Week 1

I hardly know where to start. I’ve only been here 5 days and already it seems as though a month has gone by.

I guess I can begin with my arrival into Manchester, and the relief that I managed to make it on to all of my flights (considering my hopeless sense of direction/timing) and arrive in one piece. One tired, extremely weary of lugging around her 5 ton carry-on bag piece, but one piece no less. The rest of the international students and I then shuttled over to the university and were greeted by a group of JCR (junior college representatives), who though they were ‘welcoming’, were clearly not hiding their dissatisfaction at having to help us haul all of our luggage to our respective colleges. I couldn’t blame them, they’d been doing it all morning, and frankly I wasn’t in much of a friend-making mood at that moment either.

We made it to the porter’s lodge where I was handed my room keys and an orientation packet, and then given absolutely no further direction. And when I asked if there was a phone I could use to make an international call, they said I was out of luck. Sweet. No internet access either until I registered 4 days later. Nice. Cue the homesickness. But luckily I made it to my building and met a couple of my flat mates who were super nice, and invited me out with them that night. One also gave me his internet login, so I could let all those concerned know that I’d made it alright.

The rest of that night is kind of a blur. It starts with my utter joy at being able to legally order a drink at the bar. It fades in and out with shots of some nasty Sambuca back at the flat, and an overwhelming number of Brits all simultaneously yammering crazy British words (which I vaguely remember finding absolutely hilarious and then trying to do my best impressions of them). It ends with waking up at 4am on my bedding-less mattress, fully clothed and with all the lights on. Solid. I must have made an impression, because as soon as they all saw me the next morning the biggest grins stretched across their faces before asking me if I’d had a good night.

What I will say is that they drink a lot here. And I mean A LOT. It’s currently ‘freshers’ (freshman) week, which is basically a week booked solid of nightly social events…so drinking…EVERY NIGHT. That next day I refused to participate, for obvious reasons, which quite disappointed them. But I’ve done my best to go out all other nights, I mean you have to, it’s just what they do the first week. Tuesday night all the colleges took buses into town to do a massive bar crawl, in order to show the freshers all the good spots to hit up. And last night was a themed pub crawl across campus this time, because each of the seven colleges houses their own bar. Tonight thankfully, was the ‘big night in’ where drinking is optional and recuperation and movie watching is highly suggested. Ok, so I guess they don’t go out EVery night, but close to it. And when they warned me about the inevitable ‘freshers flu’, I could only act so surprised. Oh England, the only place I know that would sponsor alcohol-driven illness the week before classes start.

I don’t think I mentioned, but my flat mates that I was speaking about earlier are all Third Years, which translates to a senior at American university. Which is great, not only because they’re my own age, but they’re willing to give me the direction I need. Because technically I’m a ‘fresher’, just in that I’m new to the university or ‘uni’ as they call it. But my flat mates know how much I abhor being associated with freshman status, so of course in addition to their help, they give me a bunch of shit about it.

Despite all the drinking and shenanigans this week, I’m excited to get started with classes again. It feels like it’s been much to long since I’ve done any studying, and I know I’ll regret saying this by the end of the first session, but I can’t wait. Classes, or courses here are taught much differently than they are in the States. I only have about 7 hours of class per week, and am expected to fill the rest of my time up with independent study. Haha, I laugh in the face of strictly scheduled independent study time. I don’t even know what that is, it seems like an oxymoron to me. I’m extremely interested to see how this goes, as is everyone else I’m sure. I don’t do ‘studying’, that’s why I’m and English Lit major. Duh.

I’m also looking forward to classes, so I will have an actual schedule and the ability to get into a routine. I’m feeling comfortable enough 5 days into this whole thing, and I don’t doubt that 3 months is just going to fly by once I get everything figured out. My bank account is already screaming at me, what with going out every night and the desperate need for things like a pillow case that isn’t made out of plastic thread (thanks shitty bedding pack) and all sorts of membership and club fees. But despite the expense I’ve already made reservations with the university for a day trip to Edinburgh next week. The university has their own travel agency that puts together regional trips for students at fairly reasonable prices. Which is a good way to get me traveling until I feel confident enough to do it on my own.

But I think it’s bed for now (in my outrageously soft and comfortable bed—not). Because tomorrow is ‘freshers fair’ (a campus-wide clubs and societies exhibition) during the day, and cross-dressing at the Grizedale bar for the night. Surely I will have stories to report.