'Abandon sea!' shouted the Bursar cheerfully.

Welcome to beautiful York, Perry Olson!

Hi, everyone! How are you? Everything's going just fine here at YSJ. (Although this post will probably be a bit scattered. I can't seem to write well at all today.) I'm talking to someone about volunteering at a local primary school and also trying to figure out if I can join the choir here, but I think it may be on at the same time as my Peace Studies course. Oh well.
I've been keeping myself entertained with a couple of different groups. Laetitia, Agata, Christina and I have been hanging out pretty regularly in the evenings (at least for the last couple of days), and other internationals often join in. Yesterday, for example, about nine of us went to a Chinese restaurant, where I spoke in Spanish with Monica y Marta, and got to brush up on those skills. We also went to the Jorvik Viking Festival and saw a brilliant and stirring 'battle'. It was a little pathetic. And very cold. And full of enthusiastic children. But it was fun, all the same.

I also spent some time with Kirsten's friends from upstairs, and they're extremely nice and friendly. Mark, Kirsten and I watched a film until three in the morning, but the three of us, Dan and Chris all went to play frisbee in the garden outside at around midnight. They've a wonderful sense of humour, and don't actually drink all that much (which is a nice relief).

Tonight's karaoke night, so Christina and I are planning on making fools of ourselves! Woo hoo! She's really fun, and we have a lot of similar music tastes, so it should be a fun time. Also, she and Agata and almost definitely going on the last leg of my Easter trek with me! Hurrah!

Ah, Scotland for Easter...

The Not-So-Jolly Roger! (Remember those books?)

Last night was...interesting. It was Jamie's birthday, so he asked everybody to dress up like cartoon characters and go down to Toff's, a 'fancy-dress' club. What actually ended up happening was this: they all stayed here for about two hours drinking, then we went down to the Students' Union to buy our tickets, and....they went ahead an had some more drinks. At this point, our group multiplied and eventually, we were about 30 cartoons strong. It was madness.

We proceeded to parade through the streets, some of them completely hammered, talking to the older couples eating in the restaurants and competing for high-fives from strangers. We then went to four different pubs, still without any sign of Toff's. It was a bit surreal. Apparently the fancy dress thing is very common here. People were walking around dressed (and painted) as Smurfs, and no one thought anything of it. Very strange.

Anyway, around 23.00, a group of girls (myself included) decided to just go to Toff's as the rest of the group was planning on heading to another three pubs (ugh). Well, we got there (honestly, the path was like a labyrinth), and it was extremely uncomfortable - for me, anyway. My costume was kinda crappy (I went as Linus, which hardly anyone knew, especially since all I had was a striped shirt and a blue blanket [pillowcase, really].), I was there with only one person that I knew, andthere was nothing to do except drink or dance. I had a Pepsi and stood awkwardly next to my new friends as they 'danced' (I honestly don't understand my generation...).

Anyway, after about 45 minutes, I couldn't take it anymore and decided to leave. It really just wasnt' my kind of scene. So I walked back at midnight alone and talked to Lidas until I arrived safely. At least now I can say I've tried it and clubbing is not my thing. Lesson well learned, I s'pose. Cheers, all!

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Little update: Apparently, I was on a campus-wide pub crawl and didn't even know it. Haha - what fun! Also, I ran into Jamie (still in his Taz suit and anti-hangover sunglasses) this afternoon, and the poor guy didn't even get into Toff's for his own celebration (apparently he was too drunk). Unfortunately, he admitted that that is about all he can remember about the evening. Hmmmm...

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Also, all is well. We all had tea together tonight, and they were all really nice and accepting. Way!

Eclectic

Well, I think I've found a very good group. They all always hang out right next door and are very friendly. They don't mind me sitting in, even when I have nothing to add to the conversation and seem to be just all-around nice people. They're from all over the U.K. and today entered into an hour-long debate about which accents sound stupid. It was insanely entertaining. They go out about twice a week and have invited me along, so this is a very good start. Hurrah! Tonight, we just stayed in and watched 'Groundhog Day'. I did not mention my true feelings for Bill Murray, so the night was quite enjoyable thankyouverymuch. I also introduced them to Potter Puppet Pals, and they were quite amused. Good times, is all I need say. It is a bit awkward as about six of them have bought a house for next year together, so they're all pretty tight, but they haven't left yet, so there's still fun to be had. It's a good day, and a good finish with good friends. Cheers till next time!

The Demon Student of Coney Street

Good, fun-filled day, this. I had a great lecture this morning (as well as a really fun and interesting one last night in Peace Studies. The 70-year-old couple is my favourite!) and had lunch with some new people. We went to a film, so that cut down on boredom time, AND I got to really get to know and have dinner with one of my housemates, which is very helpful. We're planning a weekend trip, even. She's very nice and plans on attending my home uni next year, which is awesome. Huzzah! Anyway, United won, and they even showed Solskjaer for a brief moment, so it is, in fact, a good day.

Happy Australia Day!

Not anymore, but still! Good on yer for reading this! Yesterday was Australia Day at the Students' Union, and instead of moping in my room, I decided to try to participate. I ended up standing around and chatting a bit with a couple of people from my floor, so it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. The Extremely Social American congratulated me on being more social, adding that alcohol really does help. I pointed to my lemonade, he smirked and walked away. It was funny.

At any rate, now I'm at least partially into the floor group, and apparently we go to dinner together all the time, so that's good.

Australia! Australia! Australia! Australia! We love you! Amen!

New Places, New Faces

Well, all the new Americans (and one Canadian) are here! It's exciting, but I really wish I could start meeting some Britons. Oh well; I'm sure I'll get there. ('Adopt, adapt and improve.') I really don't know how to socialise with a lot of these people, though. I'm not too good at it to start, and then add the fact that they all drink pretty much every night, and I'm a bit of a lost cause. I hope to find some people soon, though, so I'll keep looking.

Yesterday, all the internationals took a trip to the seaside: Whitby (awesome! what fun!) and Scarborough (...what is that stuck to your shoe?). Anyway, I met a French boy and two students from Cyprus. I also walked and talked with two Norwegians, a Polish girl and a French girl as well. It was...okay. The company was great, but Scarborough really didn't have much to offer on the South end. The North had the castle, but we didn't have time to get to it and back, so we settled for the Ocean City Boardwalk-reminiscent carnival of shops along the shore.

All the new Americans (and one Canadian) are all from the same school and are taking the same class together, so they're pretty tight-knit, which makes it hard to get in with them, but a few have been quite friendly toward the rest of us, so that's nice.

Anyway, the town's becoming more and more familiar, but I'd really like to get into a class that HASN'T been cancelled so that I can start being busy. Way too much free time.

Hope the pictures work! Here's sending all my love back home!

Okay, I REALLY messed up the photos, so here's what they are: 1) the ruins at Whitby, 2) the inside of the (York) Minster, 3) My school!, 4) A weird shot of the back of the Minster and some surrounding homes, 5) the North Yorkshire moors, 6) stone carvings of the faces of beasts and demons from the Whitby museum at the Abbey, 7) the Shambles! Complete with a member of the Assassins Guild, 8) the sea at Scarborough, 9) another shot of the inside of the Minster and 10) Friends! I won't try to spell their names, I'll only dissappoint. Enjoy!

Internationals

Having only achieved about two hours of sleep thanks to the incredibly noisy toilet next door, I went down to the international get-together. My fellow Americans and I mostly talked to each other, one of number's British boyfriend or the International Society's members, but next day we went on campus and city tours with the whole group of internationals and really got to know some new people.

I now know six Norwegians. SIX. At the moment, they outnumber us, though a fresh batch of no less than thirteen Americans should be arriving on the weekend. But that's okay, 'cause we have a Bangladeshi, two French people, a bloke from Pakistan, a Swede, a girl from Belarus, the six Norwegians, two Poles and probably some of whom I am unaware.

We got onto the computers and found out that our German class had been cancelled. This wasn't too big a problem for me, but my friend is now in a bit of a scheduling crisis. Anyway, we got out of the computer lab and off to the city.

Our city tour was guided by a Liverpudlian, which was wonderful. When I told him Liverpool was my favourite city, he took my hand and said, 'You've chosen well, love.' It was hilarious. He was really fun, and when he stood on top of the city walls during our walk, some bloke down on the ground said 'Don't jump!' I love this place.

I went and got my Skype phone and am now connected to la Red otra vez. Being able to communicate home really helps, so the next few days should be easier as far as 'I wanna go home' moments.

Anyway, no worries. We'll all be all right.