I got a plant! They had a plant sale yesterday on campus and I needed something to liven up my room...so yeah, I'm naming it....D'Artagnan. haha...I wanted a dumb name cuz I named the plant at West Park Rufus and Steph named her stuffed flower Manfred....so I was looking at a "dumb names to give your baby" site and D'Artagnan was on there...and I thought, yes, it is a dumb name, but it's a MUSKETEER!! And then everytime I see my plant I can scream out D'Artagnaaaaaaan! like that guy in the Disney version of The Three Musketeers when he's chasing Chris O'Donnell at the beginning.

Anyway, you may be thinking - why is she rambling on about plants when there's so much to see and do in England?? Well I was going to go shopping today but it's pouring outside...and around here they don't have just a big mall to go into...it's a lot of walking out side and stuff. Also, I forgot that I have a meeting today at 1 for my Anglo-Saxon class to figure out timetable stuff...so I wouldn't have had a lot of time to shop anyway.

It turns out that the Block L party has been moved to tonight...so last night my flatmates and I went to a pub down the road. But it was soooo busy cuz Real Madrid was playing (David Beckham's team) and I think there was a wedding party in there too...all I heard were church bells last night and I couldn't figure out why church bells were ringing on a Thursday night. But at the same time, who gets married on a Thursday?? Anyway...and then when we came back from the pub there were a bunch of ppl sitting outside our building...apparently Block K and J were having a bin bag party (people dress up in garbage bags)...so we hung around for a bit to socialize. Matt was pretty trashed. It was so funny. He had to get up for a faculty trip/social thing today and the bus left at 8:15 this morning from campus (which is a 1/2 hour walk away). So he kept telling us..."I have to be up in 5 hours" so we're like then go to bed doofus! So I'm assuming he went...if not then I guess he's still sleeping cuz I haven't seen him yet. Actually, I think everyone had to be in for 10 at the latest today...haha not me!

I've now been here for over a week (I arrived last Wednesday)...and things are settling in pretty well. My other two roommates arrived on Sunday. One is Sophie and she's from about an hour east or so from here...and Matt is from Coventry. So we're all here now!..and we get along pretty well. On Sunday night we all went out to this club called Creation...and it was HUGE. I mean, I'm used to Hess Village in Hamilton where clubs are in old houses....but here, it had two floors and it was so big...and the top floor had this huge dome ceiling with balconies and stuff. So, this was where the foam party was...and it's funny cuz apparently the fact that I went to a foam party has been a topic of discussion around my old house in Hammy...lol. But it's not like I was right in the middle of all the foam with a wet T-shirt or anything. We were on the outside of the party so, I mean, foam floated in our hair, but it wasn't anything chaotic. My flatmate Rich had been to a foam party before and totally got his clothes ruined so he didn't want to get soaked again. The music was good though...in a funny way. I don't know, they have weird club anthems over here...I mean of course there's the usual techno kinda stuff...but they played the theme song from Baywatch and everyone went nuts!! It was so funny. Then on Monday night we went to the Intro Party at the uni (that's what they call university) clubs and Basement Jaxx and Jo from S Club 7 (she now has a solo career) performed. And then there was a DJ after til about 2am....and again, they played really good songs...they played Bryan Adams "Summer of '69" and I was so happy! And they played stuff like Shout and a couple Queen songs and Song 2 and...you know, the kind of stuff that isn't techno club music but that everyone knows so they go crazy over...it was great!

So the last couple of days I haven't gone out really cuz I've been a little bit worn out. But I think there's a Block party tonight, so I'll be going to that. (example: we are in Block L of our residence...yes, it does sound a bit like jail...)

I got registered on Tuesday for school and my modules....Ontario students be happy for online registration and course selection...this was one of the most frustrating experiences I've ever had...standing in line for a total of about 4 hours to sign up for classes...and the thing is, the British students already had a core timetable so they just had to pick electives that worked around their timetable...but since I'm not in a specific program over here (I'm just taking courses to satisfy what I need at home) then I had to sign up for all of my courses like they were electives...so I didn't have this core schedule and thus it was kind of hit and miss with my electives...like I'd sign up for something, but then I'd go to sign up for another course but it would conflict...so either I couldn't take that course then or I had to delete the other course...it was a bit crazy. So I changed my electives choices about 3 times. But, it's all sorted out now finally. This semester I'm taking Human Population Genetics and Evolution, Human Genetics, Anglo-Saxon Culture, and Guitar's Influence of Popular Music. And now you're probably thinking...what's up with my electives? Well, I signed up for the guitar class, which a) is probably going to be pretty easy and b) sounds pretty cool cuz we get to learn about ppl like Hendrix and Clapton and stuff...and then the Anglo-Saxon class...well I was looking for another class for sememster one...and I didn't want anything with lots of hours or lots of work...haha...and I actually stopped at this booth cuz I needed to put stuff in the garbage, but then I started talking to the prof about the course and it sounds pretty cool...basically I get to learn about what England was like before 1300 AD...here's the description of the course:

The aim of this interdisciplinary module is to provide an integrated introduction to Anglo-Saxon culture in its historical context, using texts from the period in translation, archaeology, architecture, manuscript illumination, and the art of decorated artefacts, such as stone sculpture, ivories and jewels.

So basically, it's like a more hands-on history class...and then there's a couple field trips to historic sites or museums or something...so it should be good. And they schedule the lectures to fit our timetables...we have a meeting tomorrow evening to figure out what the best times are for everyone.

I only have 8 hours of class for the first 3 weeks, then 6 hours of class for the next 3 weeks after that...and then my hours go up to a whopping...let's hear it...14 hours a week until Christmas break. Oh you poor Engineering and Science students at home...*wink*...but yeah, the schedules are kind of weird here. Like, they have 20 credit courses and 10 credit courses...so the 20 credit courses you most likely have all semester, but the 10 credit ones start half way through (which is why my hours went up)...so it's a bit different. But it's gonna suck next sememster cuz I have four science courses then whereas this sememster I only have 2. blah...

But anyway I should get going but I before I do, I took some pics of my room last night...and no, I don't have pics of my flatmates yet...we're rarely together at the same time...but we probably will tonight for the Block party so I'll try to take lots of pics.
My Room - desk view
My Room - bed view
My Room - closet/lots of Orlando posters view

Haha…okay when I decided to start writing this I was fully intent on writing a lot about today but I had no idea what time it was…seriously I just checked the time so I knew when to say I wrote this post (since I still don’t have internet and the posts probably won’t be up til Monday at the earliest now) and I was like…Gah! 2 am!! I have no idea how long I’ve been talking with my new flatmates for….I’m guessing about 3 hours. I definitely had no idea it was this late. I’m still a bit on Canada time here…so if I usually go to bed at, say, midnight…then that’s 5 in the morning here.

But yeah, only 2 out of my 4 flatmates have moved in so far. This is move-in weekend for the British students, but they don’t have scheduled move-in times so I guess the other two have chosen to come tomorrow. I opted for a co-ed flat because I’ve been used to living co-ed for the last year and I was just afraid of sharing a flat with 4 girls who may be catty and stuff…so the two people that showed up today were Katherine and Richard. Katherine is from Norwich, which is in East Anglia (near Cambridge University kind of) and Richard is from Birmingham (near Stratford-upon-Avon). They’re both pretty cool. I love listening to the accents but it’s gonna take some getting used to. It wasn’t so bad talking to Katherine and Richard but we went around to meet other people in our building and we were talking to a couple of girls from upstairs…and one was from Manchester and one from Newcastle, which is farther North than Manchester. So, their accents were a bit heavier…and some of the expressions they used made no sense at all…so they would explain them to me but it would be like, well we say this, because it comes from this, which comes from this, which….and then eventually you get to the original expression which actually starts to make some sense. I can’t give you an example either…I just remember that the expression was “That’s mediums” but the explanation was so long that I can’t remember it…I can’t even remember what the expression is used for.

I finally got all unpacked, and yes, my posters are up. Not all of them though. I left some Orlando Bloom posters down because a) I didn’t have enough room and b) I didn’t want my flatmates to think I was totally crazy. I was actually intending on putting less posters up but when Richard was unpacking I was looking at his movies and he pointed out some movies that he said were crap but he bought them just because they had Sandra Bullock in them…so I was like, if he has unnecessary Sandra Bullock stuff, I’m sure he’ll understand my Orlando craze. He hasn’t commented on it yet though…but then again he hasn’t been in my room really. Katherine walked in and was like, “You like Lord of the Rings eh?”…she hasn’t even seen them!!! But no, I did not freak out on her. I simply pointed out that I owned all 3 special extended editions and she could borrow them whenever she wanted…and then I made sure she knew that they were extremely long…

Everyone that I’ve met in my building (aside from other exchange students) are first years, but it seems to be that everyone has had a gap year, so we’re all roughly the same age. Maybe the flats were arranged that way specifically. I was so afraid I was gonna get stuck living with a bunch of 18 year olds. Katherine’s 20 and Richard’s 19 so it’s all good.

I had my first grocery shopping excursion today. I was actually impressed with the prices. I was expecting them to be pretty much double what it is at home….but it’s pretty close to the same for most stuff…and milk is actually cheaper here…I worked it out to about $1.10/L Canadian over here…and what do we pay at home? I think it’s about $2.59 for one litre in Hamilton…so I was definitely happy about the cheap milk. It’s nice cuz the supermarket is just about a minute walk away around the corner. And then beside it is this place called Wilkinson’s which is kind of a Giant Tiger kind of deal minus the clothing. But they have everything else there. I got some dishware, a couple of pillows, and some other stuff.

So yeah, our long 3-hour or whatever chat started when Richard decided to crack open the wine bottle. No, none of us were drunk or anything. It’s so weird though cuz Richard and Katherine both said that they sit down with their friends and drink wine….and I’m sitting there thinking…we might sit around and drink…something…be it beer or whatever we mix up, but I can’t ever remember deciding, Hey guys, let’s get a bottle of wine. I mean, I could only see us doing that if we decided one night that we were going to be really posh or something…or maybe if we had just watched Sideways…but that’s a bit of a stretch too.

Anyway, I have to get to bed because it was an early morning…the guy above me woke up at like 7 and I swear he was jumping up and down or something…it was loud stomping whatever it was…and at first I thought…crap…it’s going to be some guy with a weird religious ritual that he has to do first thing every morning…and as much as I respect other religions…I have to be honest…that would totally suck for me. So at first I tried to sleep through it but it just kept stomping…and then his music came on…some sort of techno music…and then came his off-key voice singing to the music…and I’m thinking, Man you’re killing me here! Shut uuuuup!! So finally I decided to get out of bed and see if I could confront him because I figured I should do it sooner than later or else the whole year could be like this. So I knocked on the door to his flat and it ended up being an Asian guy, so immediately I was relieved that it wasn’t a Middle Eastern guy with his ritual…so I was like, Hi, my name’s Kirsten, nice to meet you…yadda yadda…I’m the person who lives underneath you…and then he had this look on his face of realization and was like, Oh am I being too loud…uh yeah, just a bit. So it was pretty good after that. But shortly after I had come back downstairs the guy in the room next to me was on the phone and I could hear everything he was saying. This was….8 in the morning now? I don’t know…8 isn’t such a bad time, but keep in mind that I was woken up at 7…plus I had a crappy sleep cuz I didn’t have a pillow yet since I didn’t bring one over with me and didn’t have time to buy one…so I was sleeping on my old stuffed Humpty Dumpty pillow which is seriously like an inch thick. So, when this guy starts talking on the phone I just bolt up in my bed and I was ready to strangle someone. So, I started knocking on the wall…not really loud cuz I wasn’t sure if there were other people in his flat and I didn’t want to wake them up…but he didn’t take any notice of it. And the way my building is set up is there are 3 “blocks” in the building…and he’s in a different block, even though it’s the flat next to ours. So since he was in a different block I didn’t have access to it (we have swipe cards) and therefore couldn’t confront him. So I REALLY hope that these early-morning phone calls aren’t a usual thing.

But yeah…that’s it for now anyway. Yes, the rant is over. It just occurred to me that I totally should have webcammed that whole episode that I just wrote out cuz I’m sure my frustration would have come across a bit better…but my flatmates are in bed now and I don’t want Katherine (who is beside me) to wake up hearing me talking to no one in the middle of the night. That would not be a good start to the year.

Cheers! (They say that ALL the time here…it has a kajillion meanings….kind of like Aloha…it’s like, Hi, Bye, Thanks…I’m sure you could insert it anywhere and they wouldn’t take any notice…)

Happy belated anniversary to my parents and happy birthday to Bourke!!! Haha Bourke! It’s Bourke’s Birthday! Haha!! And I’m half way across the world so Bourke can’t chase me around with a flyswatter or anything!! Haha!! Good luck at the show tonight too…although when I finally get this uploaded to the internet everything will be over…but it’s the thought that counts. Oh and PS Bourke I’ve been promoting Holding Sky over here…I wore your shirt on the plane…so it was exposed all over the Toronto and Manchester airports.

I am a genius! Well actually this was my Mom’s idea but I’m the one who carried it out…the problem was that the adapter that I had bought for my laptop (because they have different plug holes here) doesn’t work, so I needed to use one of my other adapters, except they only take the 2 pronged plugs and not the 3 pronged…so then I had to use an extension cord in between but that also only took the 3 pronged plug. So I gouged out a hole for my third prong….which now that I think of it probably isn’t totally safe, which is why I’m just not gonna touch that end…but ANYWAY…that means that I can finally use my computer. Unfortunately there is no internet in my temporary residence (Charles Morris Hall), so I won’t be able to post this til Saturday at the earliest (which is when I move into my actual residence, Lupton).

So, I finally arrived here at Leeds um…early afternoon yesterday, which was the 14th. Our plane left Toronto at 10:15 pm on Tuesday the 13th and our flight was pretty fast…only just over 6.5 hours. The only problem was that during the flight, our time had sped ahead by 5 hours so when we landed it was about 9:30 am England time on the 14th, which meant that we’d lost a whole night of sleep. Of course, I could’ve slept on the plane…and I did a little…only about 2 hours max though. I don’t know…I went to sleep during Monster-In-Law and woke up during Moulin Rouge. It was a very uncomfortable flight though. Not a lot of leg space.

When we got to the Manchester Airport we discovered that Air Canada totally forgot to load one of my bags…which happened to be the one with all the underwear in it!! So hopefully they deliver it sometime today since the next flight from Toronto came in this morning. Oh, for those of you who don’t know why I keep saying “we” did this, “We” did that, it’s because my parents came over with me. It’s their anniversary this weekend so they actually just dropped me off today and they’ve gone first to York, and then they’re touring around Scotland. Then they’re coming back next Saturday to pick me up and we’re going to visit some family for the weekend before I start school (yes, I don’t start until the 26th – haha suckers!!) and they fly back to Canada. It’s a good thing they came too cuz I have so much luggage….one huge suitcase, another fairly large suitcase, 2 carry-on sized suitcases, a big gym-bag type thing, and my laptop case. We saw a few girls from Mac at the airport and one of them only had one big suitcase and a carry-on so Dad was getting on my case cuz I had so much more luggage than her…but it turned out that she had vacuum-sealed her clothes, which cut her space in half basically…so it was a really awesome idea on her part…Wish I had done that.

The next challenge was driving to Leeds from Manchester. No, we did not take a train or bus or even get a taxi to pick us up….Dad decided that this would be the day he learned to drive on the left hand side of the road! So although I slept most of the way, I’m sure it was quite an experience for my parents. I can’t get over the tiny spaces they expect you to drive through over here. I mean, the streets are pretty narrow to begin with…and then you have people parking all down one side and traffic still goes both ways beside it! If it was me, I would wait for the traffic to go through before I tried squishing in between!...but that is why I DO NOT plan on driving over here! All my friends at school know how much I hate driving in heavy traffic….now it’s traffic and tiny spaces!!

So we got to my temporary residence finally, after much searching and going around one way streets and such…first problem was that I’m supposed to move out my temporary residence on Friday but I can’t move into Lupton til Saturday. So I need to go back to the accommodation office tomorrow and either they’ll let me stay here another day or move me into Lupton early. But my room here (pics here and here)is just normal single room size…same as Mac…but I share a bathroom with the person beside me…although I’m not quite sure if there is anyone beside me because I haven’t heard them yet. The thing about this bathroom though, is that it is, in all honestly, a shower stall with a toilet in it!! No joke! You could have a shower while taking a crap if you wanted to! (See pics of my view of the toilet from the shower and the view of the shower from the toilet). It’s really…sketchy…ya I think sketchy is the best word to describe it. I could say it’s neat except that I’m not really impressed by the idea, so saying it’s neat seems like I’d be giving it some sort of credit and I’m not about to do that. And since there’s no separate entry area, my next door neighbour could just walk in on my at any minute. So when I got here, I wasn’t going to have a shower but last night rolled around and I just really needed one…so I hopped in and the whole time I had my toes crossed that no one would come in. I was actually saying to myself “Please don’t come in, please don’t come in…” Fortunately, no one did. When I finished my shower I had to rip off the soggy toilet paper and wipe off the toilet seat. Oh yeah, and speaking of toilets. They flush kind of weird here. Like at home they flush one way and in Australia they flush another way, but here, the water pours in from at least 2 holes at the same time that the stuff’s being sucked out. Like, at home it sucks the stuff out first and then replaces the water…and the water doesn’t come gushing in, it’s more of trickle. Here, it’s like (okay, I was just making a gushing noise but then realized that I don’t know how to spell that…so please make your own gushing noise.) Anyway, that’s what it’s like.

So what else did I do today? Um…I woke up, had breakfast (which, along with dinner, is provided with my temp. accommodation). I had to meet Mom and Dad at 10 so we could buy me a cell phone and set up a bank account.

I’ve met a couple people…there’s this girl from Norway, Hanne (pronounced like Hannah) who I’ve eaten with a couple of times…and this morning Dad started talking to her randomly while waiting for me, not knowing that I knew her…and he said “Yeah, I’m just waiting for my daughter” and she goes “Oh, you must be Kirsten’s Dad, you guys look the same”. I couldn’t believe it. She just totally picked him out like that. I go half way around the world and strangers still can tell we’re related. It’s crazy.

So, I got my first cell phone number ever today. It’s a Nokia. If you want my number email me or something and I’ll give it to ya…I just don’t want to put it on here in case some crazy comes across my site. And guess what? Apparently it doesn’t cost me any money to receive calls! I only pay when I make calls!

Weather report: just looked outside and it is now full-out pouring. I woke up this morning and it was raining and I thought…Of course…I’m in England now. So yeah, this whole rain thing is definitely true.

Ooh, when we were downtown getting a phone we walked through the “mall” which is kind of outdoor and indoor at the same time. Like, the entrance is right off the street and there are no doors into the mall, but there are coverings over the walkways so it’s not open-air. But the coverings were all glass and really fancy and stuff. I’ll take some pictures later on, but it’s really beautiful. I can’t imagine all the shopping some of you girls could do over here. Steph, I saw so many purse shops and I thought it was a good idea that you weren’t coming over here cuz you’d spend too much shopping!

For lunch we had fish and chips at a place called Brett’s, which is apparently famous with cricket players and fans. The man who owned the restaurant was very chatty and extremely nice…actually everyone seems really nice over here…and the fish was amazing!!

Anyway, I’m going to brave the rain and go to afternoon tea at the International student’s office!