Metal Heart

New family, castle hunting and movie watching!

The trip to England took 2 days of my life and a lifetime of sanity. JFK put a ground stop on all of their incoming flights, but not the outgoing international ones. Thus causing the initial three hour delay in Norfolk, VA, the first of three. After arriving into JFK, getting lost on the way to the international terminal, getting in a fight with security over the water bottle I got from the connecting flight, Delta threw us on a flight with Air France...instead of British Airways. Having cheery French people "Bon Soir!" at 11 at night, when you've been traveling since 4...well I wasn't so nice. We sat on the runway for another hour and finally landed in Paris around noon their time. I might have slept 3 hours, but I learned a whole lot of French! Our flight to Newcastle left late and we didn't arrive with the second time change until 4 pm London time. Needless to say, customs was a blast and our luggage was left at JFK. We got it two days later, after multiple heart attacks without any form of communication with my worried father in Virginia. My mother and I made it though, with the lame U.S. dollar, our exchange rate limited our time and site-seeing to the Newcastle area, which is still a mystery in most parts to me.

School starts Monday, and my White Coat Ceremony is tomorrow. I will officially be inducted into medical school, Hippocratic Oath and all. I am more excited than scared now, and the people that I have met (from 6 countries now!) are amazing. I couldn't be more blessed with a more loving group of intelligent over-achievers!

The change taking place in my life, causing me to collide into people and cultural experiences that were far out of reach from my limited mind, is allowing me to grow into the person I've always wanted to be. I finally feel like I am doing something for myself to better others, and I know that I am giving up wonderful experiences and people back home. You are always in my mind and hearts. This may only be a year trip, but I am coming back with a lifetime of knowledge.

Now, I have to conquer the Geordie accent and look the opposite way when crossing the street. Other than that, Life really is good.