School Daze, Gloucester, and A Whole Lot of Nothing

Sept 21-Mon
I woke up about 9 ish to get ready for classes and give myself enough time to walk there (possibly get lost) and get there by 11:15. Turns out I knew the way better than I thought and I got to campus and found my class by 10:50. So I sat around and snacked on my bag of cereal until class. My first class was “The Language of Literature” and thankfully another BCA-er, Emily, is in there with me. It didn’t go too bad, except when we found out that the class was being split between three groups because it was so big. So basically, you could not have class at this time, this day, or even in this room. Awesome. I ended up in a group that meets the same day and time but a different room and not with Emily. Problem is my class after that starts right when the first one ends, so they need to close enough to get to in a few minutes (teachers end class early on purpose for students with back-to-back classes). We’ll see how it goes.

My second class was “Project in Prose” which is basically a writing class is one hour lecture and 2 hour workshop, but only every other week because the 2 groups switch off. My group went this week, so next week we don’t have to but our group does have to meet for at least 30 minutes together when it isn’t our turn. The stuff we write about is just whatever we are working on. Oh and I am the only American in my class. Scary! It is also a full year course, so the “mock” assessment in November will have to be “non-mock” for me. I asked my teacher about it but his very thick Scottish accent left me only hearing “…..e-mail me…..” so I’ll just do that.

After class I was starving and realized my lack of food, when I had to eat Dani’s bread and peanut butter. So Kelsey, Dani and I went out grocery shopping and planned to make tacos for dinner. A British girl on Dani’s floor, Liz, also came with us and ended up helping us cook. She’s a vegetarian so we made her a quesadilla, which she'd never had, but loved. She in turn, made us all desert, called Angel Delight, which is like mousse and it comes in different flavors. We had butterscotch and it was good, even if the color and texture looked like doggie doo-doo. After we ate, Liz taught us a card game called Zombie Flux, and other flatmates joined us (Jesse and Jade). We played two games then called it a night. We have plans on Sunday with Liz, she wants to make us a traditional English Sunday roast. Yum! She is so sweet.

So the fire alarm went off again. This time it was at 3:45 am. I shot out of bed like a rocket, fumbled for the light, grabbed my keys and left. No one looked happy and apparently some drunk kid pulled the alarm. Great. This better not be a weekly occurrence.
End of Day 11

Sept 22-Tues
I met Dani in the courtyard at 10:50 for our 11:15 class we have together (and with 6other BCA-ers) called “Myth, Epic, and Folklore”. This class is a literature class that will also be split into two groups for size but neither times or days are changed, just rooms, but they aren’t that far apart, which is good since I have another set of back-to-backs on Tuesdays. That class sounds fun and exciting. My last class is “Exploring the Self” which is a creative writing class that deals with autobiographies and self reflection/confession. My teacher is Canadian, and Mike, a fellow BCA-er, is in that class with me, so I don’t so out of place. I’m most excited about this class, it sound so fun! Oh, I almost forgot (thought how could I?), when I was printing something in the library, the fire alarm went off on campus. I kid you not, 2 alarms in 8 hours. It was annoying and I waited for my papers to print before I left, haha.

After class I walked home and made myself food, yay! Then Kelsey, Dani and I walked to a restaurant called Wetherspoons for dinner because we didn’t want to cook. It was good but I ended up having to rush to the Christian Union meeting at FCH and had to walk there alone. I stood there awkwardly and made small talk with some people. I was so glad when a group of BCA-ers showed up to save me. We had some worship time, then a speaker, the quiet prayer and reflection, then tea and coffee. All in all we enjoyed it and plan to come back next week and for Bible study on Thursdays. Then we came back and Kelsey and I watched a random British gangster movie in Sonny, one of her floormates’) room. Cambria calls him Slumdog Millionaire because he looks like the guy from there. I went to sleep after that because I was falling asleep during the movie. Gloucester Cathedral tomorrow! They filmed Harry Potter 1 and 2 there!
P.S. Sonny was an extra in Harry Potter 6 and 7, he is in the Dumbledore death scene, all the way to the left, in Slytherin. He is also in a couple UK Wii commercials.
End of Day 12

Sept 23-Wed
Yay for sleeping in! I got up around 10am and got ready for the day. Dani said the day before that Amy wanted to got to the Gloucester Cathedral around 12 because she had class until 11:15. So I was ready by 12 but of course we didn’t leave on time. We ended up waiting for Amy’s friend Rachael to get out of class, and then the five of us walked to the bus stop to catch the 2:10 university bus into Gloucester. We had researched it before and realized that the bus would drop us off at a location that is 9 mins from the Cathedral. We paid our 70 pence and got into Gloucester with no problem. We even found our way to the cathedral without getting lost, but it wasn’t hard to miss the huge towers in the distance, haha. We were very glad to find out that we didn’t have to pay to get in, but all taxpaying UK residents were asked for a donation of £3 to take pictures. We aren’t taxpayers so we just walked on through and took pictures anyways.

The cloisters (hallways) were used in Harry Potter 1 and 2 and we all took many pictures of them. We also pretended to be the characters. I was Luna, so I skipped down the corridors. There were also other parts to see, but the Potter parts were most exciting. After we spent time being nerds, we left and explored a cute thrift shop down the street. I almost bought a Jane Austen novel called “Persuasion” for 75 pence, but I already have a lot of books to read and I needed enough change for the bus ride back. Rachael has it and said I can borrow it if I want. Everyone was hungry after that so we went to Wetherspoons which is cheap and good, and I shared nachos with Rachael (weird side note: their salsa is sweet, not spicy. Weird.). We found our way back to the bus stop and back to Cheltenham all by ourselves and we felt so proud and accomplished to go on a self-planned trip without supervision or help. We went back to the dorms and I uploaded the pictures, took a shower, updated my blog, and went to bed.
End of Day 13

Sept 24-Thurs
Thursday during the day was pretty boring. I slept in, which is good, but I literally did nothing all day. I did some reading for class and some writing also for my classes. Then I just sat around on the computer, did some laundry (which took nearly 2 hours) and sang loudly to my music. Exciting huh? Dinner time came and I got no call or text from Jay, so I am in the clear, hopefully. Dani, Kelsey and I ate dinner together but we each made our own food. Then Dani went to choir practice and Kelsey and I made plans to go to Blush that night. While we were waiting for Dani to get back and get ready Kelsey and I took weird pictures of ourselves, played cards, and painted our nails. Then it was time for Blush.

We were freezing as we walked there because we didn’t want to check our coats in for £1.50. Blush was really fun, but I had a really sore throat and a cough, so Dani and I left around 1am because I was sick and I had a Skype date with my mom. Then Dani and I remembered, when we were already back at the dorms, that we had put our keys in Kelsey’s room so we didn’t have to carry them, and Kelsey stayed longer with Tia. So now we were locked out of the dorm building and our rooms, with no phone also. So we stood at the gate to the dorms and yelled for someone to open it for us. We finally got in and got to Dani’s floor, where the RA lives and asked Greg if he could let us in our rooms. He then said he doesn’t have the master key anymore because he isn’t allowed to (sure, that makes sense). So we had to call security. But we had no phone, and no number for security, so we asked Khouri, who is Dani’s neighbor, to use her phone to call. Then security took forever letting us in and we still had to wait to get our keys back from Kelsey. Finally at 2am, Kelsey gave our keys back and I was finally able to talk to my mom on Skype, after she’d been waiting for an hour. Sorry mom! The I talked with her until 3:30 am and knocked out.
End of Day 14

P.S. I also dropped a cough drop in my hair after if fell our of my mouth. I am a genious.

Sept 25-Fri
Friday I pretty much did nothing. I slept late and played online for a few hours. Then the three of us decided to stop being lazy and do something, so we went to the local bookstore to look around and buy some books for class. We ended up spending an hour there because we are nerds and the store was 3 floors! So much to look at! After Waterstones (the book store) we went into a shop called Accesorize which, of course, sold accessories. Scarves, bags, gloves, hats, jewelry, everything. Good thing the store was closing soon because we all would have gone broke. I bought a present for my little sister and that’s all, because I restrained myself. Then we ate at McDonalds because we were all craving that for some reason, and then went back to Kelsey’s room, because it is the biggest, and watched a Harry Potter musical put on by some college kids on youtube, and some episodes of Merlin that they are trying to get me hooked on. After that we were all tired and our stomachs hurt (probably from McDonald’s; never again!) so we went to sleep.
End of Day 15

Sept 26-Sat
Once again, I slept late and did a whole lot of nothing. I sat around and waited for something to do. We had made plans the night before that we were going to see a movie at the “cinema” today. So Kelsey called me and Dani to work out movie plans and we decided to see Fame, because Dani really wanted to see it, but Kelsey and I could care less. We decided on the 4:15 showing and until then we would make travel plans. Making plans was confusing, scary, and daunting, so the only one we booked was to London on Oct.4 (Sunday). The rest we put aside for now. Then it was time to go see Fame. UK theaters have a lot of commercials, previews and talking people. There were also about a million pre-teen girls giggling and being annoying. The ones behind us kept kicking Kelsey’s chair on purpose and didn’t stop when she asked them nicely to. So the movie experience was very fun with that. The movie itself was ok, but Dani loved it of course. After the movie we grabbed dinner at Pizza Hut then went to Kelsey’s room to watch Merlin and Moulin Rouge (my first time seeing it). I went to bed shortly after because I’ve been sick for three days and felt like death. :(
End of Day 16

Sept 27-Sun
Sunday I skipped church (I know, SINNER!) because I was really feeling “poorly” and I could barely bring myself to wake up before 11. I once again sat around and relaxed but I didn’t feel as guilty because I needed to rest to get better. I finished my homework and was going to nap when I heard a commotion in the kitchen and smelled smoke. Then the fire alarm went off. Amber (British flat-mate) burnt her toast. I calmly got on some shoes, grabbed my keys, and left. There was smoke in my hallway but it wasn’t panic worthy. The fire department came again (3rd time now) to sort it out but they were not happy. We all plan to send them a fruit basket at the end of term. After all that we went back in and joked about how if there ever is a real fire, no one, not even the firemen, will take it seriously, haha. I did more nothing after that and ate dinner with Kelsey and she let me have one of her instant pasta mixes. Then Kelsey made plans for a movie night in her room, since she has speakers and it is a big room, at 9pm. At 9, Dani, me, Nick, and Liz went to Kelsey’s to watch “The Orphanage”. It was really scary and I hid for most of it. Thankfully I didn’t have nightmares that night.
End of Day 17

P.S. I bought Ben and Jerry’s chocolate fudge brownie ice cream at the One-Stop-Shop for five pounds and it is amazing. I think it cured me of my sicknes,haha.

Warwick Castle and a Very Cornish Weekend

Sept 16-Wed
Wednesday we woke up semi-early to meet Sandy and walk to the FCH campus.We had biscuits and coffee at the chapel and had a talk from the chaplin, Tamsin. She told us all about the Christian Union and it was very informative. After that we got a tour of the FCH campus, which was helpful because all of my classes are on that campus.

After the tour we got on a bus and drove to Warwick for the afternoon. We had about 5hours to tour the castle and see the town. Kelsey, Dani and I decided to to tour the castle first before going into town. Warwick Castle was so pretty, and such a strong fortress back in the day. It was first built in 1066 and has been remodeled and restored several times since then. We went into all the rooms and took pictures. The scariest things though were the wax people the put in the rooms to show how the real family lived. But they looked so life-like that I expected them to jump out and yell “boo!” Even more confusing was when there were real people and wax people in the rooms. The workers dressed up and stood by the wax people and it was really scary when they moved and talked. We sat down after climbing up a huge hill, at some benches in the shade among the peacocks and ducks. One duck came over to us to be friendly, or look for food, and we named him Winston. We also made a peacock friend named Merlin. Though looking back now, Winston was most likely a girl,haha.

Another adventure came when we tried to leave a tower room, but realized that we couldn’t get out unless we went up more stairs, and so on. Eventually, we had climbed a billion stairs, and we were winded and in pain. Then we thought we finally found the exit, Kelsey found a small, skinny passageway through two walls, so we all went through it, difficultly, I might add. Then we realized that there was another way out. Of course,haha. After we were done nearly dying from the castle, we went into town with the 30 mins we had left. There was a cool antique jewelry shop we saw and we wanted to go in, but we had to ring the bell on the door for service. After we rang the bell, a lady came from the back room to let us in and we told her we just wanted to look around. She stood in the room staring us down the whole time. Awkward! We left as fast as possible. Then Wednesday night, Cambria made pasta for Kristen, Dani, Khouri and I and we ate, then decided to go out with Katie, a British flat mate of theirs. She took us to a bar called Slack, which was laid back and not very crowded. I had a WKD blue, and it was very yummy because it tasted like candy. The night was fun and very chill.
End of Day 6

Sept 17-Thurs
Thursday we got to sleep in and we had the day to go to the “freshers fare” where there is info about joining clubs and sports. I made plans with Cam, Kristen, Khouri, and Katelyn Golda, to meet at 11 to go change over our American dollars, then buy necessities. My $18 turned into £10 something. Not cool. After going to Wilkinsons and getting a laundry hamper, we went back to the dorms and made PB&J sandwiches for lunch. After I watched GLEE with Dani and then us and Kelsey walked to Park campus to go to the fair. We got loads of free stuff, free pizza, and discounts to local restaurants and shops. I signed up for the Christian Union and I am excited for Tuesday when they meet.

After freshers fair we went shopping at Primark for cute “going out outfits” since we brought none and going out is a huge part of British culture. I bought 2 dresses and a bath matt for £20! Score! Then we went back to the dorms (Regency) and got ready together to go to a club called Blush because it was Propaganda night with DJs and and rooms full of dancing and music. Each room played different kinds of music so you could wander or stay in one rooms. Kelsey, Dani, and had fun dancing to music we’d never heard. Some of our flat-mates were there so we danced with them too. It was very fun, but sooo crowded. We went back around 12:30 because I had a Skype date with my family. Yay! After finally getting to talk to my family, I finished packing for our weekend trip to Cormwall (Newquay) then went to sleep.
End of Day 7

Sept 18-Fri
Woke up and had to be ready to get on the bus at 8:20 am. Ewww. At least we were on the bus for a while and I was able to fall asleep. I had a late night/early morning, so I was beat. We drove for at least and hour and a half then stopped for breakfast because the rule for bus drivers is to stop every hour and a half for a break. After breakfast we drove more and I slept more, then we got to an old Victorian house from the 1800s called the Lanhydrock House, which is more like a mansion. We had a couple of hours to wander around and take pictures of the outside, not the inside. It wasn’t filled with creepy wax people at least, but it was ginormous. I got some really good pictures of the outside, so that was good. We went to the graveyard of the house and it was weird because they didn’t bury people deep into the ground, so there were just these bumps in the ground with no order to them at all. I expected hands to come out of the ground or people to come out. Creepy!

After Lanhydrock we got lunch from a cute country club restaurant and I had my first English tea, and it wasn’t too bad. We then left and drove to Newquay (in Cornwall, pronounced “new key”), to check into our surf lodge. Our room, Dani, Tia, and I, is really small and the shower turns off every 30 seconds. Plus the bathroom mirror is too tall and I can only see the top of my head. Lame. Anyways, we went (Dani, Kelsey,and I) to dinner at a seaside restaurant called Kahuna. The view was amazing but it was a little expensive. Then we came back to the lodge, and watched tv (something we can’t do at the dorms) before we got invited to hang out with Tia, Ross, Nick and Michael. They were in a bar, but then went down to the beach instead. Dani, Kelsey and I split a Smirnoff ice, and the only legal place we could drink it was on the beach, but the others said there were some annoying teens getting drunk and shooting off fireworks (illegal in the UK). We decided to only go half way down to share our drink quickly but the teens ended up talking to us anyways. We met tons of 15-18 y/os who were illegally drinking but were very fun and excited to meet Americans and talk about the culture and its differences from the UK. We were told we had to try a Cornish Pasty (pastry with meat and potatoes) and Cornish cream ice cream. We decided to leave after we realized that we could be liable for the underage drinkers. We then went to bed.
End of Day 8

P.S. Toby, a 15 year old, gave us very specific, and inebriated instructions on how to eat a pasty. (Open mouth, put it in, take a bite, but not all of it at once, you’ll choke, then chew, but not too much, maybe 7 or 8 times).
P.S.S. Kelsey dared me to roll down a huge hill at the Lanhydrock house, so I did. See my facebook for the video.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG SISTER NICOLE! 25! Yay!

Sept 19-Sat
The meeting time was 12 noon so thankfully we got to sleep in. Kelsey,Dani, Tia and I went to breakfast at Somer’s Café and it was really good and cheap. Yay! Then we wnet back to the lodge to meet Sandy and Denise to get on the bus to drive to Lands End (the southernmost tip of England). The drive was pretty uneventful (except when I almost got a picture of the cute sheep, but failed. I’m determined to get one.). Lands End was beautiful and sunny, overlooking the ocean. There were a lot of cliffs and a lot of signs saying to beware of them, ha! We spent 25 minutes there to get pictures and look at the view before we got back on the bus to go to St. Ives, a cute seaside town with lots of old shops and very gorgeous beaches. We got to spend a few hours and explore St. Ives, so that was nice. Kelsey, Dani, and I stopped at a local bakery to get a traditional Cornish Pasty, and it was surprisingly good, despite how it sounded. It was basically like a pot-pie.

We met up with Tia, Ross, Nick, Michael, and Matina and we all went to get ice cream because Dani had been craving it since we were told it was amazing. It actually was quite good. And I satisfied my chocolate craving. We all then decided to go down to the beach and hang out. Kelsey took a picture of me touching the Atlantic Ocean for the first time with my hands before the waves came in and soaked my shoes. I had wet shoes for the rest of the day, haha, typical. We wandered around some more, took more pictures, then headed back to the bus stop to meet everyone else. We, Dani, Kelsey and I killed some time sitting on a bench outside some shops then we saw a car accident. It wasn’t bad, just some scratched cars. The roads are wayyy too narrow for a two way street. We got back on the bus after that and came back to Newquay and chilled for like a half-hour. We wanted to hang out with people from the group at Wetherspoons but they wouldn’t let Dani in without a license or a passport (not even a copy). Well, she didn’t have either because she doesn’t drive, so we went back to Kahuna with Amy and Rachel and had a good time getting to know them. Amy helped me separate my American coins from the British ones so its not so confusing. That helped a lot when I had to pay. Then we came back, I took a shower, packed and went to bed. Exhausted!
End of Day 9

Funny things I keep doing: Trying to pay with American coins on accident, don’t convert °C to °F, 100°F is very different from 100°C (death), and getting used to how they say time over here (meet at quarter five….quarter to five? Quarter after five? I don’t know!!)

Sept 20-Sun
We had to checked out of the surf lodge by 9:15 so Tia and I packed up and grabbed breakfast. Then it was off to the Eden Project, which basically what used to be a mine and is now dedicated to environmental preservation and education. They had a lot of huge bubble-looking structures that are called biomes and they had plants and environments in them from around the world. We had about 2 hours to explore (more than enough time) so our group (Tia, Nick, Ross, Dani, Kelsey, and I) wandered around trying to find out how to get into the biomes. There were all kinds of weird art and sculptures everywhere but no entrance to the biomes. Finally we found it and went into the Rainforest one first. Big mistake. It was so humid and hot. We looked around for like 10 minutes then left so we could breathe. The Mediterranean one was much more tolerable so we saw the whole thing. After that we bought lunch and saw “the biggest nutcracker in the world”. That was thrilling, haha. Basically after that we got bored of seeing plants and sat around. I’m not an aspiring botanist or environmentalist so it wasn’t that interesting for me.

After that it was the bus ride and I slept mostly. When we got back to Regency(dorms), Dani, Kelsey, and I walked to the Pittville campus, because they both had classes there the next day. We found it fine and decided to the Park campus because Kelsey’s friend Doug said there was a game night going on. So went but never met up with Doug. We ended up sitting at the only available couch and made friends with the guys sitting at the other one. We tried to help them with the game but we sucked. One of the guys, Jay, told us that we were very pretty and he didn’t know why we didn’t have boyfriends. None of us are used to the British forwardness, or this attention so we didn’t know what to say. Then he told me that I was pretty and asked what I would do if he tried to kiss me. I said that I would say no and he said that was an insult. I said that I didn’t mean to insult, but I just met him and I’m not used to the bluntness of the UK guys. We made plans to meet him in town with his friends and go to a club, and then he said he wants to take me out for Chinese food on Thursday. I agreed, but am planning on doing a DTR (define the relationship) with him and let him know that I’d feel more comfortable in a group setting, also I don’t want to pursue anything other than friendship. After that awkward encounter we walked with them back into town and went to get some sleep. Classes start tomorrow. Ahhh!
End of Day 10

Uneventful Events

Sept 12-Sat
I woke up to my annoying room phone beeping and 8am. I had set my alarm for 8:30 so I was a little mad about that. It said I had a message, but I couldn’t figure out how to check it so I just ignored it. Turns out everyone’s was beeping too because the internet and phone are connected, and the internet was down. At 9:45 we then waked to Francis Close Hall for our orientation and breakfast which was held in the chapel (so pretty).

After orientation we went on a walk through town and Denise and Sandy showed us some good eating, shopping, and information stores to go to, as well as banks, post offices, and bus stops. Then we were left to wander around town and told to meet back in front of Marks and Spencers at 5pm to walk to dinner. Our group went to the indoor mall and to the promenade to take pictures. By then it was time to meet for dinner so we headed back. We walked to dinner at ZiZi’s Italian Restaurant, which was once a church. It was beautiful and the food was good, but I could have done without the bacon in my pasta, and the Sprite that is their lemonade. The juice kind doesn’t exist apparently. Sad day! I also got chocolate gelate! Mmmm! After dinner, the fab five (me, Cambria, Kristen, Khouri, Danielle), decided to go to the One Stop Shop across the way from the dorms and buy some pear flavored beer to share. It was really good. Then we hung out in Cambria’s room and talked and got to know each other. Good times! Two things I discovered today are that people from the east coast (pretty much all the people there), are very interested in California, particularly the weather and how it doesn’t get colder that like 50 degrees,haha. The other thing I learned is that the cars in England have the right of way, which would explain the many near death experiences I’ve had trying to cross the street. I always forget to look right first instead of left. Also, I am starting to get hungry at random times during the day and night because I am still on CA time. Grrr!

Sept 13-Sun
Today a big group of us BCA students got up in the morning and went to church called Trinity church, which is just down the street. They are evangelical Christians and they were very welcoming, and I knew most of the songs, which was good. Then they sang “Oh Happy Day,” which is a song from Jamaica and it made me happy. The church reminded me of my church because they were shouting out and dancing and raising hand during worship like Pastor Brian wants us to start doing. It was a good message too, about tackling the tough questions people have about Christianity that Christians are scared to answer, like evolution, and science. It’s a series, so we’ll see what’s next. After the long service (2 hours!) the fab five, walked to buy Khouri and I a phone and they weren’t too expensive (£15-about $17 for the phone and a pre-paid minutes), so that was nice too. Now I can actually know what time it is, and I can stop carrying my alarm clock around with me,haha! Our worker at the store was not very friendly, his name was Ami, maybe that’s why,lol.

After that we got lunch/breakfast (at 1:30pm) at Burger King. Not much different, but the ketchup is much sweeter here. Sandy, the director, also revealed to me that mostly all the drinks in England are carbonated. Sad day! We finished our food then went back to Cambria’s room to watch GLEE and paint our nails bright green with Kristen’s newly bought nail polish. By that time it was time to leave for the residence meeting we had to attend, because the “freshers” (freshmen) moved in today. They are young, but seem pretty nice. So, I rushed out of my room because I was late, and I left my keys on my bed, so I locked myself out of my room. Grrr! I decided to wait until after the meeting to worry about it. So we all (RA’s, freshers, BCA students) walked like 2 miles to the Pitville Campus of the University of Gloucestershire for a boring meeting that didn’t even apply to us BCA students. They walk A LOT here by the way. I am going to get so “fit” as the British call it. After the meeting I had Greg, the cute Irish RA that is at us fab five’s beck-and-call, let me into my room.

Then we all decided to get Chinese takeout for dinner and share meals, but there was still a lot of food left over. The portion sizes are the same size, if not bigger than in the U.S. We all ate on the 3rd floor kitchen, where all four, except me live, and we met some British students named Katie and Rachel. I talked to Rachel a lot about being homesick because she is from Wales (another country-kinda, next to, but attached to England) and has never been away for too long. Then we found out there was a welcome party at the student union and thrown by them at the Park Campus so us 5 went with the other freshers and BCA students. It was crowded but fun. There was karaoke and we all enjoyed watching Greg and other boys sing Backstreet Boys,haha. We danced for a while and sipped on our “sex on the beach” then called it a night. Early start tomorrow!

Sept 14-Mon
We had to wake up early to go to meet Sandy (the director) out in front of the dorms at 8:45. Blech! Then Sandy walked into town and showed us how to catch the bus to the different campuses. Today we went to Park Campus and did a lot of orientation stuff about academics and the student union. The president of the student union, Leigh, gave us a presentation, and I enjoyed it because he was nice to look at, haha. Then he showed us exactly where the student union is located, but I was late because I was frantically trying to find a bathroom. Thankfully, Sandy came to my rescue, because I bet I looked so pathetic and ready to cry, haha. She’s so sweet! I’ll need to know where those are around my classes. Curse you small bladder!

When I finally found a bathroom and found my way back to the group, Denise met up with us and we were shown where Denise’s office is, for future references. Then we were invited the school barbeque on lawn. I didn’t eat much because I felt sick and it wasn’t very flavorful. After a not so awesome meal, it was back to more meeting with Denise and Sandy and we got our “timetables,” or classes. Denise said there were too many people in the Myth class, so some people would have to drop, but it is required for my major, so I hope I get it!

After the meetings were finally over, the five of us, Cambria, Khouri, Kristen, Danielle and myself, went to go get Pizza Hut for dinner, which is like a sit down restaurant. Then we started making plans to go to “The Place” (no, that’s really what it’s called), the nightclub down the street that is popular on Monday nights. Greg, the cute RA, invited us to go with him. I borrowed one of Kristen’s dresses, since she is small too and I have none of my own. I’m planning on buying like one or two while here. Going out is a huge part of the culture. Anyways, “The Place” was wayyy to crowded that we couldn’t even get in, and expensive, so we went to the Hog’s Head instead. It’s a local pub that was kinda crowded, because it was pint for a pound night, but we didn’t need to pay to get in. The other girls ordered drinks but I wasn’t in the mood. It was fun sitting there laughing at drunk people and very risqué music videos. Then we got bored so we went back to our rooms to go to sleep. But the people on my floor, BCA students I think, were being so loud at 2am but I was too lazy to tell them to be quiet so I ignored them and fell asleep.

Sept 15-Tues
Again, we had to be up early to meet Sandy and take the bus to Park campus again. We had more meetings with Denise and Sandy about academics and traveling safety. Then we were set loose for a little bit while Denise saw us each individually to go over and finalize our schedules. Cambria, Kristen, another BCA-er Lauren, and I went down to the “learning centre” or library/computer lab, to figure out how to change our e-mail passwords. We weren’t really that loud, just confused and asking each other questions, and the guy at the computer by us was all annoyed. Then when we left I heard Mr. Grumpy say, “Oh, thank God,” haha. We didn’t make a friend in him obviously.

After the learning center, we went and ate lunch in the school “refectory” or cafeteria, where our student ID’s were said to work and have credit for, but of course, now they don’t. Awesome, out of pocket it is. Then we went back to meet with Denise and work out our schedules. I told her I need the Myth class for my major and she said she will try her best to work it out, but to come up with a plan B just in case. Uhgg! Sandy then came after that was all sorted, took over for Denise, and helped us get back on the bus. We then rode the bus around to every bus stop and campus to acquaint ourselves with the bus system.

When the bus dropped us off at the dorms the five of us got together to make a grocery list because we’ve put off cooking long enough. We went to Tescos and bought food for us to cook for each other and some for our individual selves. Then we came back and ate our left over pizza and met some new students Katie, Jesse, and Noodle(James), who live on the 3rd floor where all my other friends live. We then went to explore Jesse’s room and his cd collection and then he wanted to explore ours, so we went room traveling, haha. After Jesse left, the five of us went to Cambria’s room to watch “What a Girl Wants,” then time for bed!! Warwick Castle tomorrow!

So, here I was typing this blog out, listening to my extremely loud floor of people who have no concept of time and courtesy, when all of the sudden, the fire alarm goes off. Great!! I nearly had heart failure, and I jumped up, grabbed a jacket, and left the room. Without my keys. Perfect. So the whole building evacuated at 1am to stand outside and the RA was nowhere to be found and the fire department was only called when Grant, a BCA student, called them. Turns out there was no real fire, someone just pulled the alarm. Real mature. But I wasn’t the only one to leave in a panic and forget my keys, so I didn’t feel too stupid. Well, I’m back in my room anyways, and I’m considering attaching my keys to my person all the time, haha. I’m new to this whole dorm room and fire alarm thing. I never have to remember keys for a fire at home. Oy! Day five and things are already getting interesting. Goodnight all!

Departures and Arrivals

My journey began Thursday September 10th at 5 am California time. I woke up and gathered some last minute items to pack before my family, sans my older sister, headed to LAX. The ride to the airport was uneventful and I was tired since I could not fall asleep that night. When we checked my bags in, it really started to set in that I was leaving for 3 months. Thankfully, I wasn’t alone on my flight. I had Sandra Williams, who is also from La Verne, but we’d only met once before. But even having her with me didn’t quell my tears and anxiety. I cried when my parents and sister had to leave me before I went through security, even though I told myself I wasn’t going to cry, seeing my family break down did me in.

After security I met up with Sandy and we got breakfast in the airport before our flight was scheduled to leave in a hour. As we were waiting with our food, we heard that our flight was moved to a different gate, which of course, was on the other side of the American Airlines section. Finally we get there and then we hear that the routine check they do for all planes that stay overnight, is going a little long. Our 9:30 departure is moved to 9:45. No biggie. 9:45 comes and it’s still not ready, so now departure is 10, still not too bad. We have three hours once landing in New York’s JFK before our next flight leaves, we’ll make it. 10 then becomes 10:30, then 10:45 and I’m thinking of calling the chaperone waiting for us at JFK to tell him we’ve been delayed, but we still figured and hour isn’t panic worthy. After even more delays we finally leave LAX at 11, and hour and a half after we were supposed to. Grrr!

We ended up landing in JFK at 8pm New York time for a 9:15 flight. The chaperone guy is like blowing up my phone at this point so we run to the AA check-in counter, where we were told to meet him, but no one is there since we are late. Finally we talk to him on the phone and he says to meet him and everyone else at gate 6. But we left the terminals…so security again it is. Then we sprinted there only to realize that we left the plane at gate 5 and passed them as we ran to go meet up with…no one! We could have avoided security, and a minor heart attack on my part. But of course God gives my ultra-prepared and non spontaneous self a lesson like this. To relax. I’ll let you know how that goes, haha.

The flight to London was LOOONG! I tried to sleep and kind of succeeded but I was not comfortable at all. The good thing about the flight was the free dinner and breakfast, the first real meal I’d eaten in 8 hours, and the free movies (I watched The Proposal-it was cute!). So then we get to London and have to go through customs and that’s when us BCA students (about 40 of us all together, from all over the country) started to bond because the line was super slow. Finally, all of us with our stamped passports, luggage(on carts, free carts!), and tired faces made our way to meet Denise Kendry and Sandy Griffiths, our surrogate “mums” for the trip.
Then off to Cheltenham we went, for an hour and 45 min bus trip. We all wanted to look around for the ride but a half hour into in we all crashed, haha. After we got to the school, we got our room numbers. Mine is by Tia Brandt, another La Verne student I know kind of well, and some other BCA-ers, or the endearing term Denise and Sandy use for us-Yankeedoodles, lol. I then got settled into my dorm room, which is small, but it has its own bathroom and shower, so I could care less the size of it. After a brief information session (longer one tomorrow) we had pizza and finished settling in.

Then a group of us decided to walk into town and explore the super adorable town of Cheltenham. Sandy (from La Verne, not the director) decided to go into a pup with a few others, but I didn’t want to so I went off roaming with some other BCA girls. Cambria, Kristen, Khouri (pronounced Corrie), and Dannielle and I had a chat about how we want to avoid the crazy pub/night life Sandy likes, if we can. Not to say we won’t go to pubs-its cultural, but we aren’t the night life kind of girls. I’m so happy to have found girls similar to myself!

Somehow during our walk, we found the University of Gloucestershire, Francis Close Hall Campus (where all my classes will be), and the door was open, so we went in to explore and take pictures. It’s breathtaking!( more pictures to come soon). And the girls were really interested in the Christian Club that I told them meets at this campus and they want to check it out with me. Thank you Lord, for providing these girls. After that we bought some snacks at the grocery store across from the dorms and went back to out rooms.

That’s all for day 1. I’m going to sleep because I am exhausted and the 8 hour time difference is catching up to me!