Days 5-7: Campus Life

Let me start by saying that I just had a surprise visit from three GIANT spiders. So I’m really shaky right now… that may affect my writing skills. Sorry in advance if this blog sucks.

I left you on Saturday evening right? Ahh its more difficult to remember all this stuff if I wait too long to write. Let’s see… Sunday morning I woke up with absolutely no clue of what to do. Hadn’t met hardly anybody and I had no commitments for the full day. So my roommate, Johanna, (who is the sweetest girl I’ve ever met), took me into town on the UNIbus for groceries. My internet in my room STILL wasn’t working so when we got back, we headed off to the library to check email and stuff.

Mid-afternoon I decided I desperately needed WI-FI for my computer and needed to buy a cell phone so I could actually have a life here.. So I went back into town hoping to get free wireless at starbucks with the purchase of a tasty, over-expensive drink. Get there, go to each cell phone store only to find that ALL of them close at 4PM on Sundays. Its 4:04. DAMN! So I go to starbucks, buy my pricey drink and inquire about the internet. Oh guess what? There isn’t WI-FI there!!!! WHAT?!

So at this point, I’m a tad bit frustrated. I can’t really get in touch with anyone back home and I can’t make new friends because I have no way of getting in contact with them! Starting to feel a bit homesick without communication..

So on my bus-ride home, (as I’m feeling pretty down), I overhear some girls talking with American accents. So, I introduced myself. One’s from Charlotte. One’s from Indiana. One’s from Ottawa. And they’re really nice! So we made plans to go out on campus and bar-hop at 8ish.

Go home, grab dinner, get changed AND meet 2 new roomies. Both are from Cali and they seem so nice! (So that’s one girl from Austria, one guy from France, one guy from the Czech Republic, and the rest of us are from The States.)

Going out with the girls was pretty fun but a bit too expensive. Went to a pub on campus close to our student village but it was jammed packed. So we decided to go out to The Venue, the college nightclub. 6PP to get in and all drinks were at least 2PP. Geez! It’s a really cool place though. Once again, everyone’s so friendly.

Monday, I woke up and went into town with Cathrin, the girl from Indiana, and my roomie, Johanna. We both bought cell phones, hair driers, and all the basic essentials. YAY- now I can have a life!!! We got back, grabbed dinner, and met up with Emily, (the girl from Ottawa). My friend Sarah, (exchange student that was at USC last year), invited us to a house party off campus. We hopped in a taxi and were on our way. Sarah and her friends, (really the first Britts I’ve hung out with so far), were SO much fun! I hope I hang out with them a lot this semester.

After drinking for a while at the party, we all then went to a nightclub in town called, The Works. It was very different than Columbia, or shall I say, way classier? 4 stories, cheap drinks, fun crowd- def the place to go on a Monday night. However, I drank WAY too much and came home to a planned skype session with the parents… Sorry Mom and Dad : ) Oh yeah, PS. I fell on my butt going down the stairs. IN FRONT OF EVERYONE. How nice, eh?

Today I was completely hung-over, so that put a damper on the day’s activities. But the weather was perfect out. Sunny, not a cloud in the sky, and high 70’s. I actually wore shorts!

So, I went to a pointless welcome meeting for international students, went into town with the girls for clothes shopping, (which was torturous, as I’m completely broke), and came back to an international student’s dinner. That was actually pretty fun. I sat next to Michael, my roommate from The Czech Republic, who’s one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, and I met a new girl, Sarah, who’s from Maryland. Dinner was pretty good too, and the best part- it was FREE. We had salads, rolls, chicken, green beans, potatoes, ice cream, wine… yum yum yum.

Afterwards, Cathrin, Sarah (Maryland), some of Sarah’s friends, and I went out to some campus bars. Giddy again, but I love them! We went to Mungos, which was hosting a quiz night and Rutherford which had karaoke. Both were packed and had a great atmosphere.

But because of my incredible hang-over and my longing for a sober conversation with my mom and dad and marty, I had an early night and headed home around 11PM.

While I was on the computer, the GIANT spider came crawling on the wall right by my head. He ran down the wall, and I went down to kill it and THERE WAS ANOTHER ONE. SO I’m freaking out, especially since I CANNOT kill bugs, and there’s no one here to do it for me. But I did it. AND TEN MINUTES LATER, A BIGGER ONE CAME OUT OF NO WHERE AND STARTED BUZZING AROUND MY HEAD. This time, I started yelling rather loudly. My loudness woke Michael up, who knocked on the door to see if everything was okay. He then helped me look for him for about 5 minutes, but he was nowhere to be seen. I SWEAR I SAW HIM OKAY?!

So I’m on the verge of a panic attack, that’s how much I hate spiders, (NOT TO MENTION GIANT ONES). There’s a huge one on the loose in my room, and I’m about to go to bed?! I don’t think so…. So Johanna popped into my room and I told her about my immense fear, and as we’re talking, the evil creature decided to make an appearance again. She calmly squashed it with a broom and told me that if I ever needed anyone to kill a spider to knock on her door, (Michael also made this offer). How sweet are my roommates?!

So I feel a tad bit better now, as its been about 30 minutes and I haven’t seen another one yet. Wish me luck that they don’t attack me in my sleep.

Canterbury Cathedral tomorrow! Can’t wait : )