Tuesday 1/19 - Day 8

I can't believe that I've basically been gone for an entire week now. It doesn't seem that long, although at times it feels longer. If this week is any indication, this entire semester will pass by very quickly.

I woke up at a reasonable time this morning, and was able to grab some breakfast. I walked to the building where the London as a Tourist Destination was scheduled to be held, but nothing appeared to me to look as if it was a lecture theater, so I walked to a computer lab, checked it again, and walked back to the building. I found some students and asked them, but they were looking for the same class. We all went on a wild goose chase after that, until we finally were in the education building, watching a tutor yell at one of her students for being late, when she turned on us, supposing that we were hers too and we were late as well. However, when we explained the situation to her, she pointed us in the right direction, and we made it to class without an issue, although we were a little late.

The class promises to be interesting. Looking at London through a native's perspective will be good. Plus, there's field trips. :) I was shocked at how rude some of the students were. I guess that because it's a first-year course, the students are still pretty young & not into the whole class thing, but it seemed like they talked throughout the entire lecture, which was annoying and distracting.

After lunch, I came home, and talked to my hosts for a bit about America, politics, and traveling. Apparently they have a house right off of the beach in France. Mike gave me the business card, so I'll need to check that out. I took a nap afterwards, and woke up to get ready for the meeting with the student union president that we were supposed to have on campus.

I walked to campus, met the girls, and went to the cafe we were supposed to meet at, which was closed. We eventually relocated to the bar, which was pretty cool, but the meeting was relatively uneventful and was basically the president wanting the Americans to drink with him, so the four of us bailed to find food. Kim wasn't feeling well, so she and Danielle went back, and Kaitlin & I walked back into Twickenham to go to that little restaurant I love so much. We got the special on ham, eggs, & fries for 1.99, which is awesome, and had a nice little dinner out.

I came back to my room & tried to sort out the money situation. Everything is so expensive here, plus the US dollar is so weak, so money has been really stressing me out. What started off as me not wanting to do Europe on a shoestring budget has turned into me having to do Europe on a shoestring budget simply because of the exchange rate. I'll just have to be very, very careful.

Tomorrow we're planning on going into Kingston to look at all the shopping centers there. Should be interesting to see it in the daytime.

And so ends Day 8.

Monday 1/18 - Day 7

I had a really hard time sleeping last night for some reason, so when my alarm went off at 6:30 am, I didn't wake up, and for some reason, reset it for 8:20 am. For my 9:00 class. When I woke up at 8:20 and realized what I'd done, I got ready in a hurry, and basically booked it to school.

I met Danielle outside of my first class, Individual Differences in Psychology. I could tell straight away that this class was serious business. Everyone had told us that the first week of classes doesn't really mean anything, and everyone will let us go early, but this man lectured the entire time. We started the class off with an IQ test. It's basically all going to be focused on intelligence and personality, so not really what I expected at all. We have a case study due that's worth 40% of our grade, then a final exam worth 60%. It looks a little intimidating, but we'll just have to wait and see. I found myself wanting to drop it, but I kind of need it for graduation. Danielle & I stayed after to ask the professor, or "tutor," as they're called here, some questions, to which he listened, but didn't seem too receptive. I got the feeling that he didn't like, or appreciate, exchange students in his 300-level (highest level class here) course. We made an appointment with the other tutor to discuss the case study, and she seems a little more accommodating, so we'll see how that goes.

When we were nearly finished with the lecture, a woman wearing a go-go dress & leggings rushed in, completely interrupting the tutor, & started talking about the Positive Psychology class, the class I was supposed to have next. I was a little taken aback that she just interrupted the current lecturer, but I guess anything goes here. After she said her little blurb, she rushed out again, and the tutor continued as if nothing had happened. So interesting.

Danielle wanted to try out the Positive Psychology class too, so we were a little early showing up for that class, so we played on the computers and checked email and the like. I kept looking up other classes since taking another 300 level history course was not high on my to-do list.

The class began, and the go-go tutor started us out by taking an online survey without much introduction to the course. After we finished, she did explain the course, and explained that she didn't want to change our view of Positive Psychology by telling us what it was about, then giving us the quiz, therefore potentially skewing the results. The course is basically divided into two sections - the first going over a few theories, and with which we're supposed to keep a reflective journal, and the second applying the theories to society, in which we're to write an essay about one realm. It seems very interesting.

After, I walked into Twickenham to look for a place to eat since I was dumb and didn't wake up in time for breakfast. I walked all the way down and back this one street, and didn't really find anything, so I went back to the one that we were familiar with, and walked until I found an interesting, and reasonable, looking place to eat. I really wanted some fish & chips, and they had a lovely deal going after 2, so I sat for an hour with a raspberry sambuca spritzer reading one of my recently-acquired second hand books, and waited until 2 pm. At precisely 2, I ordered my 3.20 pound fish & chips, with peas, bread & butter, and tea. Pretty good deal. It was a very cozy little restaurant, and definitely one that I'll have to come back to.

I walked home, had a nap, talked online for a bit, then got ready for what I assumed was going to be a night out. The school runs a bus to one of the local clubs here and back, and includes the entrance fee, all for 5 pounds, so that's what we assumed was happening. However, we found out that it wasn't running tonight, & since we were all dressed up anyway, we still wanted to go out. The four of us met, basically walked the entire length of Broad Street in Teddington, and finally decided on a little restaurant/pub called the Red Lion, since essentially everything else was closed. I ordered a Pimm's, and the other girls ordered Disarronos and Cokes, and we thought that we could have a nice little evening there until the bar tender told us that it closed in 15 minutes. Whoops. So we talked to him, & he suggested we go to Kingston, where the club, Oceana, that we wanted to go to, is. We debated, but decided to go, & caught the bus to Kingston.

The line for Oceana was out the door and around the block, so we passed on that, and decided on the pub across the street, which is the same chain restaurant that the little pub I ate at earlier is. It looked as if it was staying open, so we got drinks and sat down. However, basically as soon as we did that, we were told that the pub would be closing. Foiled again. We drank up, then got the bus back to Teddington. Although our evening plans didn't work out how we wanted them to, at least we know a little bit more about the area now. Pretty good day.

And so ends Day 7.

Sunday 1/17 - Day 6

Sleeping in a little this morning was wonderful. Since our host families aren't required to feed us on the weekend, I took my time getting ready and headed to school to meet the other girls for breakfast. It was beautiful out, and we all wished that we'd been fortunate enough to have this weather yesterday for our day in London.

We decided to walk around campus a little to take advantage of the gorgeous weather, & I was able to snap some good shots of the campus. We also looked up our classrooms where our classes would start on Monday so that we aren't totally lost. Kim wanted to check out the fitness facilities, so we did that. They have a very basic weight room with very little cardio equipment, and a room for aerobics/fitness classes, etc. It's an additional fee, & considering that I don't take advantage of the free equipment at High Point (which I should), I decided to pass on the facilities here. I guess I can always run if the mood strikes me.

We walked to Twickenham after, getting distracted by a lovely little park on the way. It had a really nice playground, and I was kind of jealous for my childhood self that kids here can basically play year around, although it's still a little chilly. The park runs right up to the Thames, so we walked along that and took some nice shots up and down the river. There's also a WWII memorial right in the middle of the park, as well as a nice cricket pitch, & a large, open, grassy field. It'll be interesting to see how it's used in the nicer weather.

Once we got into Twickenham, we walked down a cute little side street that I'd noticed the other night as being closed off to traffic. It has lights strung over it, giving it a nice, cozy, fun feel. Today was a Sunday, so not much was open, but we did find a really cute boutique-like shop with cards & other interesting, unique things. Kaitiln & I got some cute little planners.

We continued down the street, and once we got to the end, noticed a sign for a Twickenham Museum that we decided to check out. It's located in a little house down by the river, and is pretty much just a bunch of pictures hung on the walls, but it talks about how the river was a hot spot back in the day with lots of clubs and activity, & the woman working the front desk was very nice and helpful in answering our questions and pointing out things of interest. Everyone here that meets us instantly wants to know what we're studying. I've found that to be very interesting. We probably spent maybe half an hour in the museum, but when we came out, the river had risen & flooded the street below it. Apparently this happens on a daily basis, & the citizens just know not to use the street after 3:30-ish. We checked out the church that was across the street from the museum, & admired the old, beautiful gravestones that littered the yard.

On our walk back to the school, we passed a little milkshake bar, & decided to stop in and give it a try. You start with a basic vanilla milkshake, then you can add in any candy bar or toppings that you want. They had some signature shakes, all named after people, so I got the one named after me, "Katie." It was very chocolately, but still very good. The "barista" was very friendly, & talked to us about the area a little bit. Most people we've encountered have been very friendly and helpful to us. As we continued our walk back to the school, we realized that the streets weren't the only thing flooded - the park had about half-flooded as well.

We killed some time at the internet cafe before dinner, then ate again. If we stick around on the weekends, we get plenty to eat - 18 points worth. However, with our plans coming up, we're going to be forced to miss out on food sometimes, so I try to take advantage of it as much as I can.

It was really odd to think that classes start tomorrow. I really had no idea what to expect, or how to prepare. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

And so ends Day 6.

Saturday 1/16 - Day 5

I was actually on time getting up and out today, which was pretty incredible. I stopped to talk to Gillian, my maternal host figure, on my way out. She was talking a little bit about the other students they've had. It sounds like this is something they do quite often. It was nice to talk to her, since I haven't really done much of that. She seems like a very nice lady.

Karly & I walked back to school again to catch the tour for London. We're supposed to get brunch at the Ref on the weekends, but since we were leaving so early, we weren't able to do so. Our tour guide was a little late, but so were some other people, so it wasn't a huge deal. Kaitlin's family dropped her off at the door, which we all hassled her about, since it was raining, & we all had to walk.

From the school, the huge group of us walked to the Strawberry Hill station to catch the train. We used our rail passes to get the day passes, and fortunately, we didn't have to wait long to catch a train. Everyone was very excited for our trip into London.

Our tour began right from the Waterloo station, where we came in at. From the station, we walked to The Eye, then to the Houses of Parliament & Big Ben. We walked past Westminster Abbey, then through St. James' Park to Buckingham Palace, where we watched a great portion of the changing of the guard ceremony, although we weren't close. We mostly got to see the marching band. From there we walked to the house where Prince Charles lives, and were able to see the changing of the guard there, which was kind of neat. We walked back through St. James' Park to the Horse Guards Parade, looked at where the Prime Minister lives, walked up to Trafalgar Square, into Leicester Square, & finally ended up in Covent Garden, at which point it was pouring.

The four of us were starving, so we walked around trying to find a reasonable place to eat, & finally found a nice Irish pub to eat at. I had a burger & chips. Beef just isn't the same here as it is in the States, so I think I'll stick with fish for the duration of the trip. From there, we decided to check out the National Portrait Gallery. It wasn't raining by the time we walked outside, which was nice, considering that we were all basically drenched. However, the National Portrait Gallery was jam packed with people. We all broke up inside and made plans to meet at a certain time. I looked at the Lady Jane Grey exhibit, which was very interesting, then walked around to find Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth I, a portrait of the Bronte sisters, & enjoyed the rest of the exhibits. There was a really incredible modern portrait photography exhibit that I briefly got to see, but it too was completely full of people. The Twiggy exhibit was pretty fascinating as well. I bought some postcards in the gift shop, & we decided to call it a day. I'd definitely go back, since it was free. Very enjoyable afternoon.

We ate dinner, then decided to finish up booking the Ireland trip. When I got back to my house, I noticed that I somehow had managed to lose the postcards I'd purchased, which was upsetting, but easily replaceable. I was exhausted from walking so much all day, but had some housekeeping issues to maintain at the house. I also resolved to curtail my spending, because money goes very, very quickly over here. Again, I wasn't able to take many pictures, but the weather was primarily to blame for that. Hopefully, the next time we go to the city, it cooperates with us.

And so ends Day 5.

Friday 1/15 - Day 4

Still not used to the jet lag today, & both my roommate Karly & I were a little late getting out of the house and to school. Only time for a banana for breakfast on the way out. Whoops. We found our way a little more quickly & easily this time, & went back to the classroom that was starting to become very familiar to us at this point. We had more orientation with people talking to us about protocol and procedures, then lunch time again. I decided to go to IT to try and get my wireless figured out, and somehow, with a combination of the two of them and myself playing with it, it worked, so I was able to have functional wireless at school. Win. A history professor showed up right after lunch to basically answer any questions we had about the school or the classes. He was very personable, & basically told us that we're having the experience of a lifetime, & to take classes we enjoyed, & not sweat the small stuff. I think I like this attitude already. The rest of orientation was basically the homestay kids and the kids not from UW paying for their bills, so we sat around & waited for the tour lady to come back. She did, & we were able to pay for all of our trips. My travel schedule (so far) is as follows:

Sunday, January 24: Oxford

Wednesday, January 27: "Oliver" on Broadway

Saturday, January 30: Cambridge

Saturday-Sunday, January 13-14: Wales

Saturday, January 27: Stratford

Friday-Sunday, March 5-7: Paris

Saturday, March 13: Stonehenge

The four of us walked to the Strawberry Hill rail station to get our rail passes that allow us to travel cheaply. The ticket-taker was hysterical, & was joshing us the entire process. We walked into Twickenham from there to get the phones sorted out. I found a plan that allows me to call the US for 7p a minute, which isn't bad. Funnily enough, it's more expensive to call in the UK than it is to call internationally. We decided to walk to Teddington to find a pub to eat (and drink) at. It was quite a long walk, but we found one. We ordered two pizzas. One, called the "Sunshine," consisted of pineapple, tomato, chicken, garlic, oregano, & ...sweet corn. But it was delicious. We also tried out some English beer called "London Pride," but it was awful & I left half a glass on the table when we left.

We tried to find a cafe that was open on the walk back, but everything was closed. We went to the local Tesco, kind of like a Walmart, but this was on a smaller scale, more like a grocery store, and did a little bit of shopping. Kaitlin & I dropped Kim & Danielle off at their house, which is right off of the main drag in Teddington, & walked back to the streets we actually knew, passing a really awesome, old cemetery on the way.

When I got back to my house, I was able to video chat with some people, which is always nice. I organized my room, & tried to get caught up with travel plans from Richie, my friend that's been in France since September. I went to bed very excited and very optimistic about the rest of my time here.

And so ends Day 4.

Thursday 1/14 - Day 3

Waking up today was a little bit difficult. Jet lag is a little hard to overcome. However, my roommate, Karly, & I woke up in enough time to get downstairs for breakfast - cereal & milk from glass bottles. Milk men are still in full swing here. :) The walk to school was easy enough. It's a bit easier in the daylight, & we learned a shortcut that takes us through the rear of campus. We met in the classroom we have been using, & were chit-chattng before the orientation got into full swing. Most of the students are from Wisconsin, albeit all over Wisconsin, several are from Latrobe, PA (which I know my dad will appreciate), some from California, a few oddballs, like myself, and there are a handful from other European countries.

Our day consisted of learning about the library, or the Learning Resource Center, getting our student ID's made, getting set for registration of classes, or at least learning how to do it, hearing about the religious offerings on campus, lunch (the cafeteria was getting easier to navigate at this point), a Q & A session about London in general, and finally, a woman from a tour guide company came to try to sell us some trips. Everyone was incredibly excited about the last two events. The other three girls that I came with & I stuck around after everything was over to talk about what we want to do, which is generally everything.

I tried to get my laptop to work on campus, but there was some kind of issue with the wireless, so I spent a while on the school computers talking to people from home. I was still without functional phone at this point, so I decided to try & walk to Twickenham, with only a vague idea of where it was, to try and get everything sorted out. However, by the time I got there, everything was closed. Most stores close here around 6, and I'd missed it by about an hour.

I walked back to campus, where I met with Kaitlin & made vague & general plans for our St. Patrick's Day in Ireland adventure. It didn't seem as if flights would be too expensive, & we were able to even get a hostel for the day itself. I walked back to my house from campus, talked to Mike, my host parental figure, for a while, then went upstairs to try and get ready for tomorrow. I hadn't taken any pictures yet, which kind of bothered me, so I made a mental note to do more of that. I went to bed with the thought of the weekend on my mind...

And so ends Day 3

Wednesday 1/13 - Day 2

Since the morning was actually part of day 2, I had to cut it short there for logistic's sake. Anyway, the bus ride to campus was somewhat frightening, as the traffic here is ridiculous. I can't believe that I forgot that basically any venture into the roadways of England is essentially putting yourself in grave danger. So between the times where I was covering my eyes because I was convinced we were going to hit another car, a pedestrian, a biker, a building, etc, it was a pretty drive. The snow was beautiful, and very unusual here. I felt like it was a special treat. Also, we were fortunate enough to get to land and not be delayed, because Gatwick was completely closed.

Our driver dropped us off at the main entrance to St. Mary's, and we were all afforded our first glance of our school. "Beautiful" comes to mind, as does "old," but we disembarked from the bus & were ushered into a classroom to receive our homestay and orientation information. I was still a little bummed about not being in the dorms, & all the kids that were in the dorm were pretty busy rubbing it in all of our faces, so that really didn't help. I found out that I was in a homestay with another student, which I had mixed feelings about. I didn't want to share a bedroom, but I liked the idea of having another student with me. Our host male/dad/father figure/whatever came to pick us up, and because the two of us had so much luggage between us, & he had a Volkswagen Gulf, we went one at a time to the house. I went first, & he basically ran into the house, dropped my luggage, turned on tea for me, then immediately ran back to get Karly, the other student that's living here. I sat in the kitchen, not knowing what to do or even what to think, when they finally returned, & we were given our tour. To my immense relief, there are two bedrooms, both very nice, and a bathroom between them for us. My room faces the front of the house, and the busy street we live on, but is large and spacious. Karly's room faces the rear of the house, and the gardens, and is quieter than mine, but also smaller. Both of us had house keys, Oyster cards, and some hair appliances waiting for us in our rooms, which was very kind. I even had a phone that one of the other students left. Mike, our host, helped us carry our luggage upstairs, then we went back downstairs for tea and to get to know him a little better. He's retired from one of the airline companies here, & loves to golf. He also has a souped-up Golf, so that gave us something to talk about on the ride.

After tea, both of us girls went upstairs to unpack. Unpacking for me turned into sleeping. Serious jet lag. When we woke up, we had to go back to the school for dinner, and Mike was nice enough to drive us. The cafeteria, or "refectory," as they call it here, is going to be a special experience. We're given 9 points a meal, and every type of food is assigned a point value. Main courses are 3, and sides are generally 1. It'll take some time to figure out, but hopefully we'll be able to figure it out without too much chaos. The first meal wasn't too appetizing, and somehow I really didn't have much of an appetite, but it was nice to see everyone again. We were given a schedule of the next few days, orientation-wise. Saturday was designated for London. I was definitely the most excited for that.

I walked back to my house by myself, which was a little disconcerting, primarily because I wasn't sure exactly where I was going, but also because it gets dark here around, oh, 4 pm. We were assured that the area was very safe, but your first walk alone at night in a foreign country can always be a bit traumatic. However, I arrived safely, and was introduced to my host female/mom/mother-figure/whatever and their son. I don't have a special word designation for him. Sorry. They seem very friendly and accommodating.

I spent the rest of the evening alternating between trying to unpack & socialize with the family, & the friends that Karly brought over. I was able to chat with Mom via ichat, which she was very excited over. I also showered in the electric shower, which isn't really different than any other shower, except the water is warmed by electricity, and requires several steps to operate, but it's clean, it's water, and it's warm, so it works. Thursday was supposed to be very busy, so I decided to go to bed early. Fortunately, I have an extremely comfortable bed, & the lovely, surprisingly calm, lull of the traffic to put me to sleep - as if I needed assistance after travel days.

And so ends Day 2.

Tuesday 1/12 - Day 1

These blogs are samplings, or the "publicly edited versions" from my actual journal. Although it's easier and faster to type on the computer, and certainly more convenient, something about handwritten journals just appeals to me, so I've spent my first week in the UK just writing. Writing about everything. What I see, what I feel, what I think about, etc. I've almost completely filled one journal in the 10 days I've been here. It's kind of bizarre, but I know that when I look back at these journals x number of years from now, I'll have my own handwriting to look at, rather than some print out from the computer, & I'll know that it's written for me. So that's my plug for journaling. As far as my blog name goes, I like the play on words. So there.

Alright... Day 1:

Leaving was a little harder than I expected it to be. Being me, of course, meant that I left everything to the last minute. Packing was done in the late hours of the night and wee hours of the morning. I thought I had consolidated everything to one suitcase, but said suitcase was 80 pounds upon weigh-in, so it's very good that I thought to bring an empty suitcase to the airport "just in case." It would've saved me a lot of frustration (and $ upon my arrival here) if I'd simply packed two to begin with, but what's over is over. Mom bought me lunch, and we sat in the airport while I ate my bagel & drank my smoothie. We both did pretty well with me leaving, or at least we both did pretty well as I was walking through security.

Due to the snowy conditions, getting out of Cleveland was a little rough. The plane was late in arriving, the gates had changed, we had to de-ice, etc. Fortunately, I had a long layover in New York, so it was actually better to wait a little longer in Cleveland. The plane was teeny-tiny, & I had both a window AND an aisle seat, which was actually the same seat, so you get the idea of how little the plane was. I started to notice how many other study abroad students were flying out this day too. I was very tired, & was able to instantly conk out & slept most of the ride to New York, only waking up once we were landing, managing to get some pretty neat shots of the coastline.

Wifi in JFK was locked, which I thought was pretty beat since it was free in Cleveland, but I occupied my time with eating McDonalds (last gross fast food) and thought that I'd get a kick out of getting carded for alcohol one last time, but, to my disappointment, failed to get carded while ordering an amaretto sour. So much for that plan. I was glad that I decided to bring my phone with me, if only to play with it while in the airport. I didn't bring any books with me, so it was nice to have something else to distract my mind with. As it got closer to boarding time, people began rushing the line, which was kind of annoying, and the stewardess was getting a little testy on the loudspeaker, but we all boarded without any significant issues.

My seat was two rows from the back, & I didn't sleep on the flight, at all, primarily because sitting across the aisle from me were the chaperones for the group of about 20 English students going back to the UK, so there were high school-aged students chilling beside me for basically the entire duration of the flight. At least the person sitting beside me was cool. The food was decent too, as were the in-flight entertainment options. Not a bad flight at all. However, when I went to get off the plane, I noticed that my bookbag was all wet & sticky. I asked the girl in front of me, who had also flown from Cleveland with me, what happened, & she replied that she had "gotten sick & spilled ginger ale at the beginning of the flight. Whoops." No apology. Cooooool. So sticky bookbag in hand, I finally got off the plane and into the UK.

Customs was cake, which I was very happy about, & somehow my luggage managed to make it off the plane first, so I was all ready to go within a half an hour of the plane landing. I waited for about an hour for the other three girls from the program, Kimberlee, Danielle, & Kaitlin, but eventually gave up on that & went to the end of the line to see if I'd missed them. I ended up finding another girl that was going to St. Mary's, and shortly, the other three arrived, and we camped out until the 10 am pickup time.

And so my first day of my adventure began.