The Adventure Begins...

Hello! You found the compass!

Where am I? What time is it? Who are these people?

   

     Well, I've made it to England! (This post will be a bit long, as it thoroughly covers my first night and day here.) The plane ride was both smooth and shorter than expected. I was so tired (I didn’t sleep the night before) that I fell asleep before the plane took off. Of course, once it started moving I was awake again (sigh). I got breakfast on the plane, which was a surprise. Passengers were offered either an omelet or English breakfast. I figured that I could start my blending in early and ordered the English breakfast (everyone else was ordering it, too). An English breakfast is (apparently):
 -Scrambled eggs with whole grilled mushrooms, a grilled tomato, a sausage, and a slice of meat that I think was bacon, but it didn’t look too appetizing and I didn’t want to test my stomach on a plane
-Plain, nonfat yogurt
-A roll with jam and butter
-Some sort of apple pastry
-Orange juice

     (Most of food didn't taste great, though I blame the fact that it was airplane food for that.) After eating a bit of my English breakfast I was offered tea in a plastic teacup. I only drank a few sips before I got sleepy again. I didn't sleep much when we were in the air, but I appreciated any snoozing I could get. For the last part of the journey I watched Rock of Ages, which apparently is another musical-turned-movie, though instead of original show tunes it uses classic rock songs. It was a decently cheesy and predictable comedy, but I found the main characters completely boring. The supporting cast (Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand) completely outshined them. Overall it’s really not that great of a movie (in my humble opinion), but I would see it again on some cheesy movie night in a heartbeat (again, mostly because of the supporting cast).

      We flew in over Ireland so I got to see Cork at night. Heathrow is a large airport. The one terminal I flew into was enormous in itself, and there are (I think) four other ones that I didn't see. When I arrived in Heathrow I had no idea where I was going, so I chose to follow the pack. Everyone got in a lift; I followed. They hopped on a subway (yes, in the airport); I followed. Sure enough, they led me right to baggage claim and the UK Border Agency. I grabbed my luggage and got into the country without a hitch. I managed to find a man holding a Kingston University sign and went over to join him. He was supposed to be picking up different students, but told me to stay with him until my driver arrived. He was very funny and had a marvelous accent (of course), and kept me company. Once I found my taxi, I got into the "passenger's seat" (the seat I'm usually driving in) and got my first on-the-ground look at England. One of the first things I noticed (besides the small cringe I gave whenever we drove the "wrong way" into a traffic circle) was that the traffic lights here are different than in America. The colors and position are the same, however they go from green, to yellow, to red, back to yellow, and to green again. Once the red light turns yellow, the driver can let go of the brake and start forward. Another thing I noticed early was that there are urban foxes running around in the area. I saw two of them my first night here!

            My taxi driver was nice. We chatted for most of the ride to the house. It turns out that he lived in America for awhile because of work (he was out in Oregon). He wondered what my big “English moment” would be. I wasn’t sure what he meant, so I asked what his American moment was. He told me he was riding a motorcycle next to a lake when “a big bald eagle swooped down and started flying next to me. I wanted to cheer ‘Yeeah! U-S-A! Goddamn, this is a great country!’” When I have my English moment, I shall report back. As we continued our drive, we turned down a street in town near my residence and he remarked “Here is a nice English street! You’ve got your Papa John’s, McDonald’s, and Kentucky Fried Chicken…oh, there are the pubs. That’s better.” There were nice pubs at the end of the street, but it was very funny and surprising to see a Papa John’s. I knew that McDonald’s and KFC were all over the world, but Papa John’s? I can’t even get that in Fairhaven anymore!

            He dropped me off and I got to meet my landlord, Miss Palmer. She was very welcoming and made me dinner before showing me the bus to get to campus, what the campus looked like, and how to get to the grocery store (Sainsbury’s). A note about dinner: it seems that when a British family cannot eat on a proper table (due to clutter, etc) that they eat off of trays. Granted, I am basing that statement on only two instances (us eating off of trays and that moment in Sherlock when John and his girlfriend did). Anyway, it is very practical and I think that America should take this up! Think about it: If you spilled food it would land on the tray; if you have hot plates they don’t have to go directly in your lap; you have a level surface to put your plate and drink on! It certainly makes eating on a couch easier. As we ate, we watched a British comedy that was very funny despite the fact that I had no idea what was going on. We also talked about American politics. As I’ve found out, everybody here and even the people from other countries love Obama. Everyone asks about him and if I saw his speech (which is a no, as I was on a plane). It’s kind of funny how much people ask about him. Miss Palmer said that everyone in England supports him because Romney was too extreme for them. She looked totally shocked after I told her that Romney is considered moderate in the states. After dinner and driving, I went to bed. Aside from waking up on and off because of those “late for school” dreams, I slept well.

            I woke up early the next day (today) to take the bus to the school and go to the International Student Welcome and enrollment. At the welcome, I got to know a few students I was sitting next to and we all heard several speakers. One woman talked about a course she was doing called Understanding Britain (which is basically a shorter version of my British Life and Culture course, which is a “real” course in that I get credit). One of the things she brought up is that the Britons always talk about the weather. This is true. The first thing the Vice Chancellor (president) of the school talked about was the snow, which is unusual for the area. When he found out there were a few New Yorkers in the room, he asked, “How much snow does it take before the trains stop in New York? Two, three meters? Well here in London it takes two or three centimeters. So, really, that means our snow is about ten times more efficient than your wimpy American snow. You are in the place with the most efficient snow...Welcome to Kingston.” I was also asked by several people, immediately upon finding out where I am from, what the weather was like in Massachusetts. When in doubt, discuss the weather. Everyone can talk about weather.

            During the welcome reception, we played a game called the Country Game. Everyone stands up, and when the woman running the session (her name escapes me) says the name of the country you’re from you sit down again. She got the big one, the United States, out of the way first; there were a lot of Americans! (There were about 150 people in the room, and I’d say half of them sat down when the United States was called out.) The president mentioned that Kingston is the most international school in the area, with a little over 20% of the students being from a different country. (Pretty cool, right?) Sure enough, we had students from all over: Korea, Sri Lanka, Serbia, France, Italy, Australia, Iraq, Ethiopia, Jordan, Turkey, Norway, Egypt, Spain, and one Canadian. (There were other countries, but I can’t remember all of them!) After the welcome, I went on a walking tour of Kingston (town, not school) where I met a pretty girl from France. She has a very heavy accent, but for the most part we were able to understand each other. Her name sounded like Ellen or Elaine, something like that. I also met a girl from Pennsylvania, a girl from Michigan, and a girl from Australia. The Australian was amusing; she admitted that at one point she thought that Mexico was not a country, but the 52^nd state in the U.S. (No word yet on what the 51^st was.) We got to talking about school holidays, and she said that Australia doesn’t even get Australia Day off! One guy asked what Australia day was, and if it was like Independence Day. The girl replied, “It’s more like a ‘hooray for being Australian’ day. It’s not an independence day because we’re not independent; we’re England’s bitch.”

I guess the flag sums it up.

      The tour of central Kingston was very pretty. I didn’t have my camera, but I wish I did! We walked along the Thames, which was gorgeous, and saw shops, pubs, and a market. Now I’ll just have to learn my way back there to do some exploring on my own! I think I can remember the route we took; there were a lot of landmarks, like a big sculpture of paper airplanes, a theatre, the Thames (big landmark), and a mall.didn’t know this until Miss Palmer told me, but apparently Kingston is a well-known shopping area and people will travel to get to its department stores and shops. Our tour guide pointed out all of the student-friendly (i.e. cheap) shops to go to. One of the shops we passed by was T.K. Maxx. Yes, T.K. It had the exact same logo as T.J. Maxx, so I don’t know if they are sister stores or what. All of the Americans in our group looked at it and went, “hey, wait a minute!” 

            After the tour we got a free lunch, where I met a student from Memphis. He got my idea and already tried the McDonald’s around here to see what is different, and he also found a pub with great fish and chips. I want him to show me the way sometime soon, as it’s in the town I am in (Surbiton). I then I officially enrolled in Kingston University! It turns out that enrollment has nothing to do with classes, but rather just clarifying visa and financial information, and getting a student I.D. So, this means that the modules I signed up for are the ones I am taking! (Happy days.) While I was at the school I also signed up for a few social events that Kingston has for the international students. On Friday I get to go on a walking tour of London, and the following Friday or Saturday I get to participate in Photo Frenzy. Essentially it is a photography scavenger hunt in London and I think (hope) we’re in teams. Whichever team takes the best pictures of all of the correct monuments wins something, and all teams get a free meal after. I think being in a team environment like that will make meeting people very easy. Let’s hope!

            Once I was done at the school, it was time to go grocery shopping. I am proud to say that I successfully figured out the bus to take to the store, did my shopping, and took the correct bus home. For the ride home, I sat in the top section of the double-decker as a reward to myself. It was fun being up so high! I think I’ll ride on the top from now on. At the store I got myself a Nectar Card (the equivalent of a Stop and Shop card), and I felt all official and happy inside. I also managed to stay well under my budget limit for weekly grocery shopping, as I got only a few cheap basics that can be my meals for the week. (I did forget to buy crumpets, which is a must-try for me. Also, the supermarket has its own section for tea cakes. Another random fun fact: Frosted Flakes are called Frosties here.) When I got home I tried to figure out if my grocery budget was also my dining out budget, and it turns out that I already did all of that math back in the states. I feel so proud and efficient. I know that, financially, I will do just fine. It was a great way to end the evening.

            I took an involuntary nap halfway through writing this, which I guess means I should be off to bed (though I’m not as tired now). Tomorrow we have orientation. I’m not exactly sure what we’ll be doing, but it should be another fun day. Hopefully I can find my way to the student council and ask about clubs and societies and the campus gym. Tomorrow night there is a meet-up for international students at a local pub, which I am definitely attending. I just have to find my way there...For now, I'm off to sleep.

That was me writing this.

Will talk soon! (I’ll actually have pictures next time.)