Aussie Aussie Aussie -

     Oi Oi Oi -

     Pretty interesting weekend, not including Friday (we were tuckered out from going into town in the rain in the afternoon and just had a night in). Saturday a few of us went on a free walking tour of Exeter - this one was Medieval Exeter. I am for sure doing all six or so tours, our guide was very sweet and knowledgeable :) There are quite a few buildings in Exeter that date back to the 1300's, I was super impressed. 

    Saturday was also Australia Day! Brandon made us a Australian meal, which consisted of sausage and onions on white bread (?) and a shrimp & avocado salad. We were invited to a G block party in which we had to dress up - we tried to buy outfits for the past couple of days and nothing really panned out, so I went as a lifeguard with Jessica as my shark. We visited most of the floor and met some fun new people between 4-10ish, learned some strange Australian rituals - GECKO! is when you have to have three points of contact with the wall when someone yells it. Their drinking song goes [probably something like] this: "Here's to [insert name here], he/she's true blue. He/she's a pisspot through and through. He/she's a bastard so they say, tried to go to heaven but he/she went the other way - down down down down down! Siiiiiiip, siiiiip, siiiip!" Once someone translated for me I was able to join in. After this we went to the Lemmy, our club on campus that we weren't quite expecting. Firstly, it's enormous. Secondly, it's on campus. Weird. They played pretty good songs (if I can sing along, I'm sold).
     On Sunday probably 10 people told me they wanted to come on the underground passage tour, but I think everyone was too hungover from the day before. So instead, Jessica, Elena and I went and met up with Kayla. The passages housed the water pipes that lead from springs outside the city to the Cathedral and eventually for the city. It was the first time I can remember that being short really came in handy - the passages were made in the 1300s or something crazy and were built for the average man - 5'6. In some parts we had to duck and walk like idiots for a bit. I'm also very happy I was wearing a hard hat, I'm sure I would have bonked my head off something. Despite the danger, it was very cool. Our guide said that the one in Exeter is the only set of passages open to tourists.

A little view of Exeter

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. — Neal Donald Walsch

First Weekend Out

     Oh my, days are already blending together, I think Thursday we all had a drink at the Ram? Chatted with a few Americans who live a floor below us, they are fun.
     After planning about fifteen events at one time, we decided Friday we would go to the Erasmus welcome party. We missed the Ram part of it (which would have meant actually meeting people), seeing as we're already anti-social. We invited the lower ground floor up to the surface for a international game of kings/ring of fire/the beer game/the magic circle/whatever else you call it. It was super fun - we talked about common rules, and I introduced fuckamoose and fuzzy duck (first year UOttawa paying off, obviously). Learned that Sweden is also famous for moose. Also, Fuzzy duck is probably harder if English isn't your first language. We played a few rounds of that, met at the Ram, and walked to the Well. It was a tiny little tavern that was mostly older men playing pool and drinking and clearly not happy about our intrusion. Mel and I sort of had a drink donated to us by some Brits, and then we bought tickets for the next place.. incredibly pointless stop on our tour. But I did talk to two French international students, so between the three I have met I shall learn French.
     Off to Arena, one of few clubs in Exeter. We were incredibly early, but that seems to be what you have to do! We danced with the dance floor to ourselves for a bit. Instead of putting pictures up online like any other club in the world, they tried to sell them and put them on keychains and stuff. Who wants a drunk picture in the dark on a keychain??? Anyway. Place ended up getting pretty crowded and we danced the entire time. It was essentially all North American music, which was kind of silly, but hopefully that was just because all of us international students where there? We requested DJ Kronik's "I'm looking for some girls" but were left broken hearted. It's one of our floors theme songs, and I'm sure everyone in my life will hear it many times from now on. Security is really on their game at their clubs, as soon as they see aggression or stupidity they grab people off the dance floor. Which is good when a guy starts front flipping to Gangham Style. In general, a very fun night. I found the music got pretty boring after two though, so maybe Canada's cut off time is the right idea (I don't even know how late these people stay open, our British friends from that first night out say in Plymouth there's places that stay open until 6 or 7 in the morning?!).
      Saturday the flatmates went into town for spices and to find a cute coffee shop to stop in to. We went to the Butternut Kitchen Cafe, and it was adorable.
                                         
We planned on going to watch a rugby game, but it's cold out so we were going to watch it on tv, but then the bar was too crowded. So the boys watched it on a laptop while I read my book and we all just hung out in the kitchen. There was a party going on one floor down, but we all ended up reeeally not feeling it after seeing how crowded it was (it was in another kitchen... not suitable for 40 people). So we crept back upstairs and watched Mulan and drank tea. I have found my people. 

Cups? Not Cops. Cups.

      The last two days have not been what I call productive, but they've been entertaining nonetheless.
      My Sex in the Services class was completely cancelled due to a professor's surgery. This is a huge bummer, but Exeter has a lot of interesting history classes so I have moved on to African popular culture. I clearly have no background knowledge on this, but I'm willing to give it a try! Tomorrow I will (hopefully) finally get to go to a class. I won't be saying much, but I will get to talk to my professor (who is supposed to be awesome). The history department was infinitely more helpful than English, who just kept running me around (my English class was also cancelled all week because of a death in the professor's family, but I had already been to the class twice before I got an email telling me this). Bit of a fresh start tomorrow!
     I am super duper happy that I ended up in Lafrowda S block, pretty sure our building is the best. :) Floors 1, ground, and the basement are planning a bunch of dinners and house parties. My flat is just one big happy family, we hang out in the kitchen a lot and just have a lot of fun. The title of this entry is a quote from Jessica trying to enunciate but being more confusing than if she didn't. Ben said he'll teach us one French word every day, so maybe dad's goal of me learning French will pan out (ish).
     Our student bar, The Ram, is cool also; it's open every night and it's a nice place to meet up with everyone. The past couple nights we've either met there or stayed there to have a drink. Every Friday they have karaoke ("Rameoke").
    British people love standing in lines (cueing). It's bizarre, but it seems to be a national pastime. You have to go out for the bars at like 8 or 9. I think this is crazy, and I go out at like 10:30. My flatmates from Peru and France don't go out until like the crack of dawn, so I don't know how they are adjusting!
    British people also love unhealthy food. One of our orientation events was a cream tea. It's a scone with clotted cream and jelly on it; it pretty much is a heart attack on a scone. Delicious though. S family Robinson met a bunch of girls from G block, including the other UOttawa student, Jen (who's from Grimsby!). Small world? They are all super nice. It's insane adding like 20 new people who you've met once or twice and hope you can find them again at some point.
    Elena and I went out today and I bought the cuuutest little straightener and more food. We couldn't find a used book store anywhere and were told to just put in an enormous amazon order. Too bad I needed a book read a week ago. I had to go back out to the bank and had a fiasco there as well, but if I use the ATM apparently I'll be okay.
    I am so exhausted from the mountain that is this town, I thought I was in shape enough for this kind of incline (but I don't know if its something you can prepare for). Good night!

The Education Part

    Yesterday we met with an advisor who gave us classes that we had chosen months (maybe?) before. I was nervous because I didn't remember what I had picked, but had chosen a new lot again that fit into a schedule. Turns out I picked a few of the same classes and I only needed two instead of four because they are worth more credits. I'm pretty sure I am in Postcolonial studies (an English class) and Sex in the Service (a history class about women in the military). I am incredibly excited about them, but today was a bit of a fiasco trying to get to the classes. I found the schedule online, but though today was Wednesday and went to the wrong building/class. Luckily, it was at nine, I figured it out, and my actual class wasn't until 1. I used the time to tour campus, find where my classes should be, and enjoy the sunshine (!!!).One other student and I were the only ones sitting there; apparently we were the only ones who didn't get the memo about class being cancelled. My email hadn't been set up yet, so I'm glad he was there to get some info for me.  I got back to residence in time to grab some free stuff (for our communal kitchen an a warmer jacket) and then headed out for class again. Once again, chaos. I go to the room I believe to be my classroom, and no one else shows up. Needless to say, I gave up for the day. Mel and I went into town. I got a sim card for my phone (nothing international, sorry!) and groceries (finally!!). It's a bigger town than I thought, which I'm happy about. It's extremely cute and convenient. Dollar stores are called Poundland - love it! It's all pretty close to the school and we saw a market as well. I can't wait to explore it more!

Bars, Orientation, and Trivia

     This is going to be impossible to keep up on and remember it all, but! I will keep trying. As previously mentioned, we went out the night everyone moved in. There is a bar called the Imperial that is very close, and very cool. It's loungey in the front, restaurant in the middle, and bar in the back (I've decided). I got a chicken sandwich and realized how incredibly plain some British food is going to be. Luckily, cider is popular here and it is cold! Everyone lied to me when they told me all the beer would be warm. A huge amount of the exchange students went - we took up probably 7 tables put together.
    It's really interesting to see where everyone is from and the little differences between countries, but there still ended up being a ton of Canadians here. One of the girls I've been hanging out with actually goes to school at Carleton, but we managed to find each other here.
    Yesterday we had orientation(ish). My campus tour was not super helpful, but it's such a beautiful campus it was hard to care much. I ended up figuring out where a lot of things were on my own today anyway. A bunch of us stayed together for registration and etc. so it wasn't too painful. There's a little store with a decent amount of food that isn't crazy expensive, a few food shops, and the school stuff store in the forum as well, I dig it. I also lurked the school sweaters today, but the style I like doesn't come in the school colour soo I am still mulling it over. Need it to be forest green or nothing!!!\
   Anywho. We also had a few welcome lectures, explaining that Exeter is very safe (you're welcome, Mom) and that they mark like beasts. Anything over a 70 percent here is what I would consider an A+, apparently. So here I should be aiming for a 60-65%, I guess. Scary. Also, our international officer is hilarious and sweet, even though we were all exhausted from jetlag she made us laugh while telling us obvious things (like to eat, and drink water, and go to class).
    Last night we also had a trivia night, which was pretty amusing. My team was a bunch of people from my floor and some other lovely people. My campus tour leader also came and joined us, and he was pretty hilarious. Apparently if you do a three year program at Exeter and you're from Hong Kong, you pick up a British accent. Even with Dennis's help we did not win, but we got a free dinner and made up some solid answers.
   

Settling In

      Made it! Flight from Philly to London was less painful than the leading up to. They gave people free headphones to make up for a three hour delay, super helpful. Luckily I had a bit of a later train, so I didn't miss any connections. The English countryside is incredibly beautiful, I'm glad I got to take a train for a few hours. Sheep absolutely everywhere. And one llama.

      Got my little room mostly set up. The closet is big and there are cork boards for all my pictures of friends and family. I'll do more organizing later. I'd put up pictures, but I forgot my camera cord :) So pictures will follow a bit later.

     In a hour or so I'm going to go out with a bunch of other exchange students and see how everyone else faired the travelling! So far everyone on my floor seems quite nice, but I'm still scared to make some solid friendships.

   Tah tah for now :)

Philly Airport

Oh hai. My plane was supposed to leave at 9:10pm, but here I am. The plane's hydrosomethings weren't working (after being "repaired" yesterday), so we have to switch planes. But that second plane needs to be cleaned and given fresh pillows (vital). In the meantime, I will just alternate between sitting and pacing for the next twenty minutes or so.

Saying goodbye to my parents was not as horrific as I thought it would be. Quite a few tears were shed, but I know they are both excited for me and proud of me, which is awesome. I can't believe how supportive they have been (both financially and emotionally), I'm so so so lucky to have such amazing parents.

If I don't tell you enough, thank you to everyone in my life for being so incredible. I love you so much, especially if you're reading my nonsense.

xoxo

Pre-Exeter

      
      So I finally started packing (the day before my flight) and I remember why I have been putting it off. Packing for six months is insane. Do you know how much shampoo you use in six months? How about how much dental floss?

      Anyway. I'm mostly just a big jumble of excited energy and sadness. It's been really nice hanging out with my parents for a few weeks and seeing my friends. I already miss Bryan like crazy, but I think it will get easier once we get back into our normal lives. I'm hoping this blog and skype will make everyone feel connected to me while I'm gone.

     If anyone has a destination in the UK they think I should visit, send me a message! I'm obviously going to try and make the most of my stay and see as much as I can while I'm studying abroad.

    I'm sure I'll post five entries tomorrow when I'm bored in various airports.

xx

Intro

The idea: post my general happenings overseas so everyone knows what I'm up to. Places I've been, pictures I've taken, things I've experienced will be recorded here for my loved ones to keep track of.