First entry from ENGLAND!!!
Hello, hello there!
So the last 3 days have been a bit crazy!! I must update you all from the beginning...
Arriving to London/Cambridge:
I was suppose to leave from LAX at 1:11pm, we ended up taking off at around 1:40pm. So I forgot how squished you are in the economy seating. I sat next to this big guy. It was a pain because I sat in the window side...so it was hard getting out. I felt bad when I had to ask him to move. Anyhoo, the flight there was smooth, I got afraid when there was turbulence though...I was NOT used to that It freaked me out a bit. I arrived at Heathrow airport around 8:10am, but we kept circling around for ~30 mins because it there was no gate available, so I finally go out of the plan close to 9. The line for immigration/passport check was ridiculously long! I must have been in line for almost an hour. =(
I finally met up with the girl from San Fran. I was worried cause I didn't know if I would find them right away or if they would leave because I arrived so late. When I was talking with them later on, I found out they were goinig to leave in 5 mins when I met up with them. How lame! I would have freaked out. haha
Anyhoo...here is our adventure to Cambridge. We took the Picadilly line to King's Cross. That was around 50 mins. It was so cool!!! If was my first time on a train...ever. I wanted to take pictures, but there were these 2 guys that were totally making fun of us. They were locals...totally taking pictures with their camera...I swear they were taking random pics of us and talking about us. meanies...
So...backing up I remembered that the program directors warned us about stairs at the stations...and I asked Jessica (the girl I met up with) if this station had stairs. She said no...but sure enough, when we got to King's Cross...there were stairs! We had to get through the stairs to connect to the express train. It was horrendous tryingt o lug my luggage up those stairs! There was this random English guy that offered to help me...so nice! So the express train was uber expensive like around £17. blah...that's like $34! haha
We finally got on the train waited for a bit...only to find out that the train was having difficulties down the line so they couldn't leave yet. So we waited...and then one English lady recommended we go to Liverpool and catch a train to Cambridge from there. She even offered to take us since she was on her way to Cambridge too, but we decided to stay and wait it out. She warned us that sometimes they take 2-3 hrs...and the conductor said that they didn't know how long it would take. Then this English guy came and he told us that they were canceling any trips to Cambridge that day. He offered to show us the way there...he was going to Cambridge too. He was really nice and very patient with us. We ran into other fellow summer session people waiting for the train also...and they joined our group. There must have been around 20 of us or so. IT was crazy! Eventually, we got to Liverpool and then to Cambridge. And of course, Cambridge had to be the last stop there. Finally, we got there and we were trying to figure out how to make our way to the actutally campus. We asked this one guy, and he's like it's around 5-10 mins from here....LIES! It took us around 20-25 mins. We walked from the train station to the campus lugging all our luggage along the way. I think without out luggage it would have been 5-10 mins but with all our stuff...it took a long time. It was such a workout. haha I was sore the next day.
We got to registration and they showed me to my room. So, just my luck...my room was all the way at the top on the 2nd floor. Thankfully, one of the TA's helped me move my luggage up there. But yea...O...M...G....my room was AMAZING!!! So the building itself was beautiful and the rooms are all singles. It think the older buildings all have fireplaces in the rooms...nonworking but it was pretty! hehe I tried to unpack quickly and head down to the meeting area only to find out that the lock on my door was faulty! The door couldn't even stay open. So I had to move to another room. We went into one, and it ended up being occupied. haha Eventually I moved to the newer buildings. It's not as pretty...but still really nice! My room is pretty huge...I think compared to Irvine's singles...it's double that! Just FYI...I'll post pictures later.
So that was a fun adventure making my way to Pembroke college and settling in. I totally lost track of time and I came in late to the orientation meeting. hehe They gave us a tour around the campus...freaking insanely beautiful!!! The library is just gorgeous..I love it!
Later that day, we had dinner in the Marquet...which is just a big white tent in the lawn. So...bringing back some Alemany memories...they have a rule here to stay off the grass. haha I remember coming to Irvine for the first time. When I saw people walking on the grass..it felt so weird...like they were breaking the law or something. haha We met all the TA's and yea...the guys are cute. hehe
After the dinner, I went to my first pub here. It was called "The Regent" or "The Witherspoon". It was really cheap. haha There were like 20 of us going and we were getting so lost. We passed by a lot of pubs and we couldn't decided which one to go to. OH...so sadness...we asked this one guy for directions, and he was like "haha, you guys are typical Americans". It was sad...we must have looked like dumb American kids looking to drink. haha
It took me a while to set in the fact that I was actually in England. It's so weird. I just can't believe I'm actually here. ahhh
First Full Day:
So I got back from the pub really exhausted. I thought for sure I wouldn't be in California time and I would sleep all the way through the night. I woke up around 3:30 and I couldn’t go back to sleep till around 5ish and I woke up again at 8.
I didn't have class at all yesterday, all my classes are today. So I played all day yesterday. hehe In the morning, I went on a excursion to the Central Market to look for a phone place. I got a sims card...I'm not sure if I can't actually use it on my phone from home. =( But I'm hoping to get it working soon. ::crossing fingers:: We walked around town and found a Cambridge University store...really cute stuff, but uber expensive! haha The town itself it really cute. All the streets are narrow and it has a cozy feeling to it. They even have a mini Farmer's Market too.
Later that day, I went on a Library tour and yea like I said before...ridiculously pretty. I had some time to chill, so I went organized stuff and tried out the new adapter that I got. haha so I'm like ridiculously clumsy. I spilled red sauce on my new khakis during yesterday's dinner. And while I was unpacking stuff, I hit my head against one of the shelves in my room. So I currently have a nasty bruise on my forehead, which I try desperately try to conceal with my hair. Then to top it off...the combination locks that my mom gave me worked fine until I tried unlocking them again. I guess the combos got reset and I couldn’t' open them anymore! I was freakin' out for a bit and eventually I broke one of the locks. This only happens to me! gah...
So my day yesterday went pretty quickly. We had a formal picture and dinner starting at 6:45pm. Everyone got all dressed up. It was really nice! I felt out of place cause all the girls wore dresses. but whatever. After the picture, we had drinks at the Marquet...wine and orange juice. I guess it's a custom to drink orange juice here throughout the day. After the drinks...we moved on over to the dinning hall. It was so pretty!!! Totally Harry Potter status. They had lit candle sticks and fancy dinner plates. The dinner was actually really good! I took pictures of each dish...hehe During the dinner, I felt kind of out of place. Everyone was mingling and I was trying to join in with the group I hung out with yesterday. But I couldn’t' even heard them half the time. It was so loud. I don’t' think I really clicked with them mainly because most of them came to London early and hung out already. So it was kind of hard to fit with their group. I hardly talked during the dinner. =( blah…but yea, I know it's partly because I'm shy too. I hate it!
But anyway, so at the end of the dinner, one of the TA's announced that they were all going to a pub...the same pub I went to the other night and possibly a nightclub afterward. So we had like 10 mins to change and go. Since I was wearing dressy pants, I just changed into jeans. hehe I wasn't sure if the group I hung out with earlier was going, they said they were but they didn’t seem that into going, so I left and I ended up meeting other people and they were really cool to hang out with. The TA's ended up changing the pub to one call "The Anchor". It was by the river...omg so cool! The place had a better atmosphere than the other one. A group of girls and I shared a Pimms, which apparently is a traditional summer English drink. It was pretty good, you can’t taste any alcohol. We made one of the TA’s chug his drink. Haha I took a picture of him, I’ll post it later.
So after that, we all went to this one nightclub and it was a lot of fun. The music was a bit weird though. Hehe It was more techno and rock. But apparently there were other rooms, but I only stayed in this one. There was this creeper guy that tried really hard to dance with us…one my friends made him go away. Haha It was pretty funny. He was just too all in our space. But yea, one of the TA’s made an effort to check in on everyone and he danced with us. OMG…totally so much pda there. It was kind of gross. Nothing really exciting happened after that except that we found someone’s room keys. Sucks for them…I would have freaked out if I lost mine.
When we got back it was around 1am and I just knocked out after that. Totally fun night.
Next Day:
I had a best schedule today b/c I got to sleep in a bit. My first class didn’t start until 2pm. So that was pretty sweet. I play the whole morning. I went punting!! =D It was so much fun!!!!!! There were 5 in our boat including a TA and we all took turns steering the boat. It’s pretty hard when you have to go against the wind and current…but YEA totally awesome! I took a lot of pictures because the river when around behind most of the older colleges so there were plenty of photo opportunities. I even took videos for parts of the river tour. I shall try to post those videos up too. If not here…on the facebook.
We got back just in time for lunch and after that I had class until 4:40pm. So I’m taking “Shakespeare on Film” and “Purity and Danger”. The Shakespeare on Film sounds intense only because I have no experience in a film class and so I’m not sure if I’ll be good at analyzing cinemas and such. We’ll see…but I’m so excited because I get to go to the Globe TWICE and see one play in Stratford. I’m so freakin’ excited about that. ahhh =D
After that I just strolled around town for a bit and then it was time for lunch. So tomorrow, I leave for Scotland for 5 days. It’s gonna be awesome. There are lots of pictures to upload. I tried uploading on Picasa from gmail, but I’m not quite sure if it’s working correctly. I can load them here too, but I need to load them up on photobucket first and them livejournal. So the pictures must wait. Sorry guys!
Okay, I’m done for now. I’ll update more later!!
So the last 3 days have been a bit crazy!! I must update you all from the beginning...
Arriving to London/Cambridge:
I was suppose to leave from LAX at 1:11pm, we ended up taking off at around 1:40pm. So I forgot how squished you are in the economy seating. I sat next to this big guy. It was a pain because I sat in the window side...so it was hard getting out. I felt bad when I had to ask him to move. Anyhoo, the flight there was smooth, I got afraid when there was turbulence though...I was NOT used to that It freaked me out a bit. I arrived at Heathrow airport around 8:10am, but we kept circling around for ~30 mins because it there was no gate available, so I finally go out of the plan close to 9. The line for immigration/passport check was ridiculously long! I must have been in line for almost an hour. =(
I finally met up with the girl from San Fran. I was worried cause I didn't know if I would find them right away or if they would leave because I arrived so late. When I was talking with them later on, I found out they were goinig to leave in 5 mins when I met up with them. How lame! I would have freaked out. haha
Anyhoo...here is our adventure to Cambridge. We took the Picadilly line to King's Cross. That was around 50 mins. It was so cool!!! If was my first time on a train...ever. I wanted to take pictures, but there were these 2 guys that were totally making fun of us. They were locals...totally taking pictures with their camera...I swear they were taking random pics of us and talking about us. meanies...
So...backing up I remembered that the program directors warned us about stairs at the stations...and I asked Jessica (the girl I met up with) if this station had stairs. She said no...but sure enough, when we got to King's Cross...there were stairs! We had to get through the stairs to connect to the express train. It was horrendous tryingt o lug my luggage up those stairs! There was this random English guy that offered to help me...so nice! So the express train was uber expensive like around £17. blah...that's like $34! haha
We finally got on the train waited for a bit...only to find out that the train was having difficulties down the line so they couldn't leave yet. So we waited...and then one English lady recommended we go to Liverpool and catch a train to Cambridge from there. She even offered to take us since she was on her way to Cambridge too, but we decided to stay and wait it out. She warned us that sometimes they take 2-3 hrs...and the conductor said that they didn't know how long it would take. Then this English guy came and he told us that they were canceling any trips to Cambridge that day. He offered to show us the way there...he was going to Cambridge too. He was really nice and very patient with us. We ran into other fellow summer session people waiting for the train also...and they joined our group. There must have been around 20 of us or so. IT was crazy! Eventually, we got to Liverpool and then to Cambridge. And of course, Cambridge had to be the last stop there. Finally, we got there and we were trying to figure out how to make our way to the actutally campus. We asked this one guy, and he's like it's around 5-10 mins from here....LIES! It took us around 20-25 mins. We walked from the train station to the campus lugging all our luggage along the way. I think without out luggage it would have been 5-10 mins but with all our stuff...it took a long time. It was such a workout. haha I was sore the next day.
We got to registration and they showed me to my room. So, just my luck...my room was all the way at the top on the 2nd floor. Thankfully, one of the TA's helped me move my luggage up there. But yea...O...M...G....my room was AMAZING!!! So the building itself was beautiful and the rooms are all singles. It think the older buildings all have fireplaces in the rooms...nonworking but it was pretty! hehe I tried to unpack quickly and head down to the meeting area only to find out that the lock on my door was faulty! The door couldn't even stay open. So I had to move to another room. We went into one, and it ended up being occupied. haha Eventually I moved to the newer buildings. It's not as pretty...but still really nice! My room is pretty huge...I think compared to Irvine's singles...it's double that! Just FYI...I'll post pictures later.
So that was a fun adventure making my way to Pembroke college and settling in. I totally lost track of time and I came in late to the orientation meeting. hehe They gave us a tour around the campus...freaking insanely beautiful!!! The library is just gorgeous..I love it!
Later that day, we had dinner in the Marquet...which is just a big white tent in the lawn. So...bringing back some Alemany memories...they have a rule here to stay off the grass. haha I remember coming to Irvine for the first time. When I saw people walking on the grass..it felt so weird...like they were breaking the law or something. haha We met all the TA's and yea...the guys are cute. hehe
After the dinner, I went to my first pub here. It was called "The Regent" or "The Witherspoon". It was really cheap. haha There were like 20 of us going and we were getting so lost. We passed by a lot of pubs and we couldn't decided which one to go to. OH...so sadness...we asked this one guy for directions, and he was like "haha, you guys are typical Americans". It was sad...we must have looked like dumb American kids looking to drink. haha
It took me a while to set in the fact that I was actually in England. It's so weird. I just can't believe I'm actually here. ahhh
First Full Day:
So I got back from the pub really exhausted. I thought for sure I wouldn't be in California time and I would sleep all the way through the night. I woke up around 3:30 and I couldn’t go back to sleep till around 5ish and I woke up again at 8.
I didn't have class at all yesterday, all my classes are today. So I played all day yesterday. hehe In the morning, I went on a excursion to the Central Market to look for a phone place. I got a sims card...I'm not sure if I can't actually use it on my phone from home. =( But I'm hoping to get it working soon. ::crossing fingers:: We walked around town and found a Cambridge University store...really cute stuff, but uber expensive! haha The town itself it really cute. All the streets are narrow and it has a cozy feeling to it. They even have a mini Farmer's Market too.
Later that day, I went on a Library tour and yea like I said before...ridiculously pretty. I had some time to chill, so I went organized stuff and tried out the new adapter that I got. haha so I'm like ridiculously clumsy. I spilled red sauce on my new khakis during yesterday's dinner. And while I was unpacking stuff, I hit my head against one of the shelves in my room. So I currently have a nasty bruise on my forehead, which I try desperately try to conceal with my hair. Then to top it off...the combination locks that my mom gave me worked fine until I tried unlocking them again. I guess the combos got reset and I couldn’t' open them anymore! I was freakin' out for a bit and eventually I broke one of the locks. This only happens to me! gah...
So my day yesterday went pretty quickly. We had a formal picture and dinner starting at 6:45pm. Everyone got all dressed up. It was really nice! I felt out of place cause all the girls wore dresses. but whatever. After the picture, we had drinks at the Marquet...wine and orange juice. I guess it's a custom to drink orange juice here throughout the day. After the drinks...we moved on over to the dinning hall. It was so pretty!!! Totally Harry Potter status. They had lit candle sticks and fancy dinner plates. The dinner was actually really good! I took pictures of each dish...hehe During the dinner, I felt kind of out of place. Everyone was mingling and I was trying to join in with the group I hung out with yesterday. But I couldn’t' even heard them half the time. It was so loud. I don’t' think I really clicked with them mainly because most of them came to London early and hung out already. So it was kind of hard to fit with their group. I hardly talked during the dinner. =( blah…but yea, I know it's partly because I'm shy too. I hate it!
But anyway, so at the end of the dinner, one of the TA's announced that they were all going to a pub...the same pub I went to the other night and possibly a nightclub afterward. So we had like 10 mins to change and go. Since I was wearing dressy pants, I just changed into jeans. hehe I wasn't sure if the group I hung out with earlier was going, they said they were but they didn’t seem that into going, so I left and I ended up meeting other people and they were really cool to hang out with. The TA's ended up changing the pub to one call "The Anchor". It was by the river...omg so cool! The place had a better atmosphere than the other one. A group of girls and I shared a Pimms, which apparently is a traditional summer English drink. It was pretty good, you can’t taste any alcohol. We made one of the TA’s chug his drink. Haha I took a picture of him, I’ll post it later.
So after that, we all went to this one nightclub and it was a lot of fun. The music was a bit weird though. Hehe It was more techno and rock. But apparently there were other rooms, but I only stayed in this one. There was this creeper guy that tried really hard to dance with us…one my friends made him go away. Haha It was pretty funny. He was just too all in our space. But yea, one of the TA’s made an effort to check in on everyone and he danced with us. OMG…totally so much pda there. It was kind of gross. Nothing really exciting happened after that except that we found someone’s room keys. Sucks for them…I would have freaked out if I lost mine.
When we got back it was around 1am and I just knocked out after that. Totally fun night.
Next Day:
I had a best schedule today b/c I got to sleep in a bit. My first class didn’t start until 2pm. So that was pretty sweet. I play the whole morning. I went punting!! =D It was so much fun!!!!!! There were 5 in our boat including a TA and we all took turns steering the boat. It’s pretty hard when you have to go against the wind and current…but YEA totally awesome! I took a lot of pictures because the river when around behind most of the older colleges so there were plenty of photo opportunities. I even took videos for parts of the river tour. I shall try to post those videos up too. If not here…on the facebook.
We got back just in time for lunch and after that I had class until 4:40pm. So I’m taking “Shakespeare on Film” and “Purity and Danger”. The Shakespeare on Film sounds intense only because I have no experience in a film class and so I’m not sure if I’ll be good at analyzing cinemas and such. We’ll see…but I’m so excited because I get to go to the Globe TWICE and see one play in Stratford. I’m so freakin’ excited about that. ahhh =D
After that I just strolled around town for a bit and then it was time for lunch. So tomorrow, I leave for Scotland for 5 days. It’s gonna be awesome. There are lots of pictures to upload. I tried uploading on Picasa from gmail, but I’m not quite sure if it’s working correctly. I can load them here too, but I need to load them up on photobucket first and them livejournal. So the pictures must wait. Sorry guys!
Okay, I’m done for now. I’ll update more later!!