Monday 28 June 2010

Tally-ho!


Hi everyone!
This is my first blog. I won't have much time to write on all the days I have been here as I have class in about an hour and a half, but I will eventually catch up on everything soon. I'll start with yesterday (the day I got to school). I woke up in London at Hotel Russell in Russell Square and took the "tube" as they call it here (a subway) to the Victoria Station to transfer onto a National Express train. That train took me to Brighton which is south of London and about an hour away. When I got off the train and onto the platform, I was amazed at the station. It reminded me somewhat of the scenes in Harry Potter and when I saw Platform 3, I immediately wanted to chalk up 3/4 onto the side of it. I ended up taking Platform 7 to get to Falmer, Brighton, which is where University of Sussex is located.
My parents came along with me from London to Falmer. I was a little sad because as soon as I got off the train at Falmer which had only been about a 10 minute ride, me and at least 50 others were herded off the station quickly through a little building and onto a bus. I don't think my parents (or myself for that matter) were expecting to be separated so quickly. My parents didn't even get a chance to say goodbye really. I saw my parents walking around trying to figure out what to do, and I tried to peer through the windows to see my dad to at least wave goodbye. I did, and then got onto the bus. By then, my parents had walked to the other side of the station to catch a train. I don't know if they were going back to London or if they were going to browse around other parts of Brighton before going back. I'm still a little sad I didn't get to say goodbye to my dad and hug him off, but I'm doing the best to adjust here.

As soon as I got to school, I thought it would be bigger than UC Davis, but it is actually quite small. The first thing I did was set everything up in my room and then spent at least a good 3 hours to get my internet working. I wanted to talk to Ryan! The handbook said I had to buy an ethernet cable to connect from inside my room and apparently some students already had some inside their rooms. When I got to mine, I looked all around and didn't see it, so I went to the bookstore where I was told I could get one but it was closed! Everything seemed to be keeping me away from Ryan, haha. My hungry little tummy found a grocery store very close to my dorm and what did I find? An ethernet cable! So I got some water, chips, and a sandwich and trotted back up to my dorm. My internet didn't work, so I went to the ITS to get my internet functioning properly. Boy was it a complicated process, but eventually I got it to work. Finally got to talk to Ryan and soon after headed to a "drinking party" to get to know some people.

No, I did not drink. I had apple juice! :) It was pretty pleasant. I have to say, it's hard to make friends here because it seems like people from the UCs all know each other from their own campuses. I didn't know anyone from Davis going because the EAP coordinator didn't email us the emails of other people participating like he said he would. >:| But oddly enough, I ran into another guy from Davis. I tried making friends with some people in my dorm by helping with their luggages and leaving my door open so I could talk to anyone who came on my floor or what-have-you. They all seemed to keep to themselves, and it's really hard for me because I am already such a shy and reserved person! I had to try really hard, but they all apparently had friends in other dorms from their universities, so I was very lonely.

After wandering around at the reception party, a girl invited me over to talk with her and some other people who were also kind of friendless? I don't know if that's a good word to use, but it's all I can think of. Anyhow, they ended up being some really friendly people so hopefully I will run into them again. After about an hour and a half, all of us but one retired back to our dorms. I ended up getting ready for bed because I was extremely exhausted. I'm still not adjusted to this time very well even though I've been going to bed at 11 and waking up at 6. I guess, it's not a bad thing to tire out early and sleep all night long. Anyway, hopefully I will make some friends since class starts today.

I'm typing this and thinking about how spoiled we are as people in the US. The dorms here don't have air conditioning. As a matter of fact, many places I've been to in London and here as well don't have air conditioning! The showers are small, the toilets aren't very nice... and there are only 2 showers and 2 toilets for 16 people in this building! My desk chair is also weird... it's very low with cushioning but it's cushioned and so low in a way that it makes me feel like I'm on a boat or a plane-ride. Don't sing that I'm on a boat song in your head, please. :) But on the plus side, we have sinks in our rooms! That could be good or bad depending on how you look at it because we might not ever leave our rooms... but I'm trying my best to be social since I'm not that kind of person.

I suppose this is all for now. I'm going to get ready for class and hopefully, I will come back tonight to update more later and hopefully with some pictures of my campus and dorm facilities! :) Cheerio!

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