Settling In

So I left you on Tuesday after we had gone to the beach in Bournemouth. Wednesday I had to get up early and to to a session on academics in the UK on campus. It was pretty useless except for the throwaway line at the end in which the guy told us that 40% is passing. So that's why the first years here can go out and party every night of the week and not flunk out of school. According to the British people we confirmed this with, you just have to pass your first year. It doesn't matter what your grades are. So wow. Then I went to an information session about immigration and students visas and such. It was slightly more useful, but also a bit confusing because the information didn't all apply to me because Americans can travel to Europe without a visa. Then I turned in all of my loan deferment paperwork so hopefully that gets completed soon so that I don't have to keep making loan payments. I'll have to check tomorrow.

Wednesday night flat 501 threw a floor party, so most people from our floor and a few others were there. It was good to get to know some more people from the building.

Thursday I didn't have anything to do. So I slept really late and then went to a few shops for some essentials such as plates, bowls, cutlery, and a cutting board. Then I came back and we hung out for awhile. Later that night we had a flat dinner of nachos and fajitas. It was pretty good. Then my flatmate Som and I tagged along with our other 3 flatmates to a Media school party in Bournemouth. We didn't really fit in there, but we heard some live music and eventually a bunch of us headed down to a club. That was fun and it was nice to spend some time with all of my flatmates. We thought that there was a free bus back from Bournemouth at 2:30, but we never saw it, so then we had to find cabs for all 11 of us that were still out. We ended up in 3 cabs and all made it home.

Friday I also had nothing to do, so I wandered down to the Quay and took pictures. Its really pretty down there. There is no beach, but the waterfront is nice and the shops along there have really cute storefronts. Then I went looking for a sharp knife. We had some knives in our flat, but when we went to cut the chicken and veg the other night, they were all terrible. I had to promise the man in the shop that I wouldn't stab anyone with it, so hopefully its sharp.

At 5 on Friday there was a postgraduate wine and cheese event that a bunch of us went to. It was alright, but we had to pay for it and then we only got 1 glass of wine each. The cheese was pretty good though. Eventually we moved that party to the campus bar and then to a bar in Bournemouth. After awhile some people left for salsa dancing and some of us went to the beach. We stopped along the way and got some alcohol from a shop and some KFC. (They don't have biscuits at KFCs here and they only have one kind of chicken. Its spicier than what we have, but not particularly crispy.) Then we went down to the beach. It was cold. I don't know what we were thinking. A couple of people ended up wading in the water. They claimed it was nice, but the rest of us were sceptical. We didn't stay for a very long time and ended up back home around 10 or 11.

Yesterday I went on a tour of the Isle of Purbeck and the Jurassic Coast. It was pretty awesome. We started by crossing Poole Harbor on a bus on a ferry. Then we were in the Durlston Country Park. We hiked down the path there and saw some amazing views of the coastline and some old quarries. When we got to the end they provided us with cake and we sat around for awhile to rest. Then we set off on the bus for Corfe Castle, which is a really old castle that is in ruins on the top of a hill. Apparently it was an excellent stronghold and was never defeated. People only got in by the betrayal of someone in the castle letting them in through a back entrance. After they had taken over the castle, they destroyed it. It was really cool to see all of the huge walls at odd angles from having been knocked down and settled further over the years. There were a few tall parts still standing, but almost nothing is left of the inside. We had lunch in the town below the castle. I got a ham and cheese baguette and it was the most ridiculously huge thing ever. And they went crazy with the cheese. It was delicious, but its going to take me weeks to work off all of those calories, despite the major hiking we did next.

After lunch we got back on the bus and went out to Durdle Door. We had to walk down a really steep path to get down there. Then if we wanted to get to the beach we had to go even further down. But there was also the option of going up to the top of a big section of rock that goes out into the water. Two of the girls that I was with and I went up to the top. It was really high and really skinny up there. Some cool pictures though. Then we came back down and went all the way down to the beach. The beach was made of various sized pebbles and you are suppose to be able to find fossils down there. We didn't find any though :( Then we had to climb back up all of the steps from the beach and up and over a huge hill to get to Lulworth Cove and the town where the bus was picking us up. That was a ridiculously long and tiring hike. We had to stop a couple of times to catch our breath. The way down wasn't that easy either since you had to be careful not to slip and go tumbling all the way down the hill. When we finally got to town I got some more water since I had drank all of mine during the hike. Some people also got ice cream, but I couldn't eat anything else after that crazy sandwich.

When I got home I wanted to just go to bed, but I knew that I couldn't as it was only about 6. So a bit later I went out for awhile with some of the other people from the floor. We just went to a bar down the street so it was nice not to have to take a bus and all that jazz. Then we wandered down to subway where my friend ordered a meatball sub. Someone else asked what was on that and I replied, just meatballs and spaghetti sauce, so which I got a blank look. Apparently they don't call it spaghetti sauce here. I think its bolognese or something. Just an odd sidenote.

So that brings us to today. I also had nothing to do so I went out shopping with Gemma and Danielle. I didn't need anything, but it was something to do for awhile. Now I'm here and just sitting around. We won't be doing anything tonight because all the Conservation Science kids have to enroll tomorrow. We don't know exactly what that entails or how long it will take, but we all have to be there at 9am. So I'll let you know how that turns out in my next post.

Photos

This is just the link to the few pics I've taken so far.

Intro dos

So on Monday I had to get up early to catch a bus to campus. We had an information meeting in the morning and then a campus tour. The campus is ridiculously small and yet I can't find anything. Seriously, there are about 8 or 10 buildings and the are probably about 5 or 6 floors each. So not overly impressive size-wise. Then there was an information fair to get info about bandks and biking and such. I got some stuff about a couple of banks so I need to read through it and choose one to use. Later we went and looked through the building that I will be studying in and looked into some of the labs. We couldn't actually go inside them, but we peered in through the windows. Then we had a free lunch. So far I think I've only had to pay for about 2 meals. So that's pretty cool. After lunch I had to go to a meeting about my loans. It wasn't super helpful, but I met the lady that's in charge of them so that's good. I also met another girl who's on my program and another forensic arch girl who lives on my floor.

After that I met up with some other girls from Corfe and we went back to get ready for the big International Welcome Reception that night. We were suppose to dress a bit nicer because there were going to be program administrators, course leaders and board members and such there. So I got to meet my course leader which was nice. Some of the others weren't there, but the osteoarch woman was. She seems very nice and gave us a bit more info about the start of the course. We enrol on Monday and then have some info sessions on Tuesday. Then either Wed or Thur we are going on a field trip to Stonehenge. Then on Friday we start classes with an all day Research Methods class. So that's a bit daunting. But we had a really nice dinner and I got to know a couple of the other American students on the arch courses. Overall it was a nice dinner and I was glad that I went.

Then we went back to our flat and spent a few hours chatting with our flatmates.

Today I had to go back to campus again to go to some meeting about working while here on a visa. It was actually pretty silly. I think it was more geared toward non english speakers, but whatever. After that I met 3 of my flatmates and we crashed the "buddy lunch" so that we could get free food. We were suppose to meet a friend there that was legit, but she wasn't there when we got there. So we all pretended that we had buddies and went in anyway. After we were all pretty much finished with lunch Danielle, the legit girl, and her flatmates showed up. Apparently they had missed the bus. On a side note, we had jacket potatoes. Which are baked potatoes scooped out and then filled with cheese and other stuff. It was pretty good. Then we headed out to Bournemouth Beach. We picked a terrible day for it because its pretty cold and windy today, so the beach was even more so. It was still cool to go though. One of the Canadians actually went swimming. It was really cold though. The rest of us just stood in the water up to about our ankles. We walked along the beach for awhile and then walked through the park that is near it. They have a giant hot air balloon called the Bournemouth Eye. We were going to go up in it, but it wasn't operating today. So we'll have to go back another time.

Walking around Bournemouth was amazing though. Its what I imagine England looking like. Narrow streets with really cool old buildings with fancy detailing. I didn't take pics of that today, but I'll definitely go back some time and do so. Probably when all of the busses are up and running. We only have limitted bus service at the moment so it took us about an hour and a half to get back to Corfe from Bournemouth. So now I'm back here and I'm not going anywhere else today. In fact I'm already in my pajamas and may go to bed soon. But until then I'm watching Strictly Come Dancing because I can't get Dancing with the Stars here :( Its a poor substitute since I don't know any of the stars, but what can you do?

Intro

So I believe that I left off after having arrived and attempted to go to bed. I did get back to sleep eventually, but first I watched an episode of Strictly Come Dancing, which is the original Dancing With the Stars. I didn't know any of the stars though, so that was a bit of a disappointment. I did know Bruno and Len though, so that was fun.

The next day I woke up and went on a walking tour of Poole. We went through the shopping mall and then down the shopping district road. It was cool because there were sections for each thing. Cell phones all in one area, banks in another, etc. Weird. Then we headed down to the quay (pronounced key). The Brits make fun when you say it wrong. There isn't really a beach down there, but there are a lot of big boats and a yacht building company. And apparently there is a great kite flying area down a bit further. After we got back I did a bit more unpacking and then went to get myself a cell phone. I ended up with a lovely purple slider. Its cheap to call the States on, but much more to call Britain, which is odd. I can change the plan later depending on how I am using it, but I still find it strange.

That night was the welcome reception and tea. Two of my flatmates are international students as well so we were going, but then we invited along our two British flatmates. They were a bit put out afterwards since they were the only Brits there, but it was kind of fun. Plus I finally found another girl on my program. She's from Norway. Then we all had to sit with people from our parts of the world to eat. Our table had North, South and Central America and the Caribbean and there were only 6 of us there. It was very sad. But I did meet a girl that lives down the hall on my same floor. She's from Canada and she's in the same school as me, but studying a different course. So after we all got back from the free food shindig we decided to go out and see what we could see in Poole. Turns out we could see very little. The whole town was dead. We ended up in a semi expensive pub where I had my first and probably last Pimm's. Its some sort of liquor, but I'm not sure what. Then its mixed with Coke in a glass with a lemon and a lime. It was pretty nothing. No distinctive flavor at all. So then we switched to a cider, which was a bit sweet.

We decided to try to find a cheaper place so we wandered back toward home. We got to the pub about 10:55 so the bartender wasn't too happy with us. We had to order and pay really quickly to get it in before 11, as that is the time that pubs close here. Crazy! Then they harassed us to finish quickly even though we were sitting outside. I think they were just a bit peeved that we showed up at the last second.

We headed home and ended up in the flat down the hall for quite awhile. All of the people that I was with are very nice and a few are on courses similar to mine, so that's nice. I was going to write more, but its pushing 2am so I think I'll go to bed. More tomorrow.

Arrival

Well, I have arrived in England. It is 12:33am and I woke up from what I had planned to be a good night's sleep, but has turned out to be a 5 hour nap. So I thought I'd try to bore myself back to sleep by getting this up for everyone.

So I left for the Chicago airport at 9am on Friday. I had two giant suitcases, a backpack and my shoulder bag. Which is all I could feasibly bring, but I'm sure I would have brought more given the chance :) We went out for lunch at Red Lobster on the way down and then got to the airport ridiculously early. We hung out for quite awhile and eventually I went through security to wait at my gate. I was pretty sad and nervous, but kinda excited too. My plane left at 5:05pm and it was a 7.5 hour flight to London. Nothing really to note about the flight. I watched The Hangover and Night at the Museum and and airplane food. I also managed to get about and hour or two of sleep, so that was good.

When I arrived at the London airport I had to go through immigration control. There was a separate line just for students so I stood in that for quite awhile. They were making a lot of people in front of me go to the health check area, so I was a bit worried that I'd have to do that too, but they just asked what I was studying and stamped my book. Then I had to pick up my baggage. I almost stole someone else's purple suitcase, but I looked at the tag and realized it wasn't mine so I put it back. Then I went through custom's no problem. I found the meeting point for BU students and there were a few other people already there. It was a long wait with a million other university students in the airport, but eventually we left. We were suppose to leave around 10:30 but didn't actually go until about 11:15. Then there was a big accident somewhere so we were further delayed. I finally got to my dorm around 2 or 2:30. I had to check in and then got to go up. But then of course the key didn't work. It's a magnetic strip key like a hotel, so I had to go back down and have them reprogram it for me. Then it worked and I got in. Another girl who was on the transport with me is one of my roommates. She's doing an MA in film directing. Later another roommate arrived. He's from the UK and is doing and MA in film editing. Apparently another girl is also here, but I haven't met her yet. There is another room in our flat so I assume that will be filled today, but maybe not.

So after I got a bit settled in and unpacked some of my stuff and go the internet going I went to Aldi's, which is right next door, and got a few essentials such as toilet paper, bread, ham, cheese and napkins :) I didn't do a lot of wandering around because I was pretty tired. I plan to do that later today. They have a Poole town tour in the morning so I'm going to go on that to try to orient myself. Anyway, that's pretty much the extent of my first day. I went to bed around 7 hoping to sleep through the night and relieve the jet lag, but that obviously didn't happen. I'll try to go back to sleep in a little while and hopefully make it to a more decent hour. I set my alarm for 9:30 and really thought I was going to need it. Stupid brain!

Well, I took a few pics of my room, but I think I'm just going to wait and post them with the pics of town that I'll take tomorrow. So until then. Good night (hopefully).

Going Away Party

Just a little before I leave update for anyone that's already stalking me :) On Saturday my best friend Sara threw me a going away party. It was a murder mystery party and everyone had to come in costume as their assigned character. Over the course of the evening many details came out and one of the partygoers was murdered. We then had to figure out who the murderer was and why they did it. It was a great time. So a big thanks to Sara and to everyone who came. It was great seeing you all before I left and it was really fun to get to play another murder mystery. I do believe that they are my favorite kind of party.

Test

Just making sure this still works and I can still add new posts. I'll be putting up a new one when I get to England on Sept 19. Hopefully. I may be really tired and won't get it up until the next day, but somewhere around then. Talk to you soon.