Hello again! Well, I’ve finally made it to the IES dorm and I couldn’t be happier.
I arrived in London Saturday night around 8:30 (London time); after getting my luggage together, I started on my two hour trek to my hostle. I quickly found out that I had no idea where I was headed. I walked about 5 minutes out of my way before realizing just that. Normally, I wouldn’t mind walking; however, i was carrying about 100lbs+ of luggage in an underground tunnel looking for the ticket purchasing kiosk. After purchasing a tube ticket, I hauled everything down the escalator and waited for the tube to arrive. It was about a 50 minute ride to my stop — this was a great time for me to try and relax my speeding mind (I had no idea how to get to the hostel after the tube). I must have looked pretty lost because after I got off of the tube and onto street level, a man that worked at the station came up to me and asked me where I was headed. I was pointed in the direction of the bus stop.
My next challenge was figuring out what each pence (change) was worth without looking like a mindless American. That took a while but I was finally able to get onto the correct bus. After 2 stops I was right in front of the hostel. I was so happy that I got myself there safely and for about 6 pounds total that I didn’t initially notice the 15 steps I had to climb with all of my luggage. Thankfully, there were 3 people walking into the hostle at the same time and they offered to carry my luggage up for me! I wanted to cry I was so happy. 
This was my first time in a hostel so I truly had no clue what to expect. Looking back, it wouldn’t have been bad if I were traveling with a group of people. I was unsure of leaving all of my luggage out in the open with 11 other roommates that wouldn’t even attempt to be nice to me. My first night in London, I slept about 12 hours. I was physically and mentally exhausted from my day of intense traveling and I didn’t want to move from my bed Sunday morning. Finally, I decided that I should get out of bed. I went downstairs to the common room and the computer room. I was uncomfortable leaving the hostel since I was by myself; it was on an incredibly “shady” side street. I chose to relax and de-stress while watching TV and skyping. I was overjoyed when I was able to fall asleep because it meant I was closer to arriving  at my dorm building. It took me a while to fall asleep and when I finally did, I woke up to the sound of drunken travelers at 2am. That was rather unpleasant.
I chose to wake up early and eat breakfast before my attempt to get to the dorms. I walked to the tube station because I didn’t know how to get a bus heading in that direction and then got a ticket to the correct station. After traveling 20 more minutes, I arrived at my station. This station was not equipped with an escalator or a lift which of course meant going up 2 flights of stairs with all of my luggage. By now you would think I was used to this but I was not. Finally, I got to the street level and decided I’ve had enough; I took a taxi the rest of the way. It was completely worth it — they dropped me off right in front of my dorm. I was ready to kiss the ground! I checked in and got my room key then headed up to my room. I was so happy to get here!! I got inside and started to unpack; it was amazing to finally be here. The view is really nice and even though the room is small, I really like the dorm.
After unpacking, a couple of us went on a short walking tour to the closest tube station. We all purchased phones and I stopped to get groceries. The prices truly weren’t bad! I was pleasantly surprised with the variety that was available for how small the stores were. The rest of the night was taken up with orientation and I can honestly say that I am exhausted! I can’t wait to sleep tonight.
Tomorrow morning a few of us are taking a bus ride to the nearest ASDA (UK WalMart) for some things that we need to stock up on.

I did not expect to be taken so off guard while trying to navigate around; however, I’ve learned more about traveling in 2 days then I ever have. Looking at the positives of everything so far is definitely the only way for me to learn from all of this. Well, that’s all for now! Goodnight everyone 🙂

PS- as soon as I can get my pictures to work I will upload some of the dorm room and view!

Location: London, England