Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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?
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?
Monday, September 21, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
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).
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).
Monday, September 14, 2009
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.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
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.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
2 Months
Wow, almost 2 whole months since I last updated this. Sorry about that. I my defense, my computer had a virus for about a month from March to April. So I couldn't really get on the internet. But its all fixed now so I'll try to get this up and running again. I'll try to get you updated on what has gone on in the last 2 months in a couple of paragraphs. We'll see how I do.
Well, March 15 was my birthday. So I went out with a couple of my coworkers and proceeded to completely embarrass myself. Its cool though, I'm over it. Make fun all you want, I've put it behind me ;)
I went up to visit Grandma in Myrtle Beach the next weekend. That was really fun. We went to a couple of shows and a brass quintet concert. It really made me miss my bands. You can't really dabble in french horn in a hotel room though, so I'm out of luck. Plus I'm sure my instrument is in a horrible state of disrepair by this point. It would probably cost a bunch of money to get the valves working again :(
The weekend after that we moved down South of Tampa. I can't remember if there was anything of particular note to say about that two weeks. I went to the beach one day and got the worst sunburn of my life. Parts of my are still a bit red from it. It was in the middle of the work week too, so I had to carry my backpack around for days with a terrible sunburn on my shoulders and back and everyone was making fun of me. (I work with a bunch of jerks if you can't tell) Later that weekend I went parasailing with Kazi. It was cool but boring at the same time. It was cool to be up there, but there was really nothing to do while you were up there, so it was kinda boring. I did see a hammerhead shark though, so that was cool. Then we ate at a restaurant right on the beach a couple of times. That was cool because you were sitting outside just looking at the ocean.
To start the next session of work we had to leave our hotel on a Monday morning at 6am. We all drove our individual cars out to the site in order to dig about 4 shovel tests in a field. Then we all went out for breakfast at IHOP. Then we headed on to our new hotel in Port Richey, which is a bit north of Tampa.
During that session I went home for the Varsity Band Concert in Madison. It was awesome! I got to see almost all of my college friends who I hadn't seen in about 6 months at that point. I also got to see my high school friends because they came down on Friday night and we hit up the town. Then Jen came up from Chicago with some of her friends so it was a really fun night. Then on Saturday my parents came down and I went to the concert with my mom. It was awesome as usual and less sad this year not to be in it. Sunday I went out to lunch with my parents and then hung out with college friends for the rest of the day. We went to the Quaker Steak and Lube for dinner. It was amazingly awesome. We had strawberry Lube-N-Ade and wings with lube sauce. Amazingly corny :P Then Monday I had to come back to Florida.
I only worked for 1 day and then it was our weekend off. My friend Carrie came up from the coast guard base that she is stationed at and we went to Busch Gardens on Thursday. It was really fun. We rode most of the roller coasters and then I excavated some Egyptian artifacts. On Sunday I went out with Kazi and we went jetskiing on the Gulf. It was amazing!!! So much fun! I still can't get over it. It was like getting to ride a motorcycle, but with less chance of getting hurt because if you fall off you just land in the water. I would love to go again before I leave Florida, so we'll see. Then later that night we went and played some mini golf. I have to hunt down those pics, but it wasn't my best night. I lost my ball in a pond on the first hole and had to go back to the office to get a new one. Then it kept getting stuck other places that put me in ridiculous positions for mean people to take photos of me.
And I think that takes us up to this week. So I will try to get the picture links on here and get this weeks update on here tomorrow. Good night!
Well, March 15 was my birthday. So I went out with a couple of my coworkers and proceeded to completely embarrass myself. Its cool though, I'm over it. Make fun all you want, I've put it behind me ;)
I went up to visit Grandma in Myrtle Beach the next weekend. That was really fun. We went to a couple of shows and a brass quintet concert. It really made me miss my bands. You can't really dabble in french horn in a hotel room though, so I'm out of luck. Plus I'm sure my instrument is in a horrible state of disrepair by this point. It would probably cost a bunch of money to get the valves working again :(
The weekend after that we moved down South of Tampa. I can't remember if there was anything of particular note to say about that two weeks. I went to the beach one day and got the worst sunburn of my life. Parts of my are still a bit red from it. It was in the middle of the work week too, so I had to carry my backpack around for days with a terrible sunburn on my shoulders and back and everyone was making fun of me. (I work with a bunch of jerks if you can't tell) Later that weekend I went parasailing with Kazi. It was cool but boring at the same time. It was cool to be up there, but there was really nothing to do while you were up there, so it was kinda boring. I did see a hammerhead shark though, so that was cool. Then we ate at a restaurant right on the beach a couple of times. That was cool because you were sitting outside just looking at the ocean.
To start the next session of work we had to leave our hotel on a Monday morning at 6am. We all drove our individual cars out to the site in order to dig about 4 shovel tests in a field. Then we all went out for breakfast at IHOP. Then we headed on to our new hotel in Port Richey, which is a bit north of Tampa.
During that session I went home for the Varsity Band Concert in Madison. It was awesome! I got to see almost all of my college friends who I hadn't seen in about 6 months at that point. I also got to see my high school friends because they came down on Friday night and we hit up the town. Then Jen came up from Chicago with some of her friends so it was a really fun night. Then on Saturday my parents came down and I went to the concert with my mom. It was awesome as usual and less sad this year not to be in it. Sunday I went out to lunch with my parents and then hung out with college friends for the rest of the day. We went to the Quaker Steak and Lube for dinner. It was amazingly awesome. We had strawberry Lube-N-Ade and wings with lube sauce. Amazingly corny :P Then Monday I had to come back to Florida.
I only worked for 1 day and then it was our weekend off. My friend Carrie came up from the coast guard base that she is stationed at and we went to Busch Gardens on Thursday. It was really fun. We rode most of the roller coasters and then I excavated some Egyptian artifacts. On Sunday I went out with Kazi and we went jetskiing on the Gulf. It was amazing!!! So much fun! I still can't get over it. It was like getting to ride a motorcycle, but with less chance of getting hurt because if you fall off you just land in the water. I would love to go again before I leave Florida, so we'll see. Then later that night we went and played some mini golf. I have to hunt down those pics, but it wasn't my best night. I lost my ball in a pond on the first hole and had to go back to the office to get a new one. Then it kept getting stuck other places that put me in ridiculous positions for mean people to take photos of me.
And I think that takes us up to this week. So I will try to get the picture links on here and get this weeks update on here tomorrow. Good night!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)