Sorry I have been neglecting my blog a little! I have recently developed a social life, which is a nice change. As I mentioned before I joined the Frisbee team here at Uni, and it is great! I made the women's first team, which is their 2nd best team. The best one is boys and girls (mostly boys). I also went to my first ultimate tournament this weekend in Loughborough University. About an hour away by bus and train. Our team (Fling) entered 2 beginners teams. I was on Fling 2. My team placed 16th out of 24th and our other team placed 21st. Not too bad if I do say so myself.
I got to know a lot of the members better and made some friends. I almost got the nickname Aladin, since my name is Genie, but it got vetoed by some of the other girls. They decided Genie was novel enough for a nickname. One of my other teammates got the name Ballen. Ben plus Allen, he wasn't allowed to have the name Ben since one of the older players is named Ben. We slept on a floor of a church hall with about 4 other teams, which was interesting to say the least. Loughborough threw a Frisbee party and a lot of us ended up in the church drunk, trying to find our sleeping bags in the dark. Someone used my feet as their pillow during the night as well. I didn't have a sleeping bag so I grabbed one out of our flat closet that looked like it was from the 50's. I tried not to think about the last time it had been washed. I'm going to invest in one that condenses down really small. I have been referred to Blacks, an outdoors store, kind of like Scheels or Active Endeavors.
This weekend there is a women's only tournament in Nottingham which means there is no entry or travel fees, plus I can make lunch at my flat instead of packing it.We have practice every weekday but Tuesday. Monday and Wednesdays are at the Jubilee campus, only a 20 minute bike ride away from the flat. I don't want to walk because then I have to walk through Aspley (my suburb) which is slightly sketch at night and there are no buses between Jubilee and our flat since it is "close". Unfortunately all the bikes at the flat are in slight disarray. I think I have found one that will just need; new brakes (the right brake does not work at all), re-grease the chain, and some lights so I don't get hit by other bikers. You can bike on the pavement or the road but I'm not confident enough on the road so I'm sticking to the pavement. Also I'd love it if someone would mail me my helmet so I don't die! hint hint wink wink.
Other than that classes are going pretty well, loving Italian. I have once again forgotten what time my first lecture is, and arrived on campus 2.5 hours early. I finally got some of my books for Greek so I can start to catch up on my reading for that class. Philip, Aimee and I are going to take a day trip to Lenton where they think they have found one of the English kings. We are trying to work out a day that we can all go. I can hardly believe that it is already halfway through October! I'm finally taking Kenza's advice and growing out my bangs like I should have done this summer. They are once again at that horribly awkward length where they are always in the way and look weird with headbands. My piercing is finally starting to heal so my refusal to take it out even though it has gotten infected twice has worked out, since I still have two ears. I need to go get a new earring because I am allergic to most metals other than silver and gold so then it can finally heal all the way. It is going to be extra expensive since I am in England.
Laters
Genie
I am concluding my first week of classes here at Nottingham Uni and it has been great despite getting lost before almost every class. Luckily, I've made it on time to all of them.
I'm finding reading lists slightly confusing: four pages of books that you might find helpful or interesting in relation to the class you are taking. I'll just ask my profs about it in more detail. I guess I should say lecturer, not prof, though. Also, the library is confusing. There is a short term part where you're supposed to be able to go and read something for like 2 hours and then return it. But you can also apparently put those books on hold so others can't read them even though no one else is using them. Dumb. I'm also finally starting to get some of the lingo down after three weeks of being in England. What can I say? I'm a fast learner.
Yesterday was the social for the triathlon team which I was planning on joining. It was being held in Mooch, the bar in the basement of Portland building (like the Union of most campuses). To get there I have to take two buses and walk a couple of streets over. Unfortunately, the buses do not run as often at night as they do during the day, so I was running late. As I reached my second bus stop I saw my bus (the 34) leaving and it wouldn't be back for 20 mins. I took the 36 instead of waiting, got of at the wrong stop and ended up having to walk by myself through (what I assume must be the poorest lit part of campus). And when I say walk I mean all out sprint. And when I say all out sprint I mean run to the nearest tree hide behind it while I scope out the surroundings to look for rapists and continue in the same fashion all the way to Portland.
Finally I got to mooch 45 mins late and could not find anyone from the triathlon team anywhere. I followed some people into the back room of Mooch and ended up in the middle of the Frisbee social! It was just like being back home with the Freya and Pound except they all have awesome British accents so they are more interesting to listen to (sorry Luther). They even have weird nicknames for the boys. I started talking with some people there and now I'm on the team! I have seen a couple of them around campus today. I'm going on a beginners tourney next weekend which I can't wait for! This will also be amazingly less expensive than the triathlon team which is brilliant!
This weekend is a trip to York, which I need to do a small report on (due tonight). We have had a couple of guest speakers whom I find horribly boring (sorry D Ran but it's true). None of them are very charismatic and they come right after dinner, so I'm sleepy. One spoke about the education system in England and the other was just a get to know the area speech.
Right now I'm trying to kill time till my next lecture which is at 16:00 and its only 13:13 blurg. But what I'm really doing is glaring at a girl who has a seat that looks really comfortable that I want. Hopefully she leaves soon so I can have it. Maybe if I make it more obvious that I want that spot she will feel awkward en
Hello again,
I am currently on campus for my first day of class. Picture me with my Northface backpack on, in the usual "first day of school" photo op that parents always make you take. We have to take two buses to get on to Uni Park campus, first one of the turquoise line then the 34 orange line. Of course I was running late today and didn't even get onto the bus until 10:18 when my class is at 11, and it takes at the very least 35 mins to get to campus. Then I took a wrong turn on the Canning Circus stop and had to backtrack, thankfully just in time to catch the 34 to campus. Once there I walked in the complete wrong direction, until I suddenly realized the bus had dropped us off right next to Sir Clive Granger (the building that I was supposed to be in).
Finally at 10:58 I arrived in my lecture hall just in time for the lecture to begin, only half covered in sweat from nerves and walk/running everywhere. The beginning lecture was excellent, and the class promises to be awesome, but who would have thought differently with a title like Introduction to the Archaeology of the Roman Empire. It doesn't hurt that the professor is British which makes everything he says immensely more interesting to listen to.
Next I went off to buy my Italian text book. £23 in case you were wondering. Hopefully the library will have most of my reading list, as I am planning on spending most of my money on clothes. To say I stand out would be an understatement. The English here dress at once much better and much worse than me. Even my semi dress clothes appear shabby around the other students.
I have narrowed the style of dress down to two main ideas: posh and ghetto. The posh clothes are AMAZING, I want them. (Lauren Russett would understand my need to shop right now.) They all seem to have a million scarves that work effortlessly with their outfits, cropped skinny jeans, pretty sweaters and purses/bags.
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The ghetto kids remind me of the tv show Skins. They wear leggings with pacsun-esk t shirts or baggy sweaters and either throwback nikes or white vans. Backcombed hair seems to be a big fad with them as well. Oh, also a lot of girls wear super short cut-off jean shorts over leggings or tights...and sometimes no tights. I have only seen a couple girls on campus who have backpacks and they seem to be the foreign exchange students. I'm going to need a bigger purse (wink wink nudge nudge mom). Even the boys are dressed better than me but I have not been paying attention to their trends as much. Oh and I already bought some new shoes. They. Are. Awesome! So cool I had to write it in Shatner style. Also, thinking of buying a leather jacket. A cute one, not a biker one if that makes any sense. A lot of girls have them here.
Presently I'm sitting in the Cafe in Trent building, which is where my Italian class is at three (currently 2:13 or 14:13). Hopefully it goes well. I haven't taken a conversational language in a while, wish me luck! Planning on hitting up the library after class before I go home. Apparently I'm not allowed to join the skydiving club according to my mom. Even though it is a great opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and try new things! Oh well, I still have the triathlon club, hopefully. I'm not sure if I will be able to join due to our flat dinners not coordinating with when everyone in England eats dinner. Hopefully we can just move dinner back so we can adjust to the culture.
I'm Looking for a road bike with 600/700c wheels in case anyone reads this and has any suggestions as to where in Nottingham I could buy one cheap or rent one for a year. Philip and Aimee are making dinner tonight so it will probably be great.
Untill next time ciao!
