We arrived into London early morning Friday after driving around Terminal 5 four times. We were relieved to find a Travelodge in the vicinity, but shortly after we were dismayed as it was the wrong one. We grabbed some quick brief directions, and before we knew it we were finally in bed, and we all slept like logs.
Another early start was on the cards, because my VISA and passport needed collecting from Finchley Rd, Central London. We ate fulfilling, hearty English breakfasts and jumped on the H57 bus to Terminal 5, the bus driver was extremely friendly. We took the Piccadilly line to Green St, and then took the Jubilee line to West Hampstead. I picked up my documents and then we headed to Abbey Road and took some pictures. We then came back to the hotel and I said my goodbyes to my family, which was hard for me. I got on the bus and got off at Terminal 5.
Terminal 5 looked like something out of Alien, it was massive, much bigger than little Newquay airport back in my hometown. I went up to the automatic check-in desks and was told that I had been 'extremely lucky' because I had the last seat on the plane. I had forgotten to book in my tickets the night before, I had been very, very, very, very, very lucky. At last I had my boarding pass and I had dropped my luggage off, which gladly was not over the weight limit, but was twice the size of everyone else's bag.
Now the waiting began......
After 2 hours I made my way through the security check area, without a buzz or any flashing red lights and no extreme search methods.
Arriving finally at Spartan Heights, we unloaded the car and went to meet Rene, our home stay owner, cook and carer for the next month. Her apartment is beautiful and she is so friendly and helpful, it is a joy to be living here for the next month! I'll have to get some pictures to post here and show you. The location is great, at first we thought it was a little far from our placements (around 9km away), but I am now glad of where we are as it is so close to the centre of the city, perfect for shopping and nightlife. It is about a 20 minute auto rickshaw ride to our placements, and costs about 60 rupees, so about 90 pence!
I then had an amazing lunch at 'Giraffe' consisting of a cheese pizza covered in a rocket salad with aubergine, peppers and mushrooms scattered on the top. That was very tasty and filled an empty hole. And it was all washed down with a pint of diet coke. I bought myself a magazine, sat down and finished my book, whilst munching on a caramel Cadburys dairy milk bar.
Soon after my flight was boarding. I felt slightly alone until I sat next to and had a good chat with an Indian man called Vishoo, who was very kind and interested in me and what I was doing in India. He said 'I would love it' and 'to not be shy, laugh at yourself'. I found my seat on the plane and waited for the eight hour flight to begin.
The flight was very smooth, with hardly any turbulence and I was sat next to some friendly Canadians, who were flying back to see their outside family. I watched three films; Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Avatar and Shutter Island. I also read through the New Delhi part of my 'Guide to India' book. It told me to visit the Red Fort, Qutab Minar and Humanyuns Tomb.
I was interrupted by a loud beeping sound, indicating everyone to take their seat on the plane and fasten their seatbelts. We were finally here!!! I stared past a row of people and through the window of the plane; I saw barren countryside and a huge area filled with run-down huts, very few with roofs. And before I knew it we had hit the runway, this was made apparent to me by a huge jolting vibrations running through the floor.
I got up, grabbed my hand luggage and made my way off the plane into the check-in queue. Here I met a very pleasant American lecturer, who taught engineering at university level. As I was engrossed in conversation I heard a huge thump just to my right, and felt a splash of water hit on my face......
Part of the ceiling had just given way and fallen to the floor. Water was dripping from the ceiling and pooling on the floor. Me and the American laughed and wiped the residue from our faces. We then began talking about careers and I outlined my interest in medicine and how I thought it was going to be very hard to achieve; he quoted to me, "a low performing doctor at a university is still a doctor". It stuck in my head.
After the long queue and flashing my passport to officials I grabbed my luggage and converted my US Dollars into 20,000 rupees. I found my driver and we shook hands and he led me to the car.