11:11 London Time:
I got my first two pieces of mail here today: a letter from my sister (posted Sept 10 - not bad for snail mail) and something from my bank here. School's school... Not a horrible day, but not a great day either... Gotta go plan for a busy day tomorrow. God, I wish my life were more exciting!!

Yesterday I rode the train in to London to meet the other Americans here. The trip to London was nice. I started off around 11 am (so that I could have some time in London before lunch) and made it to the train station without a problem. I bought my round-trip ticket and had a seat to wait for the 11:37 train. At about 11:45 (when I hadn't seen the 11:37 or the 11:40 train), I found a notice board that explained there was work being done on the tracks September 12th and that I would need to catch the bus to Dartford, then catch the train the rest of the way into London. I wandered outside and found the bus and the rest was smooth sailing, it just made the trip twice as long.

I made it to Charing Cross Station without a problem, but when I got off the train I realized that I had forgotten my "London A to Z" and wasn't sure how to find the pub. I did have a smaller, less detailed map, so with some help (the street vendor at Trafalgar Square) I found the pub with no problem... A little late,but I couldn't help the train problem. [See, even when I try to be early, something happens!]

There were about 15 to 20 people at the luncheon. Everyone was really nice, and most of us had similar first week experiences, so it was nice to talk to people going through familiar situations. Because I was late, I took the only empty seat I found - which happened to be across the table from two people from Charlotte! The guy even lived right down the street!! Too weird!

It's funny how you exchange emails with a person and talk with them on the phone and you expect them to look a certain way. I had my recruiter pegged as a much older man (I even gave him a family in my mind)... I thought of him as a "father figure." Dude! He's my age (if not younger) and could be even called "cute." Not at all what I had imagined!!

One of the other recruiters' girlfriends was there - she was really nice. She is an actress and is about to start filming a mini-series with Luke Perry about the end of the world - the sun is supposed to be crashing into the earth. She'll play Luke Perry's wife, so keep your eye out for the show (and tell me how it is)...

Overall, it was a good chance to meet others who are going through some of the same things.