Laundry Disasters, Painful Essays, and Football Games

Oct 18-Mon
Monday I was dead tired after Wales but I am a good girl and I went to class. My teacher was still sick, but we didn’t get to go home. Instead we had to join another group and the teacher was so boring and had an Indian accent that was also British, so I understood nothing. And we have a paper due next week for books that we haven’t discussed because our teacher hasn’t been here for two weeks. Great. After that it was creative writing, which wasn’t so bad except for the girl who smelled funny, who sat next to me for the three hour class. Pleasant. Then I walked home in the Arctic weather and made lunch. I then killed some time for Dani and Kelsey to work on their project then we all made dinner and I had one of my easy-mac packets. Awesome! After that we were very happy the rest of the night and got excited to help Kelsey and Hannah get ready to go out. I have class tomorrow so I stayed in and watched Merlin with Dani before going to bed.
End Day 39

Oct 19-Tues
Tuesday Dani and I went to class even though we have the same teacher I had yesterday, but we combined classes again. Super lame! Then it was time for my other creative writing class which was really fun (and usually is) compared to a boring radio recording of historians discussing the Odyssey (I fell asleep in that first class). Anyways, that class was fun and our teacher was cool, so I enjoyed it. Then Nick and I walked home in the wind and rain and struggled to keep our umbrellas from going inside out. By the time we got back, it looked like I was trying out a new look, called the wind-blown, drowned-rat look. I would like to thank the English weather for allowing this look to happen. Then we had dinner in our usual spot and Kelsey went out with her floor mates, so Dani and I watched Merlin again and finished season 1. Then Jesse invited us out to a pub called the Frog and Fiddle and him, Dani, Kelsey, Liz, Hannah, Nick, Katie, Jack and Sonny and me hung out a little while. They closed at 11 though (weird) so we came back to Regency, hung out, ate junk food, laughed and talked until I left to go take a shower and go to bed. Oh yeah, and no Christian Union tonight since no one would walk with me. :(
End Day 40

Oct 20-Wed
Wednesday I slept late and woke up to do some work. The Kelsey called me to see if I wanted to go to Tescos with her and Hannah. I needed food so I went with them. After that we came back and Hannah offered to make us dinner, her specialty “mash and veg.” She’s the best! Until dinner I came back to my room and updated my blog because I was a week behind already. After that it was time for dinner and Hannah made the most amazing cheesey mashed potatoes with veggies and chicken. It was delicious! Then we hung out more and decided to play games and then I left to go Skype with my older sister for 15 min.Then we played a guessing game where you have to guess the word on your forehead. No one guessed theirs except Dani, who saw it being written, haha. Then I came back to my room, took a shower, and Skyped with my family for our usual talk time. After that it was nearly 3am so I went to sleep.
End Day 41

Oct 22-Thurs
Thursday sucked. It started out not so bad, I woke up super late and worked on some homework and got started on my paper (due Wednesday). I felt good about being productive and I decided to do my laundry because I was down to my last pair of socks. After laundry my day got bad. A stupid red shirt, which I’d washed before, bled onto my other clothes. I freaked out then and ran over to One-Stop in the pouring rain to buy some bleach. They only had stain remover so I settled for that. Then I came back and covered the four shirts and towel in the stain remover and it stunk up my room. Then I had to pay an extra £2 to wash them again. Oh and the night before, someone threw up in the “lift”(elevator) and outside the lift on our floor, so the seven or so times I had to run up and down the stairs to check my laundry, it smelled like barf. Awesome. Then the stains came out of only three of them, so now I have a white and pink tie-die towel and a tie-die shirt I plan to get rid of.

I then had dinner in Dani’s kitchen and Kelsey made tacos, and then Jesse invited me to go to a concert with him at the Park Campus. So me, him, and Katie walked there for the 7:30 show but it didn’t start until 10 and by 9:30 I had left to go get ready for propaganda. I was upset that my bad day seemed to get worse, so we went out to the club. But tonight was the second best night at Blush for a while and I owe it to my awesome friends. Great end to a not-so-great day! Yay!
End Day 42

Oct 23-Fri
Friday I slept in and had breakfast around lunch time. Then I killed some time on the computer and I eventually decided that I needed to start my paper for my EX 122 class, which is due on Wednesday. So I selected the passages from the books and titled the paper. I was going to start writing it but then I realized that I don’t know the way to format papers here. I looked all over the school website and tried to look through notes I took in class but nothing told me how big the margins should be, what line spacing to do, if there is a header, how to write the title, if I need footnotes, etc…So I panicked for a second, then e-mailed the head of the course, since my teacher is unreachable. Then I had nothing to do so I went to Kelsey’s room to hangout and we brought frozen dinners to Dani’s floor to eat dinner. Then we all met Liz’s friend “Diz” (Michael Dizzley) and we all hung out and talked. Then Dani and Kelsey went to the “big Tescos”(20-30 min walk) which is like Walmart, and bought Trivial Pursuit and we played that (very British oriented) and Apples to Apples which Diz and Jesse loved. Then it was late so we planned for the roast dinner tomorrow and then decided to go to bed.
End Day 43

Oct 24-Sat
Saturday I woke up late and took my time with breakfast so I didn’t have to write my paper. I ended up forcing myself to do it, though it was painful and after 3 hours I had a 1263 word essay for a 1200 word requirement! Success! And I did it correctly since the teacher said there is no special format except double spacing and indenting long quotes. Now I just have to hope it gets a good grade and my American spelling is ignored, haha. By that time it was nearly 6pm and I headed down for dinner at about 7pm. The roast dinner (roast beef, potatoes, broccoli, and Yorkshire pudding with gravy) was amazing! Kelsey, Liz, Jesse Dani, Diz, Greg and I enjoyed the “family” dinner together. Then Greg went off to watch X-Factor (like American Idol) and the rest of us took a trip to Big Tesco for dessert. We got there 10 min before it closed though, so we didn’t get much. I ended up making my warm delight and it was so awesome! Then we played Trivial Pursuit again and us Americans really failed at it again, but it was fun to try to guess the answers. Then we played Zombie Fluxx twice and I got tired and came back to my room. Then I took a shower, changed my clocks for daylight savings time and went to sleep. Fun Fact: UK changes their clocks a week before the USA. Weird.
End Day 44

Oct 25-Sun
Sunday I didn’t go to church again because no one seems to want to go with me anymore, or they are traveling. So I slept late and then had a late breakfast. Then I was bored online so Kelsey suggested we go to a football (soccer) game that some of the guys in the dorm were playing. Dani didn’t want to go so Kelsey and I went with a big group of people to the Hardwick Sports Center to watch the game. It was just for fun and very entertaining even if the Regency team (Sonny, Jack, Mike, Greg and two other guys- the “Tan Dogs”) lost. But, to be fair, 3 of the other team’s players were starters for the university team, so they actually did well. Then Kelsey and I came back to eat dinner with Dani and we hung out for a bit. Dani and I watched Glee and then Jesse showed us some funny youtube videos and British TV. The n we got a craving for Dominoes, so all of us and Liz got 2 pizzas delivered. Then we made a trash tower on the “bin” since it was overflowing and will be emptied tomorrow. We got it all the way to the cabinets and then took pictures of our accomplishment! Oh, dorm life, haha. Then Kelsey practiced juggling and we watched Dr. Horrible and went to sleep.
End Day 45

A "Wale" of a Week

Oct 12-Mon
Monday I went to class but I was very tired from the weekend. I got to my first class and we found out that our teacher was sick, so the other lecturer for our class came and gave us an assignment to do and give to her next week. Lame! Then I had my creative writing class and my group met with each other to hang out. It was a little awkward and I was ignored until a really sweet girl named Giselle started to talk to me. After that I came back to the dorms to go to Tescos with Dani and Kelsey. We bought lots of stuff for dinner then came back to make it all. We had nachos, garlic bread, and many more. Then we freaked out because we realized we were late for our BCA meeting and lecture on the European Union. But it wasn’t a big deal and we weren’t in trouble.

Then we came back and decided to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch with the Nestle Tollhouse recipe. We burned the first batch but the ones after that were good. We offered them to our adoptive floor mates and everyone said we were awesome and always welcome on their flat. Then Kelsey and Hannah went out. I was going to but I was too tired and I have class the next day. So I talked to my older sister on Skype, took a shower (in warm water!!!) and went to sleep.
End Day 32

Oct 13-Tues
Tuesday I got up to walk to class with Dani and sit through a lecture on The Odyssey. Fun stuff. Then I had my other creative writing class and we had a workshop and thankfully people really liked my work and said it was very well written. Yay! Then I came back to the dorms and did some work and surfed the internet for a while until Dani got back from class around 5:15. Then we decided to make dinner for our own selves and I made macaroni and cheese, and it wasn’t too bad, but it’s no Kraft. By then it was time for me to go to the Christian Union and Kristen went with me so I didn’t have to walk by myself in the dark. The CU was good and fun and I am so glad and thankful to have a place like this to grow in God because it is hard to keep him on my mind in such an unfamiliar place. When I got back I watched Princess Bride with Kelsey, Dani, Hannah, and Alex because Hannah had never seen it (!) I was tired though and I fell asleep. When it was over we went into the kitchen to hang out and I tried to wake up. We ate candy, joked and talked, then drew funny pictures until we started to get too loopy and decided to go to bed. Oh and we planned to go to Wales on Saturday! Yay!
End Day 33

Oct 14-Wed
Wednesday I got to sleep in and I went online and did some work when I woke up. By that time it was around 3pm and Kelsey was back from class. Since it was a nice day and not rainy we decided to walk around town. So Dani, Kelsey, Hannah, Jesse and I headed down to the party shop in town to look at the Halloween costumes to get an idea about what we wanted to be. We still have no idea and the store was expensive, so we left. We then decided to checkout the famous Cheltenham Literature festival in town, but it wasn’t as exciting as we thought. We were like the youngest ones there by like 50 years and there were only tents full of old people reading in chairs. It was kind of disappointing and “very British” as Jesse said, and he is British.
The Jesse and I went to Tescos to buy groceries while Kelsey, Hannah, and Dani went to Primark. Then we all walked back to Regency and ordered Dominoes pizza for the five of us and we all polished off 2 large pizzas, breadsticks, and potato wedges, haha. After that I helped Dani book Paris and watched Merlin with her before coming back to my room, Skyping with my family, showering and going to bed. Oh yeah, we also booked Wales for Saturday! Yay!
End Day 34

Oct 15-Thurs
Thursday I slept super late and had “brunch” and then updated my blog since I needed to. After that I read for class (a little) and started to work on revising my work for my prose class which is due Friday at 4pm. By that time I was bored and waiting for Kelsey and Dani to get back from class. Then I started booking our Scotland trip and had dinner by myself since Dani was at choir and Kelsey and Liz went to Tescos to buy drinks for our night out. Around 8:30 I was done (mostly) with booking Scotland and I had gotten ready, so I went downstairs to Liz’s kitchen to meet Kelsey, Hannah, Jesse, and Jade, to hang out before going to Blush.

The game was fun but then we had to walk to the club in the rain and I was cold and wet with frizzy hair when we got there. Awesome. Blush was a lot more fun than the week before but it was kind of crazy. Dani and I left at about 1:15 and I came back and finished my Ben and Jerry’s chocolate fudge brownie ice cream to make up for my not-so-nice night out. Yum.
End Day 35

Oct 16-Fri
So Friday I slept until 12 but only because I set my alarm to be able to get up in time to write my story for creative writing and have it e-mailed to my teacher by 4pm. I would have slept longer if I could because I was up until 4am after Blush hanging out with Kelsey, Hannah, Ryan and Sonny. Very entertaining. So I woke up, wrote my story, did some reading, finished booking Scotland (hooray!) and then got bored. So I took a nap around 4pm after e-mailing my story. I then woke up and made dinner in Dani’s kitchen then went to One-Stop to buy sweets again. Then we planned film night and while Dani was showering, Kelsey and I came back to my flat and got talked into playing beer pong. I’d never played and I don’t like beer so I made the mistake of letting drunken Tia make my drink. So she took my Smirnoff Ice and mixed it with Bacardi and black currant (nasty berry found everywhere in the UK) juice. I had two cups of that plus a cup of her Strongbow (cider) before I had to stop because it was so gross I thought I was going to puke. I was then pretty tipsy, since I’d never had that much in one go and they all had fun laughing at my giggly, tipsiness. We (Dani, Kelsey, Nick, Liz and I) watched Big Fish and went to sleep. Wales tomorrow! Woohoo!
End Day 36

Oct 17-Sat
Saturday I woke up early to get ready for our day trip to Cardiff, Wales! But I was exhausted because I only got 4 hours of sleep. After getting the bus to the train station and nearly missing the train, we were finally settled and ready to go. It was my first train ride ever and after a few minutes of chatting excitedly, I started to try to sleep. But the guy in front of us had other plans. He most likely picked up on our accents and he kept awkwardly looking back at us as we were talking. Then he made the usual “where are you from” small talk and then he went off on this ramble session about politics, taxes, Wales, bus systems, trains, transportation systems, and tourist sites, and I didn’t get a word in for the whole ride. I didn’t get to sleep and I had to politely feign interest enough in his pointless rambles to satisfy him for an hour and a half! We were glad to leave the train. Then we went to get some food and walked around Millennium Plaza and Millennium Stadium before stopping to ask for help and map.

Once we had our map we went to Cardiff Castle which dates back to 1860s and the fortress which dates back to 1130 and had the smallest, steepest, highest steps ever. I nearly cried because of my fear of heights. After the castle we walked all the way down high street and past business and residential areas to the Millennium Center, which was down by the Cardiff Bay. Apparently there is a show called Torchwood that Dani loves that filmed something there, so she took lots of pictures of the big center, which had Welsh writing (which is everywhere there) on it and the tall rectangular fountain thingy. After that we walked down to Cardiff Bay and walked along the water. It was gorgeous! Then Kelsey and Dani took me to a “Doctor Who” exhibit because they love the show. It was cool, but I had no idea what anything was. Then we got some milkshakes from inside the Center and looked at some little shops before going to find the tourist center. When we were done with the tourist center we walked to the bus stop and went back to high street on the bus. Too much walking! Then we had dinner at Wetherspoons (#4 in 4 different cities so far) and tried to shop more but stores closed already. We ended up going back to the train station and waiting around for the train, so we could rest and nurse our sore legs. I feel asleep on the way back, needless to say, after 4 hours of sleep and a whole day pf walking around a big city. I was exhausted! Then I came back, stretched my legs, uploaded pictures, and crashed on my bed. No church tomorrow. To tired to even try. But it was an awesome day!
End Day 37

Oct 18-Sun
Sunday I skipped church because I was so exhausted and I ended up sleeping until nearly 2pm. Then I had “breakfast” and did some work. Then Kelsey called because Liz had made us a meal because she wanted to (love her!). She made us a “Sunday roast” without the roast, haha (she’s a vegetarian). It had yummy potato wedges and mashed potatoes with Yorkshire pudding (flaky muffin-like thing) and all topped with gravy. Delicious! We then did the dishes for her since she had slaved away to cook for us. After that we got a craving for Pizza Hut cookie dough dessert, so we called in an order for 4 of them and Dani and I watched GLEE to pass the time.

Then we had the dessert and turned Merlin. Kelsey and I then hug out in the kitchen and washed the dishes and did homework because we were in a productive mood, haha. Then Jesse came in and distracted us from our work and we hung out in his room and listened to music and looked pictures and talked for a while. Then Kelsey left to go to bed and Jesse and I watched a show about a magician who uses subliminal messages to control people’s actions. Way creepy! It didn’t work on us though. Then we both were really tired, so I went to sleep. Yay sleep!
End Day 38

Bonding with the Brits

Oct 5-Mon
Monday I was exhausted but I still went to both classes. Even thought I wasn’t really there during the seminar at all. My second class was when we had a workshop to review the writing we’d sent in on the weekend. I was nervous that my teacher and classmates would be too critical of me or not understand my American writing style. But it turns out that they liked it and found it funny and my teacher thought my writing was “very experienced and mature” yay! That class was long though and it went until about 4:30 and I hadn’t eaten since 10am so I was pretty much starving.

We decided to go to dinner out that night since we had yet to buy anymore food to cook. Liz and Hannah came with us and we went to Pizza Hut because they were craving it. We had fun going out to eat with them and hanging out/talking. They are so nice and cool. We then ordered this amazing desert that was like a pazookie. It was heavenly! Then we all came back and watched Shaun of the Dead in Kelsey’s room. It was ok, but I’m not much into zombie gore and such. Then we all went back to our rooms and went to sleep.
End Day 25

Oct 6-Tues
Tuesday I woke up and walked with Dani to class. The class was uneventful and I was tired. Then I had my self-expressions class and we learned about Jean-Dominique Baudy, who wrote The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, after he got “locked-in syndrome” and could only communicate by blinking his left eye. So he wrote the book by having someone read the alphabet out loud to him and him blinking at the letter he wanted. Crazy!! So my teacher decided to have us try that with a partner. It was hard and also took forever. Major props to Bauby! Anyway, after class I came back and hung out until like 5 or 6 then made dinner in Dani’s kitchen because all of our friends are on that floor. We had pasta (again) and I found out that the girls I usually go to Christian Union with weren’t going, so we made cookies and jelly (jello) and had a desert fest. The cookie kinda turned into one large one and the jelly was in muffin tins, but it was all good anyways. The Dani, Kelsey and I watched “Superbad” with Jesse in his room. He then showed me his glasses he bought (lens less) to wear for me because he was teasing me about liking guys in glasses.Then he made me try them on and took a picture of me then posted it in his facebook album. The downside to him being a photography major. Awesome. Then we were all tired after the movie so we went to sleep.
End Day 26

Oct 7-Wed
Wednesday I had no class and it was basically my day to catch up on stuff I hadn’t done on the weekend. I uploaded my London pictures to facebook, then I updated my blog. After that it was nearly time for Kelsey to get back from class and time for dinner. I then realized that I was in desperate need for groceries, like more bread, milk, cheese, etc… I asked Kelsey to go but she’d been out already, so Dani came with me. We also decided to buy food to make for dinner, so we decided on breaded chicken breasts (since they don’t require seasoning) and baked potatoes (jacket potatoes) with butter, cheese, and sour cream. We tried to hurry the potatoes because Kelsey had an appointment with her friend Doug at the cinema. She only ended up having chicken since the potatoes took forever. But they were really good.

While Kelsey was on her date, Dani and I decided to start planning the trips we want to go on before it gets to be too late. It was stressful and really scary but we have stuff planned for Paris, Scotland, and Italy and we are working on Wales and Ireland. We haven’t booked yet, but we plan to by this weekend. After planning forever we decided to go to bed.
End Day 27

Oct 8-Thurs
Thursday I slept really late and did some work for my creative writing class. Then Kelsey called me and needed cheering up because she woke up with an eye infection. I waited for her to get back from the doctor and we hung out together and ate chocolate to help her feel better. Then I realized I needed something for dinner, so we planned on making the leftover chicken and whatever else we wanted to. I was going to have left over pasta from Monday, but it looked weird since someone put something on top of it in the fridge and smushed it. Then my English muffins went bad, so I ended up just having chicken.

Then we started to play a game called “ring of fire” and it was kinda hard with the rule that all Americans had to speak with a British accent and all the British people had to speak with an American accent. But it was really entertaining. Then we went out to Blush but it wasn’t as fun as it has been in the past and there were a bunch of older guys who were weird and creepy. So Dani and I left kinda early because we just weren’t feeling it. It was weird and disappointing.
End Day 28


Oct 9-Fri
Friday I was even more bored since my whole floor went home for the weekend and practically all of Regency Halls did too. I was productive in getting my creative writing story done and e-mailed to my teacher two hours before it was due. Then I hung out in Kelsey’s room and Dani came down and we watched a couple of Merlin episodes. Then we decided to go out for dinner since we sick of cooking. We went to a place called Café Rogue. We walked in and didn’t know that apparently, because of the literary festival in town for the next two weeks, we needed a reservation. But the guy was nice and found us a table on the condition that we would be out by 8pm. We were and I enjoyed my chicken baguette. We went back to Regency then and had a game and film night with some other floormates, like Liz, and Nick. It was fun playing Apples to Apples with a not-so-sober Nick. Then we sent Nick to bed and the four of us watched The Goonies, which I had never seen and then talked for a little bit. Then we decided to walk down to the One-Stop-Shop across the road and stocked up on candy and sweets, then we came back and had a sugar fest. It was so fun! Then we went to bed.
End Day 29

Oct 10-Sat
Saturday I slept so late that breakfast was lunch and I decided to take a shower. That’s when I discovered that my shower was broken, since the water never got warm. So it took a cold shower with water from the Artic Ocean then hung out in my cold room. Lovely. I’m supposed to contact maintenance about it but they’ve ignored Dani’s kitchen lights for a week and a broken fridge for four days, so I’m not sure it will get fixed. I then talked to Jesse on facebook then went then the bank and walked around town with him. We had hot chocolate from a little café and looked at some gift shops.

Then we came back and planned dinner that we asked Jesse to cook for us since he is a really good cook. So we went out to Tescos to buy ingredients for dinner then came back to make it. Well, Jesse made it, but we helped…kinda. I skinned the apples for the desert. We ended up with delicious seasoned chicken with rice and apple crumbly for dessert. It was amazing. Then we watched some TV in Jesse’s room and then decided to go out and hangout. We ended up going to Slack, since Wetherspoons wouldn’t let Kelsey in without an ID. But we weren’t really feeling the atmosphere of slack so we only stayed about 30-45 min before coming back, eating toast, visiting Liz, and going to bed.
End Day 30

Oct 11-Sun
Sunday I had to wake up early to go to church with Kristen. We went to the FCH campus chapel to meet with the Christian Union and have breakfast before going off to different churches. We went with the group going to Trinity since it was the only one we’d been to before. It was a good service and we got to talk to Adam, a cute intern at the church, who is probably too old for us and has girlfriend. Oh well. After that it was raining, so we ran home, and I worked on homework (finally) for a few hours and tried to plan our Scotland trip. After that we decided to go out to Wetherspoons for dinner, where I had a burnt burger and Kelsey liked our server Anthony. We plan to come back next Sunday for a Sunday roast…and to see Anthony. Then we came back and hung out and watched Pineapple Express in Jesse’s room. After that I said goodnight to my adopted floor and floormates, who I practically live with now and went back to my room to go online for a little bit before going to bed. I love Dani’s floor with Liz, Hannah, Jesse, Jade, and Greg. We feel so welcome there and we spend all of our time there, except to sleep, haha.
End Day 31

Boredom, Scary Clubs, Bath and London

Sept 28-Mon
Monday I woke up and got ready for class. I didn’t leave as early since I got there too early last time. My first class went well; we mainly discussed the reading in a class of about 30 students, everyone just chiming in and such. That was what is called a “seminar” vs. a “lecture” where there is a larger group and you sit and take notes. After that class I had about 10 minutes to get to my next class which was downstairs. I ate a rice crispy treat as I walked; it was my “lunch” haha. My next class was a creative writing one and we had a lecture for an hour then my group could leave since we stayed for workshop last week. But we had to go somewhere so we went to the refectory (cafeteria) but only stayed for like 20 minutes. I then went to the learning center (library) to print stuff, then left. When I got back I realized my bread went bad, so I had like nothing to eat. Sad day. Then one of my flat mates let me have some of hers, yay! That night I stayed in with Dani and watched Merlin and also watched her flat mates and Kelsey play drinking games then get drunk and go to the club. Very entertaining! Oh yeah, we also got our allowance for the next two weeks. Yay for having money to buy food! That’s about all there was for Monday. Dull! Oh yeah, I had fun explaining what Connecticut is to two boys in my literature class, haha.
End Day 18

Sept 29-Tues
Tuesday I walked with Dani to class and it was ½ lecture and ½ seminar (discussion) and it went pretty well. My next class was one where I had to bring work in for everyone to workshop and we all gave feedback on everyone’s work. Thankfully they liked it and offered constructive criticism and compliments. Yay! After that Nick (another BCA-er in my class) and I walked back and I had lunch. I realized my need for groceries then, since my bread grew hair and my milk was going to expire the next day. I was too lazy to go though so I decided to eat my mini donuts and Pringles for a few days or so. Then when I went on facebook, Jesse, our British friend, messaged me on the chat thing and we talked for a while. Then I invited him to come out with Dani, Kelsey and I to eat dinner at Yates. There was a deal for 2 meals for £6.95 so that worked out well. Then we came back and I went with Jessica, Stephanie, Grant, and Katelyn to the Christian Union. It was really good to be able to share prayer requests and pray for each other. Then I came back and talked to Jesse some more on facebook and he said he hadn’t had people be so kind to him since he got here. We decided we need to bring him around more often. Then I went to sleep because the internet was down and I had nothing else to do,haha.
End Day 19

Sept 30-Wed
Wednesday I woke up earlier than usual because I went to sleep earlier. After I’d had breakfast and I got ready, Jesse messaged me on facebook and asked if he could come up to my room to hang out. I said sure so we hung out with my door open and other people floated in and out of my room to chat. Eventually I decided that I needed to go buy food because now I was out of cereal, so Jesse said he’d take us to Lidl-another market in town we hadn’t been to. So Jesse, Liz, Dani, Kelsey, me, and Liz’s friend (Sarah?) went to Lidl. It is basically the Costco of Cheltenham. So cool! That’s when we planned to make quesadillas for dinner, because Liz, Jesse and Sarah had never had them (no one in Britain has, apparently). So now that we restocked our cupboards we came back to prepare the quesadillas (or cheese-wrap things, as Jesse called them). They were a big hit, especially with salsa on them, even if they weren’t sure how to eat them,haha. After dinner we sat around and talked then watched a movie, then played Monopoly, the electronic and British version. We all quit after about 30 minutes,haha. Then Kelsey got a text from Sonny, asking her to meet him out at a club, so we helped her get ready. Then I went back to my room to shower and Skype with the family.
End Day 20
P.S. I did homework today too, yay! Finally,haha.

Oct 1-Thurs
Thursday was extremely uneventful. I did nothing but homework and writing assignments and I was bored out of my mind. Kelsey, Dani both had class from 2-5 so I was stuck in my room online and going crazy with boredom. I even resorted to dancing around my room and singing loudly to my music. Finally they got out of class and we went to the Chinese food place next door for dinner. After that we came back and Dani went to choir and Kelsey went to a movie with Sonny. So I was bored again. After they got back we got ready to go out to Blush and ended up sharing clothes because we were running out of outfits. We plan to shop tomorrow. Blush was fun, except when Dani and I got left by ourselves and these creepy, buff guys started dancing with us and groping us. No exaggeration. I have never felt so violated and scared. They were strong and it was hard to push them off of me but we got away and ran to the loo where Kelsey and Hannah (her flat mate) were. Then we found all the guys we came with, Greg, Sonny, Jesse, Mike, Ryan, Jake, Alex, etc.. and stood with them for protection. The creepy guys came back and tried to do it again, but we hid behind Greg and they backed off when they saw him. I hope to never have that happen again and I never want to be touched like that ever again, except by my husband. We learned a valuable lesson, never to be alone at the club, even if just for a few minutes, without a guy. Not safe! We ended up staying until nearly 2:30 and my feet were killing me. Good thing we get to sleep late tomorrow.
End Day 21
P.S. Kelsey made me take a shot of Vodka with her. Nasty! I was a little dizzy, giggly, and happy for about an hour or so. Yes, I am a lightweight, so sue me! It was more than I’ve ever had, EVER!

Oct 2-Fri
Friday I slept super late because of the night before and I didn’t really do anything until about 3pm when Kelsey and Dani and I decided to go clothes shopping since we realized that we need more options for going out instead of wearing the same two outfits. I bought some skinny jeans for £10 (shock of all shocks: I don’t ever wear skinny jeans) and they fit quite nicely. I also bought a small purse to bring out so I don’t have to bring my backpack (nerdy). After that we came back to the dorms, made quesadillas again, and introduced them to another British kid, Alex, who also loved them. Then Dani and I watched Glee and we went to sleep because we had to get up early the next day. Quite and insignificant day, really.
End Day 22

Oct 3-Sat
Saturday we had to be up early and down in the courtyard at 8:30 for our BCA trip to Bath. I looked up the weather for Bath (thankfully) and was well prepared with my black heavy jacket, scarf, gloves, and rain boots. The famous dreary English weather made its appearance today. It was about 58 degrees with 30 mph winds (which made it like 10 degrees colder) and on-and-off rain. Lovely. We started the trip going to Sally Lunns, the oldest tea house in Bath, for coffee, tea, and the famous Sally Lunn bun, which was like a round huge bun of toast, and it was delicious. After that we had a tour of the Roman Baths and we got to wander around them and learn interesting facts about them from the audio guides they gave us. After the baths a group of us (Amy, Rachael, Dani, Nick, Kelsey, and I) went to the Jane Austen center and museum. It cost £6 for a tour and we all did it except for Kelsey and Nick. It was interesting and cool, but I’m not sure it was worth £6.

After that we walked around some more before the weather drove us into a few shops. We spent hours (far too long in my opinion) in a very small bookshop, then left to seek shelter and warmth in Starbucks. We spent the rest of our time in and out of shops and being a little bored and cold since we had too much time to walk about. We left Bath and the terrible weather to go back to Cheltenham and make dinner. Then Kelsey, Dani and I hung out in Dani’s room and talked about random stuff then decided to go to bed because they were both feeling sick (I think I gave it to them) and we had London early the next day.
End Day 23

Oct 4-Sun
Sunday was London day! Woke up to catch the 8:45 bus into London. Kelsey decided not to come because she was feeling so ill, so it was just Dani and I on our own. In London. Scary. Kelsey gave us her London map though, to help our “navigation-challenged” selves. We were sad that she felt so sick not too come. It felt weird and empty without her. The “coach” dropped us off at Victoria Station and from there we made our way to Buckingham Palace and Westminster Bridge. It took us a couple of turn-a rounds before we realized we were headed in the right direction. Buckingham Palace and the street were packed with people and we could barely get through, not to mention we had no idea what was going on. I think half the people there (all foreign because most had European accents) had no idea what they were standing there for. I swear half the city was there. We realized that it was the “changing of the guards” but it was too crowded to stick around and watch so we took pictures, got a video of the guards playing music and moved on to see Big Ben, Parliament Square, and Westminster Abbey. We walked through a pretty park and then found Big Ben! We used the map some but there were also helpful signs with arrows. I looked up and saw Big Ben all of the sudden and we got excited. We then decided to get lunch at Churchill café, which was good and inexpensive, and is exactly opposite of the Cabinet War Rooms. After getting a second wind from food, we headed across the road to Westminster Abbey then saw the Eye and headed in that direction.

We paid £17.50 each to ride the Eye but it was worth it and we decided that we should do it since we aren’t in England forever. After the Eye we bought souvenirs and watched entertaining dancers and performers in the Jubilee Gardens along the Thames. We then used our awesome map reading skills (follow the river, stay left) to find the Millennium Bridge (from Harry Potter 6). We found it fine after stumbling across the Clink Prison Museum under London Bridge. We paid £3.50 to tour the medieval prison (dates back to 1400s) because Dani has a morbid fascination with medieval torture. We then found the Millennium Bridge and as we walked across, we saw the Tower Bridge in the distance, so we headed there. We came across Shakespeare’s Globe Theater on our way to Tower Bridge but didn’t get to go on a tour since it was 4:30 and tours ended at 5 and are 40 minutes long. We kept walking to Tower Bridge then decided to cross it to find the Underground station to go to Kings Cross. We found the station with good navigating skills also and I asked for help so we wouldn’t end up lost. We paid £4 and got on the Circle Line to Kings Cross. Once there, we found Platform 9 ¾, after almost missing it, and took nerdy pictures with a cart, or trolley, they stuck there that looked like it went through the wall.

After a nerd moment we found a cheap and nasty place to eat dinner, but by that time I was almost out of money so I didn’t care. Then Dani’s good bus watching skills helped us find the right bus and bus stop to take back to Victoria Station to catch our coach home. We got back to Victoria Station, which is huge and had some trouble finding the Coach Station, but after I asked one of the parked coach drivers on the street, we found it. By that time our feet hurt, Dani had a bad cold, and I had a migraine. Also, it was 9:30 and our bus was delayed 30 minutes. Needless to say we slept on the ride back to Cheltenham and we got back around 12:15. We wanted to give Kelsey her bear that we bought her, dressed as a palace guard, but she was sleeping and we were too tired. I then stretched my achy legs and went to bed. All in all it was a great trip and I was proud of Dani and me for not getting lost, seeing everything, and conquering the Underground and buses. Yes! Success!
End Day 24

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!