Orientation and the Tour that would not end

To start the day, we all met outside of Courtfield Gardens and walked as a group over to the Young Street classroom building for our Orientation. It was an absolutely beautiful London summer morning--cool and clear and blue skies!

On our way there, we stopped at Atlantic House, the student center for AIFS.  At the exact moment, Aniket, one of the students delayed by travel problems, pulled up in a taxi! PERFECT TIMING!

Orientation started as always with Sgt. Paul giving a very humorous but effective talk about safety and security. He is able to combine being funny with delivering a very serious message.

Orientation

Orientation

After Orientation, I walked Aniket back to Atlantic House to pick up his luggage and then took him to Courtfield Gardens. Jose walked with us and since he is one of Aniket's roommates, he let him into the building and then into their room.  The three of us ate lunch at The Patisserie, an open air bakery and sandwich restaurant.

After lunch we met the group to get on the bus tour. Our tour guide, Sean, was very funny and kept up a running monologue throughout the tour. We got off the bus at a number of locations throughout London. Our tour was much longer than anticipated because of a number of road closures. Although it was very long, the students got a good overview of the city and some ideas of places to return to during their stay.

Below are pictures of our tour. Our group of 14 is still missing 3 students (expected to arrive tomorrow morning). We were also with the General Studies group from NCSU (there are 30 students on that program).

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace--General Studies Group

Our tour guide, Sean, talking about St. Paul's Cathedral

General Studies Group at St. Paul's

Most of the LONDON:ENG 331 Group on the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral

Listening to the tour guide

Quick stop to view the river and Tower Bridge--most of the men

Quick stop to view the river and Tower Bridge--most of the women