It's been awhile...
I have a feeling I'm going to have a problem keeping up to date with this blog thing. I'll try and get better, promise.
I have officially been here for two weeks! I feel like it has been a lot longer. I'm sure I could write an ultra long blog post and recount every detail, but I will spare you that and try to hit just the highlights. (It will still probably be quite long) My apologies in advance if it's a bit fragmented, I'm just talking about things as they come to mind.
GETTING HERE
I land in Detroit and meet up with Ally at our gate. We have about an hour and half to kill before we board our plane. What do we do? Eat giant cheeseburgers at Chili's. I figured I had a bunch of American cash that's not going to do me much good where I'm going and I might as well enjoy one last American meal. It was delicious. I'm discovering more and more that was a good decision considering meat is expensive here and therefore I don't eat it very often. Sorry Grandpa, I'm being forced into vegetarianism.
Anyway, Ally and I then discover that even though we had supposedly booked adjacent seats online, our request somehow got lost in cyber space. I had been having a flawless flying experience up to that point...and when I fly that type of experience simply does not happen, so the fact that something went wrong doesn't surprise me in the least. We decided to take matters into our own hands at that point. We decided we would board the plane last and find two seats together. How convenient! The seat next to the one I'm assigned is free! I beckoned Ally back and she had a seat next to me. Juuuust kidding. The one last person to board the plane has the seat next to me. It was a girl who looked my age, but I was still peeved that I had to bump elbows with a complete stranger for the next 8 hours. Granted if it had been one of the Brit football players sitting a few seats back I may have changed my tune...
Okay, but here's the point (you didn't think I was actually going to make one, did you?): I finally decide to dispel the awkwardness between me and this girl next to me, so we start talking. Turns out, she is originally from a small village in Africa, did her undergrad in the US and her master's in England and is now returning to Africa to help her family. Seriously, she was an incredibly interesting person, and given that I was about to embark on my own study abroad adventure, we had a lot to talk about besides the fact that the food they served us on the plane wasn't thaaaaat bad. Little did I know, me meeting her was just the start of the wide array of different kinds of people I was going to meet.
Although I am notorious for being able to fall asleep just about anywhere, I did not sleep well on the plane. At all. So, at this point I haven't had good sleep for oooh...36 hours or so? I figured I would stay up the night before I left for England so I could sleep on the plane. That did not really work. So I get of the plane, fairly grumpy and once again weighed down by my 100+ pounds of luggage that made it across the pond. All I want to do is find the coach that is supposedly waiting right outside the airport that is supposed to take me to Cambridge. It was not waiting right outside. I couldn't help but be reminded of slogging through the Shark River Slough as I dragged my luggage all through the airport trying to find the stinking bus station. It was strangely similar. Except the maps in the airport are , ironically, much more confusing and you don't have a compass. Good thing Ally has no shame in asking for directions. If I had been by myself I probably would've just sat down and cried and never made it out of the airport.
3 hours later we arrive at Cambridge. After taking a taxi to Homerton (there was no way I was dragging all that luggage 3 miles to campus) Ally and I set our stuff in our rooms and try to fight jet lag by exploring campus. It's gorgeous, by the way. It may not be your King's or Trinity, but at least its not crawling with tourists. I will admit, I did end up taking a small nap that afternoon, but I still slept for, oh 13 hours that night? Probably some of the best sleep I've ever had.
MEETING PEOPLE
I'm not exactly sure how to go about this section. I don't think it would be very entertaining for me to sit here and describe every person I've met, in what context I met them, etc. Let's just say that I have met a tooon of people from a tooon of different places. It's no William Jewell where 99.9% of the student population is from Missouri or Kansas. When I ask where people where they are from I truly ask without any type of expectation. On my hall alone there are people from America, Australia, Ireland, Mexico, Italy, and Germany. Quite a mix, I'd say. Don't worry, I've met plenty of British people too, but no potential husbands yet. Maybe I should give it another couple of weeks...
WHERE I LIVE
I think it's time to break all this text up with a couple pictures. Here is my room:
While I have the smallest room on the hall (of course), I am nevertheless perfectly content with it. I get it all to myself and we even have a cleaning lady! Her name is Claire as well. She is the sweetest lady. The fact that she cleans up after my mess and still is nice to me is a true display of character.
While we have our own rooms, we do share a bathroom as well as a kitchen. Downside: the kitchen does not have a freezer OR an oven. No baking brownies or having frozen pizza...or frozen food of any kind for that matter. Although, our hall did do no-bake cookies the other night. All the non-Americans were fascinated by the idea. I think no-bake cookies are soon to become tradition. At least we've found a way around one of our problems.
FRESHER'S WEEK
Basically Fresher's week is a bit like Jewell orientation, but muuuuch cooler. There is definitely no "adventure day" here. Themed pub crawls, crazy Fresher's Fair, bops, pub quizzes are all part of the week. I don't really feel like going into each event in tons of detail. Let's just say it was all crazy good fun. If you want more details, don't hestiate to ask.
DICTIONARY OF TERMS
One of the reasons I was excited to come to England was the absence of a language barrier. England...English...I thought I was good to go! Wrong. Granted I knew there would be some inconsistencies with slang, but I didn't imagine there would be so many. Listed below are just a few terms that come to mind. I'm sure I will add to this as time goes on.
Pinch= steal. Example- Someone pinched my milk out of the refridgerator. That's a true story, unfortunately. An honest mistake, I'm sure.
Down= synonymous to chug, or drinking your drink very quickly.
Penny (verb)= One must down (see above) their entire drink if they are pennied. Basically, pennying is when one puts a penny in another's drink. Specific rules vary. The object of this lovely game is to "save the queen" pictured on the penny by finishing your drink. This game is typically played at formal hall. One's dessert can also be pennied. This means your cutlery is taken away and you must eat your dessert without it.
Pants- Do not say you are just going to wear some pants out here. That means you are going out in just your underwear. Trousers is the appropriate word.
Cheers- This may be the word I hear the most. I'm still not sure of its exact meaning. It's a mixture of some sort of informal thank you/you're welcome/have a good day. It can be used pretty much at the end of any purchasing experience by either party.
Xx-Not sure of the exact meaning of this one. Kisses? Who knows. Literally every single text/informal e-mail from anyone I've received over here has xx's at the end of it.
Fit- does not mean you have visited the gym frequently resulting in a trim physique...although a bit similar. I would say the closet American synonym is "hot." Basically any very good looking person.
Bloke- a boy. Kind of like "guy" or "dude"
Bird- a girl. "Chick" is would be the best synonym.
Uni- Pronounciation is like "unicycle" It's the short, cooler term for university. Example- Homerton is where I currently attend uni
Are you alright?- Probably the saying that has confused me the most. I have been innocently sitting somewhere and someone will approach me and ask "are you alright?" Um. I think so? Was I sending some sort of signal that I wasn't? I have come to find this is like "what's up." However, I still haven't quite figured out how to answer the question. "Yes, I am alright, thanks?" "Not much, how about you?" I will let you know once I determine the appropriate way to answer.
Might I also add, not all British accents are the same and as easy to understand as you might think. So add various confusing terms with thick accents (particularly thick if speaking with one who's inebriated) and it really is like listening to someone in a foreign language. Although, I've already gotten a bit better with understanding everyone, so that's a good sign. By the end of this year I'll be speaking like one of the natives!
Again, there is much more that I could write about the past couple of weeks...but I'd rather not blab on and on. Hopefully I will get a bit better at keeping up with this thing so you can get a more detailed description of what I'm doing. Until then...
xx
Claire
