First Few Nights Here

The second day here was pretty cool. It was also really long. I had decided to explore the campus for a bit. Needless to say, I got lost something massive. I was trying to head to Selly Oak so I could get a spot of breakfast. I ended up there completely by accident but that was not before I took a wrong way... ended up going past the Aston Webb, the clock tower and the guild.

I finally found my way there though. I found a small hole in the wall diner called Cafe Face. I got the full English breakfast. If any of you ever go to England this is the one thing you need to try.

The full English consists of eggs, baked beans, two pieces of toast, two pieces of sausage, mushrooms, tomato, hash browns, black pudding and bacon. I might be forgetting something. There is just so much food. I had it with coffee. I've since been told not to do that because it is best with tea. I had it again later in the week and it is a lot better with tea.

By the way, the British do make tea all the time. I mean, all the time. It is pretty quaint.

That night we had an invent at the Social which is one of the many university sponsored pubs on campus. It's on the second floor of the building. The front of it is all glass. It's a pretty nice building.

Anyway, the even being held was called a Traffic light party. If you were wearing green then you were single, yellow was a question mark (i.e. you could be persuaded) and red meant that you did have a boyfriend or girlfriend. It was pretty interesting.

We did a little bit of pre gaming beforehand so as to not spend all our money at the bar. Once there it was a flurry of meeting people, trying to explain where Iowa is in the states... that sort of thing. There was one man I met named Fairchra. He was Irish. Strange thing though is that he goes completely against type in that he actually doesn't like the taste of alcohol at all. He told me that he doesn't even drink.

But that wasn't the most interesting thing to happen that night. Later on in the evening I met a man who had lived in Iraq for most of his life. He was about my age. He and I had a very intense political discussion. An Iraqi and an American talking politics and religion probably sounds like a recipe for a roadside bomb but it actually went quite well with quotes from the Koran, French philosopher Bertrand Russell and we both talked about our own personal experiences. It was quite academic. My flat mates though had left in a hurry just because they thought it would blow up but like I said, it was quite academic.

I turned in earlier than most though. The music was quite loud and I was pretty exhausted from walking all over the place. I just needed to pass out.

If I had to say what my biggest frustration is with this university is though is the amount of running around I've been having to do. Unlike Iowa, wherein everything is pretty much online, here everything is done in person. While that is nice, as it does force one to move around quite a bit, it is so slow and sometimes quite annoying. For instance, just to get my online code (which they should have sent to me by the time I got here, but they didn't) it took about an hour and a half of waiting in line. I registered online pretty easily but still... I couldn't get my ID card until the next day. I also haven't been able to open up a bank account just because of all the backup the banks are facing.

That's not to say that there aren't good things on campus. Near the university center there is a fruit stand. I bought some strawberries for a pound... quite a lot of strawberries actually. Fruit here is surprisingly cheap and it all tastes a lot better than what I've had in the States. Also, the sodas do taste a lot different here than they do back home. I had a Dr. Pepper today and was taken aback by how different it was flavored. I don't know if I like it yet or not.

I finally have gotten registered for some courses. I'll be taken Cold War Film, Death and the Moving Image, John Donne and Metaphysical Poets as well as Voicing Women in the 17th Century plust The Thriller, Fiction and Film Theory. I'm still not finished registering but I'm quite excited.

They also have a lot of sponsored clubs on campus. It is much more prominent here than it is at Iowa. I plan on joining the film club as well as joining the Eurobrum club. It is a club designed for foreign exchange students. They organize a lot of day trips and stuff like that. It'll be a good way of meeting other foreign students as well as being able to see England for cheap.

Probably though my biggest frustration with uni is Fresher's Fest. It is essentially a big party which goes on throughout the course of the first two weeks of school in which everybody goes clubbing especially first years. I've been there and I've done that so I'm not really interested. My biggest annoyance is one of my flat mates Harry. He came back last night with the party in tow and started pounding on everybody's door screaming "Oakley Court! Flat 4! Party Flat!" It's funny now in retrospect but it was not funny then. It took until four am for him to pass out. This type of rave/club atmosphere is going on until the end of the second week of school. I'm not happy about that and neither is my next door neighbor Andy. He's a post grad student. The other foreign exchange student, Maggie, is not happy about it either. Us three feel that he may have insecurity issues. That whole loudest dog in the room is also the most unconfident kind of thing.

Well, more to come soon.

Ted, I want my sandwich.

Flight and First Day

My flights were not too bad. Before I left my parents took me out to eat at Hu Hot in Iowa City. That was very good and I can't wait to go back.

After that they dropped me off at the airport and I gave up my cell phone and said my goodbyes. Then it was waiting at the terminal for 2 hours. Cedar Rapids is a boring airport to be in for 2 hours. It's so... dull.

The flight up to Minneapolis didn't take very long. Just under an hour. Once there I walked around MSP for a while and got dinner at TGI Fridays. Whilst there, in a case of serendipity, the song London Calling by The Clash was playing. It was the best possible way to end a meal for me.

After that it was back to waiting. And waiting and waiting some more. The stores and shops after a while got really really boring.

Finally at 9:15 we boarded the flight and left. The flight itself was just under 8 hours. It wasn't bad. It just got old after a while. I was seated next to a girl who was going for her Post Grad work so we talked for a bit. To my right was an elderly Indian couple. They were nice.

I also watched Star Trek on the little TV monitor on the back of my seats. There were a ton of movies to pick from but I didn't really want to watch any of them. I slept for a bit but the constant noise of the jet engine plus the popping in my ears was really annoying. Almost impossible to sleep in a place like that.

Also the food on the airplane was equally as dull. It was just a step above a TV dinner. I got a dinner and a breakfast but seriously, each one could have been a lot better. The drink service was good though. I got several cups of coffee just because I knew I was going to need that to make it through the rest of the day.

Once at Heathrow, I went through customs right away. That was pretty quick. I got my luggage and then it was off again to get to Terminal 3. I had to take a train to get there. Carrying 2 duffel bags is a pain in the ass through that airport. Even with the carts.

Once at Terminal 3, I found the University of Birmingham welcom committee and from there we loaded onto a bus and headed on up to Brum. It was only a 2 and a 1/2 hour bus ride or so. It wasn't too bad. I got to know a few of the international students but most of us were crashing after our flights. I even fell asleep listening to the Beastie Boys. I don't quite know how I managed to pull that one off.

I got settled into my flat and I got everything set up as quick as I could. My flat mates are all really nice. Maggie, a Canadian, lives just down the hall from me. There is also Rod, Caitlin, Laura, Kerry, Mark, Andy, Adam and Harry. They're all pretty unique. I'll make sure to tell you all about them later.

After we all got to know each other for a bit we went down to the Pritchatts Park Pub. Over here, they have uni sponsored pubs. It's pretty interesting considering over at Iowa that wouldn't fly. We have bars but not any uni sponsored drinking events. After we went to that pub we went down to the guild which was converted into a club -- it wasn't too far off from what the clubs are like in Iowa City.

Once we got back, we had tea and toast. Then I crashed.

That's was just the first night. I don't really have much in the way of jet lag due to the fact that I stayed up so late.

More to come soon.

Teddy I will get my sandwich upon graduation.

Flightplan

Well, in about 14 hours or so, I'll be heading out to the UK. My flightplan is to to fly from Cedar Rapids to Minneapolis and from there connect over to London Heathrow. It's going to be a long flight but hopefully a good one.

I like flying but I haven't flown since 2006 when I went out to Vancouver on a youth trip with a local church in town. I'm looking forward to this. It's what I've been looking forward to all summer.

Summer for me was kind of like going into exile. I was hoping to find a summer job but that didn't work out too well for me. Essentially, my summer consisted of having nothing to do and all day to do it. It was dull.

I did read a lot over the summer. I read:

Demons by Dostoevsky
The Double by Dostoevsky
The Plague by Camus
Breakfast of Champions by Vonnegut
The Black Dahlia by Ellroy
Blood Meridian by McCarthy

I might be forgetting something. I also watched a lot of movies. I would go on movie renting binges. Family Video in town has some pretty good deals on movies. I saw a lot of films. Some I had heard of and others I hadn't. Either way, I watched a lot of movies.

I also hung out with friends when we could. Playing video games with them or just chilling. I also went to church as well as slept. A lot.

The most exciting thing I did over the summer was get my Visa. That process was so much paperwork. It was a bit ridiculous but hey, I got it so everything is all good.

I also was able to make it up to Iowa City at least once to see most of my college friends. If I didn't see you then I promise next year we'll hang out and catch up some time.

That was a good weekend. I'm going to miss them and I'm glad we all got together at least once to have a grand old time of our typical college angst driven debauchery. I hope they have a good year without me.

Well, I need to finish packing and try and get some more sleep. I'm looking forward to this year and it's finally here. This last week has been the longest just because of the anticipation. Oh well. This has been a long time coming but tomorrow, I'm heading off.

Again, Teddy Soldberg owes me a sandwich. (I'm not going to forget about that Teddy.)