From the Archives Pt 1

The other morning I was thinking about how eloquent I feel when I am in London.
So I've decided to search through these old emails (from August-December of 2004).

Here is the first email I sent to my parents when I moved to London.

Holy Cow...I can't believe I live in London. It's really weird. It's just about 8:00pm here, so I think that means it's about noon there, right? I miss you both a ton, but I am so excited for these next four months. I have already found some fun places to show you when you come to visit...

The flight seemed longer than the 18-hour flight to Kenya. I think because I couldn't really get to sleep...but I got to choose the movies I wanted (each seat had it's own screen)...so I watched "Down with Love" and "Holes". (By the way, the keys on this keyboard are all switched around and there are others added, so typing this email is quite an adventure.) I took a short nap on the floor underneath Kaira and Gen's feet. I slept the best there for some reason...

Other funny things that happened today:

We got to our building and each found our rooms. Kaira and Gen (short for Genevieve...) live upstairs from me in a room the size of a box. It's got two twin beds and one tiny "wardrobe" (armour)... another girl from our trip (Stephanie) lives in a room that she apparently just can't live in. I am really mean, but she's bugging the crap out of me already. I love Kaira and Gen. Compared to their rooms, my room is a castle. I have a large room with three beds (the other two girls are not here yet, they'll come while I'm on my trip)...but we have three dressers and our bathroom/shower/sink is IN our room (huge here, we might be the only room like that)...and we have a walk-in closet...it's not a beautiful room, but it is nicer than most others. Anyway, I feel like God will use me in a room with friends, or strangers or in a hovel alone...which my room is definitely not.

We live in the same area of London that Dustin Hoffman and Madonna live in! I hope I see them walking down the street. How fun is that? We are also around the corner from Imperial College (ranked third behind Oxford and Cambridge...it's like the MIT of the UK). And there are two main museums in the area too...so cool.

SUPER FUNNY---they call Kentucky Fried Chicken "The Colonel's Bistro"...so far everything sounds more elegant here than at home...

Tonight we went to a pub for dinner! We each ordered something and then we all shared so we could see what we loved and what we hated. LOVED: fish and chips/ jacket potatoes. HATED: nachos and peas. (just FYI). I didn't drink anything, just so you know...(except for water and a coke)

I think now that I have sufficiently filled you in on almost every detail of the first day of life in London, I am going to take a shower and then watch a movie. We are all too tired to go out tonight, but we have to stay up until at least ten-ish so we can get adjusted to the time-difference more quickly.

I love you and I miss you. I'm having fun already, so don't be sad...

Thanks for helping me to do this. I know it will be totally life-changing.

Alli

P.S. There is no way that every day's email will be this long....and then I leave on Sunday for the tour of Amsterdam and Paris and Brussels...so I won't be able to email you until after that.