Friday, October 07, 2005
Hola!
Nothing much to report. I walked around the City Center for a while, taking lots of pictures that I can't show to anybody because they won't let me connect my digital camera to the computers here. @.@ In a little bit I'm heading to a Christian Union meeting.
I hung out with my roommates last night for several hours. We really don't have anything in common, but they're very nice people. The two Italian girls, in fact, are adorable. I wish I could kidnap them and bring them home with me for everyone to meet. We hung out at the "Rat Bar", which is the bar at the Ratcliffe Residences, of which my hall is one. For a place named "Rat Bar" it's not bad. I liked the music, although there was a bit too much cigarette smoke for my tastes.
Just realized that I never get charged for tax on any of my purchases. Must be built into the price somehow. Now everything doesn't seem quite so insanely expensive over here.
Why don't we have pasties in America? They're really, really yummy...
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I hung out with my roommates last night for several hours. We really don't have anything in common, but they're very nice people. The two Italian girls, in fact, are adorable. I wish I could kidnap them and bring them home with me for everyone to meet. We hung out at the "Rat Bar", which is the bar at the Ratcliffe Residences, of which my hall is one. For a place named "Rat Bar" it's not bad. I liked the music, although there was a bit too much cigarette smoke for my tastes.
Just realized that I never get charged for tax on any of my purchases. Must be built into the price somehow. Now everything doesn't seem quite so insanely expensive over here.
Why don't we have pasties in America? They're really, really yummy...
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Thursday, October 06, 2005
Konnichiwa!
Nothing much happening up here at the moment. Slept in late this morning, had lunch with the Christian Union. I've finished all my new books, and now I'm starting to reread some of the old favorites I brought with me. Don't know what I'll do when I run out of books...
So far, the UK is almost exactly like the USA. I can go for hours and hours in an America-like environment, only to be caught by surprise by one of the few major differences. For example, juice, soda, and milk come in funny-shaped bottles. They're very long and thin, like someone stretched them out. Or I'll be caught up in a Bible lesson and find myself surprised by the extra Us in words like "labour" or "honour".
It's a foggy, humid day, just cold and gray enough to make you sleepy. I'm ready for my afternoon nap now.
The BBC has a short photo tour of the campus here.
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So far, the UK is almost exactly like the USA. I can go for hours and hours in an America-like environment, only to be caught by surprise by one of the few major differences. For example, juice, soda, and milk come in funny-shaped bottles. They're very long and thin, like someone stretched them out. Or I'll be caught up in a Bible lesson and find myself surprised by the extra Us in words like "labour" or "honour".
It's a foggy, humid day, just cold and gray enough to make you sleepy. I'm ready for my afternoon nap now.
The BBC has a short photo tour of the campus here.
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Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Hello, everyone!
Today's been a bit of a lazy day for me. I don't have anything to do until classes start Monday, so I slept in a bit. Considering how thin the walls are here, "sleeping in a bit" means a door slamming woke me up at nine. Then I read for a while, cooked lunch, and headed up to school.
The International Students' Association is going on a day trip to London Saturday, and I'm signed up! Yay London! It only costs $28 and includes transportation and everything, which is astounding considering how much everything costs around here.
After I wrote you all yesterday, I walked around the Leicester City Center for a few hours. First I visited the New Walk Museum, which had some entertaining exhibits and also as an added bonus happened to be free. They had a geology and paleontology room with fossils, dinosaur skeletons, and rocks found in the Leicester area; a Bollywood exhibit; and three rooms of paintings, most of them weird modern junk but a few geniunely interesting.
After that was the Leicester Market, Europe's largest outdoor covered market. I got there about 3:30, just before closing time, when all the sellers drop their prices down to insanely cheap levels to get rid of the produce. Well, insanely cheap by UK standards, anyway.
Then it was back to the university for the anime club meeting. Apparently anime clubs are the same no matter where you go on the planet: everyone was completely disorganized, no one knew what was going on, but they had anime, so who cares! Erin, if you're reading this, you NEED to download "Kamichu". It's adorable! Wai~!
Oh, yes, and they showed the GREATEST music video EVER. In the entire UNIVERSE. The title's something like "Wizard of Oz RPG" with footage from "Azumanga Daioh". They said you could download it off of animemusicvideos.com.
After that, the club walked down to a pub to drink and talk for a while. (Don't worry, Mom, Dad, almost everyone drank Coke.) It's a fun group of people, and I had a great time. Someone gave me a lift home about midnight, then I went to bed.
I'm going to finish this off fairly quickly and head out. The Christian Union is having a get-together at 4, and I've heard rumors that there will be free food.
I'll be back online tomorrow, I guess. Love you all, and goodbye!
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The International Students' Association is going on a day trip to London Saturday, and I'm signed up! Yay London! It only costs $28 and includes transportation and everything, which is astounding considering how much everything costs around here.
After I wrote you all yesterday, I walked around the Leicester City Center for a few hours. First I visited the New Walk Museum, which had some entertaining exhibits and also as an added bonus happened to be free. They had a geology and paleontology room with fossils, dinosaur skeletons, and rocks found in the Leicester area; a Bollywood exhibit; and three rooms of paintings, most of them weird modern junk but a few geniunely interesting.
After that was the Leicester Market, Europe's largest outdoor covered market. I got there about 3:30, just before closing time, when all the sellers drop their prices down to insanely cheap levels to get rid of the produce. Well, insanely cheap by UK standards, anyway.
Then it was back to the university for the anime club meeting. Apparently anime clubs are the same no matter where you go on the planet: everyone was completely disorganized, no one knew what was going on, but they had anime, so who cares! Erin, if you're reading this, you NEED to download "Kamichu". It's adorable! Wai~!
Oh, yes, and they showed the GREATEST music video EVER. In the entire UNIVERSE. The title's something like "Wizard of Oz RPG" with footage from "Azumanga Daioh". They said you could download it off of animemusicvideos.com.
After that, the club walked down to a pub to drink and talk for a while. (Don't worry, Mom, Dad, almost everyone drank Coke.) It's a fun group of people, and I had a great time. Someone gave me a lift home about midnight, then I went to bed.
I'm going to finish this off fairly quickly and head out. The Christian Union is having a get-together at 4, and I've heard rumors that there will be free food.
I'll be back online tomorrow, I guess. Love you all, and goodbye!
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Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Some Interesting Facts
ABOUT LEICESTER
* Leicester was first settled by the Romans 2,000 years ago. There are still Roman ruins in some places around town: the public baths, the Jewry Wall. I'll have to visit and get pictures.
* Leicester is home to the Golden Mile, a street with 19 famous jewelry shops all in a row. More gold changes hands in the Golden Mile in a single day than anywhere else in Europe.
* Leicester is home to the world's only toilet museum. I wonder how many visitors they get, or how they make any money.
* My university's main rival is De Montfort University, just a couple of miles away. They live in an area where all the streets are named after nuts: Hazel, Pecan, etc. This leads to many jokes about "those nutty people", some of them rather crude.
* The only Jaine temple in the Western world is in Leicester. No, I'm not really sure what Jainism is.
* Leicester is the location of the Battle of Bosworth, where Henry VII defeated Richard III and ushered in the Tudor dynasty. The tour guide pointed out the former site of the inn where Richard stayed the night before he went to battle. Every spring actors re-enact the battle; unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to see it.
ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY
* Genetic fingerprinting was invented here at the University of Leicester.
* One of the buildings, College Hall, was the childhood home of Richard Attenborough, who directed "Jurassic Park".
* The university was given its Royal Charter in 1921, in honor of the British soldiers that died in World War I. Its motto is Latin for "So that they might have life."
* Leicester is well-known for its space engineering program. The university was deeply involved in building the Beagle II, which fell apart the minute it reached Mars. Just a mile away is England's National Space Center.
* The oldest building on campus, the Fielding Johnson building, was formerly a sanitarium before it was donated to the university.
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* Leicester was first settled by the Romans 2,000 years ago. There are still Roman ruins in some places around town: the public baths, the Jewry Wall. I'll have to visit and get pictures.
* Leicester is home to the Golden Mile, a street with 19 famous jewelry shops all in a row. More gold changes hands in the Golden Mile in a single day than anywhere else in Europe.
* Leicester is home to the world's only toilet museum. I wonder how many visitors they get, or how they make any money.
* My university's main rival is De Montfort University, just a couple of miles away. They live in an area where all the streets are named after nuts: Hazel, Pecan, etc. This leads to many jokes about "those nutty people", some of them rather crude.
* The only Jaine temple in the Western world is in Leicester. No, I'm not really sure what Jainism is.
* Leicester is the location of the Battle of Bosworth, where Henry VII defeated Richard III and ushered in the Tudor dynasty. The tour guide pointed out the former site of the inn where Richard stayed the night before he went to battle. Every spring actors re-enact the battle; unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to see it.
ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY
* Genetic fingerprinting was invented here at the University of Leicester.
* One of the buildings, College Hall, was the childhood home of Richard Attenborough, who directed "Jurassic Park".
* The university was given its Royal Charter in 1921, in honor of the British soldiers that died in World War I. Its motto is Latin for "So that they might have life."
* Leicester is well-known for its space engineering program. The university was deeply involved in building the Beagle II, which fell apart the minute it reached Mars. Just a mile away is England's National Space Center.
* The oldest building on campus, the Fielding Johnson building, was formerly a sanitarium before it was donated to the university.
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So out of touch!
Apparently, the English don't DO water fountains. I haven't found a single one since I got here. Guess I'll have to buy a bottle of water and save the bottle to refill from the bathroom sink, because I refuse to pay $2 every time I'm thirsty.
My roommates are all very European and sophisticated and fashionable, and I'm just... not. They all went out to the bar last night. I had a choice of going with them or staying home and reading a book, and really, I'd rather read the book. Going to a bar is the thing to do here, but I'm not going to one without a friend to talk with, because sitting in the corner and watching people get drunk is not my idea of a fun time.
Fortunately I found out that an Anglican church about 45 minutes away from my room was hosting the Global Cafe, a get-together for international students. I went there instead and got to eat free food and meet some very nice people and get my butt kicked at Jenga. Yay for the free food! I was the only American present; I suspect most of my fellow countrymen are underage back in the States and are taking the opportunity to live in an alcoholic stupor while they can.
Just finished registration this morning. Apparently classes don't start until next Monday. I don't know what I'll do for the rest of the week. Guess the aforementioned alcoholic stupor is always an option. :P Tonight I have to make a choice: eat free pizza with the Christian Union or watch anime with the Anime Club. Decisions, decisions...
The weather's been wonderful the past four days: slightly cool, just warm enough that if you put on a sweater you're perfectly comfortable walking. From the ominous clouds gathering on the horizon this morning, I imagine the weather gods are about to hit us with 2-3 days of rain to remind us not to get cocky.
Someone needs to leave me a note telling me what's going on back home. How much damage did Rita cause? How is New Orleans doing? Has something else life-shattering occured in the past week?
Love you all!
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My roommates are all very European and sophisticated and fashionable, and I'm just... not. They all went out to the bar last night. I had a choice of going with them or staying home and reading a book, and really, I'd rather read the book. Going to a bar is the thing to do here, but I'm not going to one without a friend to talk with, because sitting in the corner and watching people get drunk is not my idea of a fun time.
Fortunately I found out that an Anglican church about 45 minutes away from my room was hosting the Global Cafe, a get-together for international students. I went there instead and got to eat free food and meet some very nice people and get my butt kicked at Jenga. Yay for the free food! I was the only American present; I suspect most of my fellow countrymen are underage back in the States and are taking the opportunity to live in an alcoholic stupor while they can.
Just finished registration this morning. Apparently classes don't start until next Monday. I don't know what I'll do for the rest of the week. Guess the aforementioned alcoholic stupor is always an option. :P Tonight I have to make a choice: eat free pizza with the Christian Union or watch anime with the Anime Club. Decisions, decisions...
The weather's been wonderful the past four days: slightly cool, just warm enough that if you put on a sweater you're perfectly comfortable walking. From the ominous clouds gathering on the horizon this morning, I imagine the weather gods are about to hit us with 2-3 days of rain to remind us not to get cocky.
Someone needs to leave me a note telling me what's going on back home. How much damage did Rita cause? How is New Orleans doing? Has something else life-shattering occured in the past week?
Love you all!
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Monday, October 03, 2005
Ah, the joys of registration
I'm baaa~ck!
Wow, it took quite a while to find the tilde on the keyboard here.
This weekend was GREAT. After I posted Saturday, I went with three American girls, Emily, Janis, and Kelly, down to the local supermarket to buy groceries. Sadly, everything here costs about 2-3 times what it would in America. I spent almost $60 just getting basics like milk, eggs, sugar, vegetable oil, etc. Now I understand what Chris Sleath meant about living off of beans and toast. But I have onigiri, so I am happy. And for lunch I had a cheese and onion pasty, which was Heaven on Earth.
The university and market are on the very edges of the city center, so I still haven't seen much of downtown Leicester. But I still took some very pretty pictures. The residential blocks here are all beautiful, with quaint little English cottages and small green gardens. Even the prison looks amazing--the front facade is like a castle, with towers and turrets and everything. Only the huge video cameras up on the walls give any indication that it's a jail.
I'll have to find time this week to go to Belgrave Road, which is the area where all the Indian immigrants have set up shop. There's a row of ten or fifteen sari shops that I'm going to have to explore. One of the Indian girls, Mishry, says she'll help me find a cheap sari to wear to Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights, in a couple of weeks. Apparently there are a lot of big parties and fireworks and stuff in Leicester over Diwali.
HOW ENGLAND IS DIFFERENT FROM AMERICA
* I'm going to get myself run over one of these days, looking the wrong way to cross the street.
* Each sink has two faucets, one for hot water and one for cold. If you want warm water, tough. Either deal without or plug the drain and wait several seconds until the sink fills with water of the right temperature.
* No one registers for classes by computer. Instead, I have to walk to the International Office to get instructions, walk to the Cashier's Office to get proof of payment, walk to the History Department to find which classes are still open and get a registration form, and return that form to the International Office. And that's just on today's itenerary. I think there's more to do tomorrow. Oh, how I long for the days when I could register online with a few clicks of a mouse!
* As I mentioned earlier, the keys are laid out differently on the keyboards. I keep trying to hit Enter and hitting # instead.
* I've ridden on several double-decker buses. They're actually just like regular buses, and the excitement is beginning to pall. They always look like they're about to tip over, especially around tight curves. Now, I know they're perfectly safe, but I'm still wondering HOW. Aren't they awfully top-heavy? Is there some sort of weight at the bottom to counteract the weight on the top deck?
* Everyone really DOES walk everywhere here. Our orientation lecturer has lived here for 30 years and only ridden the bus once. Actually, I walked to the university this morning and it wasn't that bad. Took about 30 minutes, and the weather's quite nice today. However, I am going to be a wimpy American and get a bus pass anyway, because there is no WAY I'm walking for 30 minutes in December in the freezing cold and rain.
* Kacie's Rules of International Travel Number One: NEVER talk politics. Whenever I mention that I'm from Texas, inevitably someone asks, "Do you live next to Bush?" I say "No," and they proceed to rant about how evil Bush is, how he's the living, breathing incarnation of the Devil, etc. I just keep my mouth shut. It's probably the safest option.
* Everyone's really surprised to hear how few regional accents we have in America. This is, after all, England, where in many cases there's a new accent every block. But the only American accents I can think of are a few variations on the Southern accent and the Boston, New York, and New Jersey accents. There are a couple of Canadian ones, too, right? In Alberta and British Colombia, I think. But that's about it for American accents, really. Almost everyone speaks either Standard American or Ebonics. All the American students, of course, are surprised that I don't have a broad Texas accent, or say "y'all", or wear cowboy boots or live on a ranch. Sigh. At least I got my revenge, for all I know about Oregon is that they have lots of hippies.
* They call shrimp "scampi". I'm not sure what the British equivalent of shrimp scampi is.
* It's a twenty-minute walk from my room to the church, so I wore my tennis shoes and carried my dress shoes in one hand. People looked at me rather oddly, but the alternative was crippling myself, and I supposed I'd better get used to odd looks anyway.
* Yes, everything you've heard about British teeth is true. On the positive side, everything you've heard about British accents is true as well.
* I didn't bring any clothes hangers because they take up so much space and I thought I could buy them here. Apparently not. All the local supermarket has is horribly expensive wooden ones. I'll have to ask some British people where to go to buy the cheap metal or plastic ones, if such a thing is possible. Until then, my clothes get to hang across the back of my chair.
Yesterday I went to the church the Sleath's friends had recommended, Avenue Community Church. It's what they call a "Free Evangelical Church", which means it's not connected to the Church of England and it's evangelical. Actually, as far as I can tell it's identical doctrinally to NHBC. It's held in an elementary school auditorium, so all the walls are covered with cheerful and colorful children's artwork.
They have a band, too, with a keyboard, drums, guitar, bass, and flute, and play some modern Christian music. But don't worry, Mr. Keith, they play hymns too! I really liked "Before the throne of God above", which sounds vaguely familiar to me. Is it in hymnals here in America? It surprised me how many of the songs I knew; most of them are either fairly famous hymns or play on the radio in America.
I'm already in love with the people at the church here. After church, a man named Keith invited all the new university students over to his house for lunch. Yay for free food! For dessert (I'm sorry, "pudding"), we had black currant cheesecake. I'd never had black currants before England, but they're apparently the national fruit. They're in EVERYTHING. The hall cafeterias serve black currant juice with breakfast, and the sandwich place on campus has black currant yogurt, and the grocery stores have black currant ice cream. I like them; they taste mostly like blueberries.
After lunch, all ten or so of us talked for a few hours in their sitting room over tea. They were all wonderful people, and Keith mentioned that he was surprised to find that we Americans were much nicer and more intelligent than he'd expected. I decided to take that as a compliment.
Then we walked down to the park down the street, which was quite lovely. I'd left my camera back at the house so I don't have any pictures; I'll have to go back sometime before it gets too cold and take a few. There are parks everywhere, here, and all of them are very beautiful. It certainly rains enough here, so everything is very vibrant and bright green. The grass is green, even, unlike the half-dead yellow-brown stuff we have in Texas.
I met most of my roommates last night. Two, Elena and Elenora, are from Italy. One, Katrina, is from Germany. I think the other six are British. Two of them look Indian, but I don't think they have an Indian accent, so I presume they were born here in the UK. I don't think any of them like me very much, but as long as they don't eat my food I can get along with them. This is where I discovered Rule Number One.
I'd asked for a double room, but I'm not too disappointed that I got a single. The hall's a bit shabbier and more run-down than I'm used to, but it's not lacking in anything I need. One thing does worry me, though: there's some black stuff growing on the wall in the shower. What does black mold look like? I'll have to take some serious bleach to it and see if it comes off. If not, I'm having a chat with the Accomodation Office.
Anyway, it's about time for me to go to the History Department to select my classes. I'll probably be up here at the university again tomorrow, so expect another update then.
I love you guys, and I miss you! Please post a comment.
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Wow, it took quite a while to find the tilde on the keyboard here.
This weekend was GREAT. After I posted Saturday, I went with three American girls, Emily, Janis, and Kelly, down to the local supermarket to buy groceries. Sadly, everything here costs about 2-3 times what it would in America. I spent almost $60 just getting basics like milk, eggs, sugar, vegetable oil, etc. Now I understand what Chris Sleath meant about living off of beans and toast. But I have onigiri, so I am happy. And for lunch I had a cheese and onion pasty, which was Heaven on Earth.
The university and market are on the very edges of the city center, so I still haven't seen much of downtown Leicester. But I still took some very pretty pictures. The residential blocks here are all beautiful, with quaint little English cottages and small green gardens. Even the prison looks amazing--the front facade is like a castle, with towers and turrets and everything. Only the huge video cameras up on the walls give any indication that it's a jail.
I'll have to find time this week to go to Belgrave Road, which is the area where all the Indian immigrants have set up shop. There's a row of ten or fifteen sari shops that I'm going to have to explore. One of the Indian girls, Mishry, says she'll help me find a cheap sari to wear to Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights, in a couple of weeks. Apparently there are a lot of big parties and fireworks and stuff in Leicester over Diwali.
HOW ENGLAND IS DIFFERENT FROM AMERICA
* I'm going to get myself run over one of these days, looking the wrong way to cross the street.
* Each sink has two faucets, one for hot water and one for cold. If you want warm water, tough. Either deal without or plug the drain and wait several seconds until the sink fills with water of the right temperature.
* No one registers for classes by computer. Instead, I have to walk to the International Office to get instructions, walk to the Cashier's Office to get proof of payment, walk to the History Department to find which classes are still open and get a registration form, and return that form to the International Office. And that's just on today's itenerary. I think there's more to do tomorrow. Oh, how I long for the days when I could register online with a few clicks of a mouse!
* As I mentioned earlier, the keys are laid out differently on the keyboards. I keep trying to hit Enter and hitting # instead.
* I've ridden on several double-decker buses. They're actually just like regular buses, and the excitement is beginning to pall. They always look like they're about to tip over, especially around tight curves. Now, I know they're perfectly safe, but I'm still wondering HOW. Aren't they awfully top-heavy? Is there some sort of weight at the bottom to counteract the weight on the top deck?
* Everyone really DOES walk everywhere here. Our orientation lecturer has lived here for 30 years and only ridden the bus once. Actually, I walked to the university this morning and it wasn't that bad. Took about 30 minutes, and the weather's quite nice today. However, I am going to be a wimpy American and get a bus pass anyway, because there is no WAY I'm walking for 30 minutes in December in the freezing cold and rain.
* Kacie's Rules of International Travel Number One: NEVER talk politics. Whenever I mention that I'm from Texas, inevitably someone asks, "Do you live next to Bush?" I say "No," and they proceed to rant about how evil Bush is, how he's the living, breathing incarnation of the Devil, etc. I just keep my mouth shut. It's probably the safest option.
* Everyone's really surprised to hear how few regional accents we have in America. This is, after all, England, where in many cases there's a new accent every block. But the only American accents I can think of are a few variations on the Southern accent and the Boston, New York, and New Jersey accents. There are a couple of Canadian ones, too, right? In Alberta and British Colombia, I think. But that's about it for American accents, really. Almost everyone speaks either Standard American or Ebonics. All the American students, of course, are surprised that I don't have a broad Texas accent, or say "y'all", or wear cowboy boots or live on a ranch. Sigh. At least I got my revenge, for all I know about Oregon is that they have lots of hippies.
* They call shrimp "scampi". I'm not sure what the British equivalent of shrimp scampi is.
* It's a twenty-minute walk from my room to the church, so I wore my tennis shoes and carried my dress shoes in one hand. People looked at me rather oddly, but the alternative was crippling myself, and I supposed I'd better get used to odd looks anyway.
* Yes, everything you've heard about British teeth is true. On the positive side, everything you've heard about British accents is true as well.
* I didn't bring any clothes hangers because they take up so much space and I thought I could buy them here. Apparently not. All the local supermarket has is horribly expensive wooden ones. I'll have to ask some British people where to go to buy the cheap metal or plastic ones, if such a thing is possible. Until then, my clothes get to hang across the back of my chair.
Yesterday I went to the church the Sleath's friends had recommended, Avenue Community Church. It's what they call a "Free Evangelical Church", which means it's not connected to the Church of England and it's evangelical. Actually, as far as I can tell it's identical doctrinally to NHBC. It's held in an elementary school auditorium, so all the walls are covered with cheerful and colorful children's artwork.
They have a band, too, with a keyboard, drums, guitar, bass, and flute, and play some modern Christian music. But don't worry, Mr. Keith, they play hymns too! I really liked "Before the throne of God above", which sounds vaguely familiar to me. Is it in hymnals here in America? It surprised me how many of the songs I knew; most of them are either fairly famous hymns or play on the radio in America.
I'm already in love with the people at the church here. After church, a man named Keith invited all the new university students over to his house for lunch. Yay for free food! For dessert (I'm sorry, "pudding"), we had black currant cheesecake. I'd never had black currants before England, but they're apparently the national fruit. They're in EVERYTHING. The hall cafeterias serve black currant juice with breakfast, and the sandwich place on campus has black currant yogurt, and the grocery stores have black currant ice cream. I like them; they taste mostly like blueberries.
After lunch, all ten or so of us talked for a few hours in their sitting room over tea. They were all wonderful people, and Keith mentioned that he was surprised to find that we Americans were much nicer and more intelligent than he'd expected. I decided to take that as a compliment.
Then we walked down to the park down the street, which was quite lovely. I'd left my camera back at the house so I don't have any pictures; I'll have to go back sometime before it gets too cold and take a few. There are parks everywhere, here, and all of them are very beautiful. It certainly rains enough here, so everything is very vibrant and bright green. The grass is green, even, unlike the half-dead yellow-brown stuff we have in Texas.
I met most of my roommates last night. Two, Elena and Elenora, are from Italy. One, Katrina, is from Germany. I think the other six are British. Two of them look Indian, but I don't think they have an Indian accent, so I presume they were born here in the UK. I don't think any of them like me very much, but as long as they don't eat my food I can get along with them. This is where I discovered Rule Number One.
I'd asked for a double room, but I'm not too disappointed that I got a single. The hall's a bit shabbier and more run-down than I'm used to, but it's not lacking in anything I need. One thing does worry me, though: there's some black stuff growing on the wall in the shower. What does black mold look like? I'll have to take some serious bleach to it and see if it comes off. If not, I'm having a chat with the Accomodation Office.
Anyway, it's about time for me to go to the History Department to select my classes. I'll probably be up here at the university again tomorrow, so expect another update then.
I love you guys, and I miss you! Please post a comment.
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