“Mademoiselle Française “,
It was once my nickname in the university called by the dean of my department. Who knows after years, London had become the first stop on my map of studying abroad.
《31st August．3:50 a.m.》
I woke up in a daze at 4:00 a.m., the colour of the sky was still in the midnight blue; there was still an hour left before the sunrise in Taiwan during August. With two luggage, one carry-on and a backpack, even if I arrived at the airport, I hadn’t had the feeling of studying abroad; maybe it was because I have been used to living along outside of the hometown since university, it could also be everything had happened too fast since I received the school offer.
《9:45 a.m.．Boarding》
“Welcome abroad to Eva Air”, the 16-hour journey had begun as the friendly flight attendants standing on the aisle guiding the passengers.
Without the distraction of the phone vibration, the time during the flight has always been pleasant and calm. I’ve loved to enjoy the sunlight filtered through that half-covered window into the dim cabin, just like a comfortable lazy afternoon on my bed; grabbing a novel and a pen, curling up on the aircraft seat and covering the lap with the cozy blanket is the most relaxing position. Sometimes, I stretched my neck and watched the sea of clouds on my right-hand side; sometimes, watching the elder man on my left-hand side- the new novel 《Lost Japan》he just opened after boarding was already half-way finished. Was he admiring the Japanese culture?
“Would you like chicken or beef?” The flight attendant with Thailand accent passed by with the trolley. Dining time the only time that I would turn on the TV screen and start choosing what I am going to watch on the movie list to pass the time.
Although, a drinker’s heart is not in the cup, is a glass of cocktail and Häagen-Dazs after the meal,
-and Zac Efron in the movie, 《The Greatest Showman》, whom (that well-built body with sophisticated muscle) I haven’t been in love for a long while.
《7:25 p.m.．Landing》
Looking through the window, the street lights were sparkling in the dark night; it was still hard to believe that I was stepping on the land of United Kingdom. Following the passengers to the counter with the immigration documents, I have discovered that there weren’t many people in Heathrow on Friday night.
“Does anyone speak Mandarin and English?” Suddenly, there was an uproar in the front row; the airport security guard walked back and forth with the question without getting any response.
“Oh… I can.” Even though I had no idea what was going on, as I felt the sight from him, I answered with a slight hesitation.
The security guard opened the stanchion and implied me to go forward, “Come, please, we need a translator!”
There was a bunch of young Chinese bewilderingly standing in front of the custom, and the custom looked at me with frustration. They are a group of youngsters who came to the United Kingdom for videoing with the filmmaking dream; unfortunately, they knew nothing about English hade made them fail to answer the immigration question. Taking turns with Chinese and English, maybe it was a transition activity for me to transfer my mindset from Taiwan to London.
“Excuse me, can you please tell her to come here, too?” The elder custom on the other side shouted, and this time, it was two elder women from China with strong accent. “You are on a tour, aren’t you? Just wait right here; I will proceed your immigration procedure soon after.” The custom joked at me but also gave me a small privilege to cut the line, making an hour queue into 10 minutes.
《12:00 p.m.．Goodnight, Heathrow》
Carrying three luggage travelling from terminal 2 to terminal 4, I finally found Yotel, the transit hotel in the corner of the airport. There wasn’t much space in this capsule hotel, but it is enough for staying one night, and plus, with my exhausted body, I didn’t have the energy to care about the luxurious facilities. Of course, it was more important to take a hot shower and have a nice sleep.
Goodnight, London, see you in the morning.
