunately for me, Dr. Rubenstein knew exactly how to get everywhere.

We saw so many famous landmarks including Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, King’s Cross Station, and many more. It may have been the sleep deprivation but the entire day felt unreal. I kept feeling like I would eventually just wake up and be back in my bed in Athens. It was also one of the busiest days of my life. Every moment we were on the move, either walking or getting on the Tube. Our first day truly set a precedent of how the rest of the trip was going to go. We were told going into this that it would be a jammed packed week, but I suppose that I underestimated just how busy it was going to be. Regardless of how tired I was, I could not have had a better first day. We ended it with dinner in a local pub and counted up how many hours we had been awake for. It was somewhere around 27. As you can imagine it was very easy to fall asleep that night. The next day we would depart for Dumfries and begin working on what we had really traveled for. Teaching.