Oh, Fresher's Week

So Sunday morning the “freshers,” or first year students, moved into our hall and I finally got to meet some actual British people!  We ran into town during the day, since the hall was quite busy, and I got a mattress pad of sorts for my bed (hopefully it helps a little) and some school supplies.  When we got back, everyone was pretty well moved in and we had our first “floor meeting.”  It’s so different from the dorms back home, mainly because we met up to have drinks before dinner, and the meeting consisted of everyone saying their names and room numbers, then just standing around talking.  While I am loving my new group of international friends here, we were excited to meet some British people! Today was the start of “Fresher’s Week,” which is a 10-day long party, basically, celebrating the beginning of school.  There are all sorts of events put on by the school’s bar (yes, we have a bar on campus) and the pubs and clubs around the area.  Seems like it is going to get pretty crazy here the next couple of days…  But I am looking forward to it!  I have already met some cool British people, who find our little American group very amusing.  A lot of British people apparently LOVE Americans!  Someone commented on my accent (that’s a new one!) and gave me a hug because I was American! One told us that he is just amused listening to us talk in a group, since we all talk at once and over each other, whereas they would talk one at a time.  It’s interesting to see another culture’s perspective about Americans.  We had a few conversations comparing our cultures, which were quite interesting and amusing, and we get along very well!  I can’t wait to hopefully make some more British friends this week (and adopt a British accent!) ;)

I only have classes on Thursday this week, so I will have a lot of free time.  I hope to get some travel and sightseeing plans figured out and continue to explore the area.  I want to go into London on Wednesday to a mass at Westminster Abbey, when the boys choir performs.  It is free, and the tour guide said it is the best way to see the inside of the cathedral without paying for it, and the music’s not bad either.  I think it would be a really cool experience.  We also want to try and hit up some museums.

Yesterday, one of my friends and I decided to go into the next town to do some shopping and when we left, we decided to be adventurous and try to take the bus home. Well, that didn’t work out so well… We asked the info desk for help, and he told us which bus to take, but never which stop to get off.  So we were on the bus, looking for something familiar to get off at, and almost ended up at London Heathrow Airport, which is a good 30 minutes away from campus.  So we got off the bus in Hampton somewhere and took the bus back the other direction.  We then got off the bus, thinking we were close to town (since we didn’t want to miss our stop again!) and ended up walking for at least 1.5 hours, I’m guessing about 3 miles!  We weren’t entirely sure where we were, but we managed to walk in the right direction and finally got into Twickenham.  We were so tired by the time we got home, and are both sore today from walking with shopping bags!  Just another little adventure in London!  I really need to start bringing my map with me!