@York!

I'm in York! I've spent one night here and it's already been so much fun. It's been a whirlwind 48 hours this is how it went...

United flight 954 departed SFO at 12:50 pm and arrived at London Heathrow at 7:10 am. From there, took the underground to Kings Cross Station and then another train to York. The train ride north was gorgeous, it took about 2 hours. Arrived in York around 3, walked to York St. John University from the train station and checked into my room.

A big group of us from the Design in Britain program walked around and explored the campus and the town in the evening. Most of us had arrived in the afternoon and felt a little delirious with the time change and all. Ate a pork sandwich with stuffing and apple chutney from a small spot on the street and about 10 of us checked out a few pubs in the evening.

Went to bed about 1am York time, 5pm California time. When I woke up, I glanced at my phone and it said it was 12:40. I took a shower and got ready to go out and walk around York for the afternoon.
My friend Olivia knocked on my door and we went out to explore the town. Not many restaurants were open, and I figured because it was Sunday. She mentioned that it was 9am. WHAT.......

I looked at my iphone and it said 1:00. A.M!!!!! Not P.M. Turns out, my phone never actually changed to this time zone. I have never felt so disoriented. So completely thrown off and confused. I changed the time on my phone manually pronto.

Once I accepted the fact that I naturally woke up at a very early hour and my whole sense of the day was warped, I decided to have a scone at a teashop. Loud bells rung at the York Minster for worship.

I had a lot more time than I thought I did before orientation at 5:30, so Olivia and I walked all around. There's a big river that runs through the town, with lots of boats cruising up and down. MUST go on a boatride while I'm here.

We stumbled upon a very cute Belgian restaurant with a great outdoor seating area next to the water. We watched the boats and Canadian geese and I ate a croque madame. The weather is lovely. It hasn't rained yet...

York is so charming. It's bigger than I expected it to be - so many shops, pubs, restaurants, beautiful old buildings and churches. It is so rich with history. It has the largest length of medieval wall still intact in England. I'm planning on checking out the Monk Bar to see the place where executions were ordered by Richard III in 1483. Crazy shit.

Tonight all of us are having orientation and then going to dinner. First day of class at 9am tomorrow. We're going on a daytrip to the coast on Wednesday to visit Whitby.

Pictures to come!!!