I touched down in London and quickly realized I should've packed lighter. Basically, the luggage belt swept me away as I was trying to get my suitcase off. You can imagine the looks I got. I jumped straight through an express line at customs and got to my bus stop early. In the hour that I sat at the bus stop I learned that the pigeons are really friendly in London. You know how I felt about that.
Everything went off without a hitch and I arrived to the bus station in Bristol only half an hour late. Missy and Amar picked me up and quickly moved into my accommodation. It is an ugly building from the outside but the rooms are quite nice and my flatmates are fantastic! After moving in, we went to the supermarket and I got some food (basics: spaghetti, spaghetti, spaghetti) and my bedding. I'll post a picture of my room soon once I get my things hung on the walls. I'm experiencing a shortage of sticky tac at the moment. I should stop being so detailed or this is going to become a million pages long!
On Monday, the craziness began and I started registering for classes but the good news is I got everything I wanted!!! I'll be taking three history units, two maths, one philosophy, (and a partridge in a pear tree) and a British cinema course. My tutor is called Ian and is remarkably helpful. Funny story, I was concerned about my courses for history not counting at UNC to which my professor, Ian, replied, "I was Best Man at the UNC Director of History's wedding. You'll have no problem." Yep, small world.
Anyway, if you can't tell this is going to have a stream of consciousness vibe so just go with it. I should introduce my flatmates:
Note: No flatmates, I'm not just sugarcoating this because y'all are reading this.
Lydia is from Oxford and she's studying drama. We have similar music tastes and she's quite laid back so we get along well.
Katie is from Washington State (Go Huskies) and it is nice to have an American in the flat. Sometimes we laugh at British foods--BBQ Pringles for example. Definitely not the same here as at home. She is studying politics at Bristol.
Josh is studying German and Russian and is pretty darn cool. He cooks amazing food and is basically the walking dictionary of the flat which is really handy. He's from Sheffield and plays the tin whistle. Epic.
James is from London and can juggle. He's also studying German. Basically, he's a pretty cool dude and also a culinary genius.
Linda is from Nottingham and is studying English. She's been super interested in my Americanisms which has been lovely. She's also into the Vamp. Diaries so I have a partner in crime! She also braved the bank with me...more on that later.
Hannah is from Bath and wears the best jumpers (sweaters)! She's also studying English and has been a great tour guide around Bristol. She has been super lovely and supportive which is great!
Lucy is from Salisbury (not the one close to Albemarle either) and studies music. She also cooks amazing food and asks me how I'm doing every time I see her which makes me feel at home.
Jack is from Spain and so far is in almost all of my pictures. He is studying history and has been taking good care of me. For instance, walking around the freshers fair bagging free food :)
So yeah, if you can't tell I got SUPER lucky with the people I'm living with. It's going to be a great year.
To get back on to what I did this week I took many walks around the city, learned to shop in the grocery stores here with a concentration on bargain hunting, registered for all my classes, found out I LOVE pubs, walked across the suspension bridge and saw a pirate ship (just to name a few things).
Just so you get an idea of where I'm living, I'm in Clifton which is a gorgeous part of Bristol and I'm only ten minutes walk tops away from basically anything and everything.
Sorry, I'm running out of energy to add too much more detail to this but I promise I'll do a better job for the next week!
Love,
M
Great post! I miss you so much but you look and sound so happy! Looking forward to our next Skype session!
ReplyDelete