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.

My city is beautiful.

This place is amazing. It's Ankh-Morpork and Diagon Alley rolled into one. It's...fantastic.

My flights were not quite so great, but only in places:

<<20 January - 15.26 EST

Great. We're at code 'Orange,' too. And they interrupted 'Maybe I'm Amazed' to tell us so. This part of the travelling fiasco is boring and irksome and uncomfortable. In the immortal words of Inego Montoya, 'I hate waiting.'

I said goodbye to Mum and Dad at the security gate, and there was a bit of crying (in the good and bad way). My sister and her boyfriend got off easy; it still hadn't hit me, but now that's everyone, and it's more than a little frightening. I'll make it all right, but this part is the worst part. No old friends to talk with, no new friends to look forward to quite yet...oi. I miss you guys!

The good news is that I'm tired, so I may get to sleep a bit on the plane. Unfortunately, my plane is also running half an hour late. This is worrisome as I only have an hour and fifteen minutes between flights. The next terminal will be interesting.

Now to read and join the twenty-some people surrounding me in pretending we do not notice each other. Woo hoo! >>

I ended up riding with a young couple and their 16-month-old son whom I decided to call Brandon. (His real name, it turns out was Landon. I was surprised.) Anyway, he was adorable and kept making very interested and polite noises the whole time (the only unpleasant ones between the beginning of take-off and about two minutes into take-off when he became enthralled with the headseats).

Alas, in Chicago, we had to say farewell, and I had to run to my terminal at the ticketman's express direction. Security disagreed. That was fun.

There were about six of us arriving late, but they got us all on the plane. In fact, we had very few passengers on the plane. One bloke spread out across the entire middle section to sleep. I had a window and aisle seat to myself and was able to keep track of our flight and watch my in-flight entertainment at the same time. (Hurrah, The Darjeeling Limited, Michael Palin and G.O.B. on 30 Rock for three minutes!)

When I finally settled down enough to sleep, the small child three rows ahead took it upon herself to start screaming as though Stalin had been named her new nanny. To calm her, her mother offered her a Dora the Explorer touch and hear book. The next two hours were unpleasant.

I did get about and hour and a half's worth of sleep, though, and was able to freak out another five times before landing in Manchester at 7.30 GMT where I met a rather boisterous man who was already pissed. AT 7.30 IN THE MORNING. Anyway, immigration was a breeze, as was avoiding the drunk man, and I got on the train, found a taxi and arrived at school.

This place is incredible. I had quite a time getting over jet lag and am still fighting it, but the nice ladies who clean here heard that I was tired, and by the time I got back from buying an alarm clock, my bed was made and ready for an unconcious person. I applied and was offered a position immediately.

Come again, please?

...I'm leaving the country?!?

The Ever-Emptying Shelves of L-Space

With Lidas already partaking in the brilliance of Great Britain, I had to actually GO to the library to find travel materials (har har). I scoured any and all shelves I could find with any information regarding any European country further north than France. Huzzah for reading up on things!