Hello all! Sorry for those of you who have been checking your computer hourly for an update from me (cough cough, Kaitlin). It's been a hectic couple of days to say the least. Yesterday was one of those days when I said to myself, "dang, life is great and I'm in ENGLAND...how cool is that". Today, eh, not so much but on the roller coaster of life and of study abroad emotional mood swings you can will always end up back at the top! So anyways...yesterday we had an orientation for all of the study abroad students, I think there are around 160 of us total. Before our orientation Rae (the other girl from U of I) and I decided to go exploring. While Uni Nottingham (they call it Uni here, how British!) has about 31,000 students the campus is SO much more spread out than U of I...and seems to be one GIANT hill that you are always going up but never coming down..hmm. A girl from my floor named Kat had mentioned to me the day before that there is some building on campus that has a store in it and places to eat but darn, I couldn't remember the name of it! Rae and I were in search of some essentials that we had left at home due to not enough room in our suitcases so we were on the hunt. We somehow managed to stumble upon the Portland Building which is the student union and hub of all Uni activity. Let's just say that it puts the U of I Union to shame!! There are 2 bars in the basement, then a restaurant that you can use your meal card at on the next floor. There are also 2 stores, a bookstore, a coffee shop and stuff that I don't even know! After a rough nights sleep and feeling totally lost and foreign we were ELATED to find this! We practically started dancing right there.
We then headed to our orientation but were early so decided to get some water with our meal cards...big mistake! Apparently our id cards were not registered with the university yet so when the nice British clerk lady scanned them they wouldn't read. This resulted in her getting on the phone for a good 5 minutes and a line building up behind us...oops! After orientation we decided to venture into Nottingham. To get there it is about a 10 minute bus ride on the public bus. We ran to catch the bus and then had to figure out the British money system as the bus driver was impatiently waiting and again a line was forming behind us (in this case us being me). I just kept dropping coins (here everything is in coin form for currency under 2 pounds) and the bus driver was like you are still 75..60..45...etc short. Finally he just exclaimed "you're still 5 short but just take your ticket and get on". Not a very friendly man! In Nottingham we successfully found the stores we needed and I got my UK cell phone (it cost about $15 so you can just imagine the quality!) and a towel to shower with. I didn't bring one because I was under the assumption I would be given one (we got sheets and everything for our beds!) but we didn't so it was a good thing I brought 3 washcloths that I could use to dry off! The town was a bit confusing because it is not a grid pattern like in the US...there are just streets everywhere but it was old and beautiful and the bus ride gave us a fun little tour of the city which is actually quite large! The only thing I forgot to look for was a converter because silly me forgot that my computer plug has 3 prongs and my converter only has 2...good thing mom has one in the mail for me already! Fun fact...there is an Edible Arrangements in Nottingham!
We found our way back to school successfully (I had my money all counted out this time!) and then went and ate dinner. Thus far the food has been a bit sketchy (I'm predicting a possible weight loss between the food and the hills?!) but at least everyone here speaks English so you can ask what you are eating. After dinner I went to a trivia night in one of the bars on campus...my team pitifully lost. (It is SO not fair to ask the question "what county is Stonehenge in?".. England has counties?!) But it was a good time and a nice ending to a day where I felt adjusted and in control of this whole foreign situation!
Today was a bit different and I will just warn you now there were tears. Today was the dreaded class registration day. Now Notts (another cute British slang word for Nottingham) does not have online registration like U of I but instead they do it the old school way that my parents had to do where you have to go to each individual department building and ask if there are spots open in a class. BOO! I got in most of my classes but there were a lot of people around and it caused me a lot of anxiety mixed with my hanging jet lag. Some people were super helpful and others just stared at you. And I keep finding myself walking up the wrong side of the stairs here so everyone looks at me funny until I move to the left side. There was this cool thing though like Quad Day at U of I where all of the "societies" of the school gather and you can go from table to table and sign up. I signed up for the Exchange Student Society where people go on trips and hang out and stuff. After that I don't really know what happened but I came home and just started to cry. Like, really cry! Being in a foreign country where I literally know no on is tough sometimes but luckily the parents were available to talk to me (gotta love modern technology!). And it was rainy and misty out (but then again, that's how it has been everyday!) and that didn't really help lift my homesick spirits. Some people are out at a pub crawl thing tonight but after my emotional day I just decided to stay in and take it easy because I have my first class tomorrow which I'm kind of excited for!!
I've been getting to know a few people, hopefully more once classes start. There are a lot of girls from Canada here that I have run into a few times and a few Australians. I'm excited for classes to start tomorrow because it's been kind of weird being at school but not in school, I can only sit and twiddle my thumbs for so long! I think that's about it for now! Oh, and I also have my address which I will post below in case you want to send me some love in a box (or an envelope!). Thanks for everyone that has been thinking about me and praying for me...it is days like today that those are SO appreciated and I know that as time goes on I will have more days like yesterday and less ones like today, I just have to give it time! I love and miss all of you a ton! (Shout out to my rooms Kristen for getting into the Versailles program next year, you are going to have a blast, promise!)
Love from London!
Stacey
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| Me in the middle of campus!! |
