First Week

Last night I debated whether or not I should stay up to watch the USC v. Washington State game that started at 3:15am my time, take a nap and then watch the game, or to say the hell with it all and see the score in the morning. I ended up going to sleep (I know, "Bad Trojan! Bad!") in light of the busy week I had. Next week against Cal, I will probably stay up for though...

Anyway, after contemplating all the things that have happened in the last week, in some ways it seems like quite a lot has happened, and in others, not so much. I will start where I left off... kind of...

After getting in on Saturday, I was really jet lagged. It didn't quite register how jet lagged I really was until I tried to do something, aka get some groceries. You know when you are so tired that your head seems to float above your body and you wonder why your limbs are moving and have no ability to control your giggling whatsoever? Yeah I was there. Unfortunately the Tesco was not as close to campus as we had been lead to believe. So two hours later, I returned with a few other Americans, groceries in my thankfully remembered reusable bag. Somehow I managed to unload the groceries and totally crashed. 

Tesco is a brand store. This is a Banksy graffiti. Get it?

I don't remember that much of Sunday, because this passed in much the same fashion. Going to get more groceries, sleep, unpacking, sleep, meeting new people, sleep, etc. I think I blogged at some point during this day. Not interesting, but Monday was Orientation... and a total shit show. 

Monday was confusing. Queen Mary, despite all the awesome things about them, have not yet really entered the digital age. Enrollment, registration, email sign up, EVERYTHING is on paper. So most of the pertinent information was not really relayed to us at all. I got all ready to go to Orientation (or so I thought) but once out the door, was greeted by hundreds of confused international students. There was induction for international graduate students, orientation for international undergrad students, late orientation something-or-other for other international students and induction orientation for international study abroad students. Hence the confusion. At least I got a free lunch out of it. Tuesday was more of the same, more orientations, explainings, waiting in line, but I was finally part of the University. I have the ID card to prove it, complete with awkward picture. 

I am living in the freshman dorms, or flat houses. This is an odd step backwards in time for me because suddenly being a part of awkward meeting people in the building, parties in people's rooms getting shut down by house leaders, no one knowing anyone and building awkward friend groups that last 5 minutes was a part of college that I thought I had gotten past. Apparently not. But my nights most of the week have involved meeting new people and partying a bit. It's been a blast. Odd to be viewed as the 'old fogey' of the group at 21.

My flat mates are really fun though! There are six rooms in the suite style apartment, so I have a sink in my (thankfully furnished) room and we share a bathroom(s) and kitchen. Amber is another American, from Connecticut, (we feel like creepy old people together), Livio is an Italian, Agnes is from Poland, (they are both older but starting their first year) and Faith is from Surrey, and Shea is Irish. It's a really interesting mix of people. I'm learning a lot of new sayings and tidbits everyday. 

I will post the touristy pictures and adventures in a separate post. But before I start to do that...

Useful British Tidbits:

• Hob = Stove
• Oyster cards are FAR cheaper than buying paper tickets. 
  
• Beers come in liters (For those of us with low tolerances, this was a problem initially)
• Fire doors are just an extra way to set off the super sensitive alarms
• They walk on the left, get used to the awkward 'which side are YOU going to' when going anywhere.
  

Cheers!

Arrival to London

Since I have once again become lax in my updating of the blog, to those of you to whom I have not spoken, I am studying abroad in London this semester. Hopefully I will be able to use this space to keep everyone abreast of what I am up to while on this journey. (I apologize to everyone in advance about the language, the Brits are already rubbing off on me, I keep catching myself saying things differently.)

Things before leaving were rather less hectic that I had originally thought they were going to be. Despite worrying my mother to no end by procrastinating on my packing, I got everything together with the help of Andrea and her amazing stuffing skills (she got my duvet into a sleeping bag stuff sack so it fit easily in the suitcase (Thank you!)). She only made me leave a pair of pants and a sports bra, which I think means that my fashion sense is slowly improving. That or her standards have fallen. (I am hoping it is the former). 

The trip to the airport was good, the whole family (minus the bro) stuffed in the car drove to Reno and then had sushi for lunch before heading to my flights. I flew Reno- Chicago- London. The first flight was just fine, except the man beside me was spilling over the armrest and despite me squishing myself against the window, I could not avoid touching him. (Also, why is it that old men make the same awkward, snore-like breathing noises whether they are awake or asleep?) When I got to Chicago, I was worried about making my next flight because I had only a short lay over, but the gate happened to be very close, so it was no problem at all. 

The problems (small) arose when I got on the place. Once I boarded, I took a sleeping pill to try to avoid some jet lag and get through the 8 hour flight. I should have remembered how sensitive I am to medications and my body's propensity to get rid of anything it doesn't like (incidents with wisdom teeth and hernia surgery come to mind). But none the less, right before we started taxiing I had the need to throw up. A small disagreement with the stewardess (flight attendant?) ensued after me leaving my seat to go to the bathroom.

"Ma'am, you are going to have to sit down."

"But I have to use the bathroom."

"You need to sit down until we have taken off and the Captain has turned off the fasten seat belt sign." 

"OK, I need to throw up. If you want to clean it up, I will gladly sit down, otherwise..."

"I can not tell you that is alright to go to the lavatory."

"OK."

So I went to the bathroom and was back before take-off. Crisis averted. I then proceeded to conk out until they served breakfast 7 hours later. I think next time I will just go with a TylenolPM.

Once in Heathrow, I had to go through customs, and was very thankful that I had applied for a visa. The student line was very long, and I saw several students get turned away and have to go through another line that looked rather ominous. But then I got to the meeting point with other QMUL students and headed straight for the bus. 

The bus was very large, but did not have nearly enough cargo room for everyone's things. Thankfully, I had duffel bags and a backpack as opposed to large suitcases because they let me load my things in the seat behind me, and despite some very awkward maneuvering, I was allowed to go on that bus instead of having to wait for the next one. I was still a little nauseous though, and sitting in the back and watching the traffic go the wrong way out the window in a full bus going through narrow streets did little to help. I made it all the way to campus though, about an hour later, with no problems. 

The rest of the day consisted of moving into my dorm suite, meeting room mates, touring campus, attempting to unpack (which I will probably procrastinate on just as much as did on packing), finding a grocery store, nap, set up computer, let my family know that I survived, try to follow Metro's progress at sectionals, try to follow the USC v. Washington game (I didn't get to the end of it, I fell asleep, but waking up to hear that we lost 13-16 was so disappointing!) and falling asleep.

I woke up at 4am, fell back asleep at 8am, and woke up again at noon. Hopefully my body will figure out what time it is soon. Other than that, my plans for today are just to continue to get myself set up. Tomorrow orientation starts, which should be interesting.

More updates to come!

Nothing

In my life of infinite procrastination, I can't tell you how many blog posts I have started and then left to mold in that weird inner-blogosphere realm that no one but me gets to see. Besides getting bored of actually writing the words/distracted by small inanimate objects, part of the reason that I haven't posted is that I don't want to be writing mindless drivel. 

Have I done some exciting things since my past post, absolutely. But somehow, I didn't think that those events deserved a blog post. Hmm... introspection on my own self-worth notwithstanding, I think that my irritation with the drivel has mainly come from the rise in popularity of twitter. I really hate the  posts that say every move that they are making. Twitter is a source that can easily let people know information quickly, like the twitter updates of the scores at Nationals. That was a great use of the tool. But as much as I love my friends, I don't need to know that you recently discovered how awesome pickles were again, or that you are visiting you great-uncle and he smells. (Although, previous to my realization of how ridiculous Twitter sometimes sounds, I was guilty of the inane post) I would rather have substance. This video (Thanks to Kyle) articulates my feelings with rather more humor. 

In the past..., oh I don't know how long it's been honestly, since I last posted, we played in Nationals, I watched Rex graduate and leave, I lived with Bambi and Simon (who almost drove me completely insane) and went on a family vacation to visit my Aunt in Hawaii, and Kyle came to visit. All good stuff going on.