Chicago --> London --> Johannesburg

So I know I said that I was going to do this thematically rather than chronologically, but I changed my mind, at least for this first post. Sorry.

The morning of June 15, I finished moving out of my old apartment and put all of my worldly possessions in my new apartment a few blocks north. My new roommate helped me stash my stuff and then I rushed off to the airport.* I bought a few souvenirs for the family at the airport and met up with one of the two classmates going with me to South Africa.

10 hours later, at around 6AM, we arrived in London. Since our connecting flight was not until 7PM, I was planning to hang out in the city for a bit. However, the Director of the Intern Programme at my work happened to be in London at the same time and wanted to meet up with us that morning. My aunt drove to pick us up and unexpectedly picked up two parking tickets while waiting for us in what turned out to be the taxi lane. We headed straight to the Institute of Directors, where our new boss was awaiting us for tea.

The Institute of Directors, from http://venues.mcdonaldbutler.co/institute-of-directors

After a 30-minute-turned-3-hour-long meeting, I quickly met with my extended family and then hurried back to the airport.

My extended family was happy to see me.

A rather luxurious South African Airways flight later and I arrived in Jo-burg. We didn't technically have anywhere to live until July 1, so we'd booked a hotel for the first few days. Unfortunately, we also had a writing assignment to finish so I could not relax just yet.

*Well, "rushed off" might be a bit euphemistic. Originally, I had booked a shuttle to the airport, but when it was 30 minutes late I checked my ticket and saw that I'd booked it for the wrong day. I ended up shelling out $60 for a taxi instead.