Freshers Recap

Monday

Back to School at Crisis (see previous post for a photo)

Tuesday

High School Stereotypes at Pitcher and Piano. I decided to go as a goth for two reasons. First, I didn't have the appropriate attire to dress like a "Chav" with my roommates. (For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, a chav is a person who is the equivalent of ... white trash in America? I am still not sure if that is right but it's the closest thing we could come up with when they were trying to explain it to me.)

Miriam and Me. We both dressed as goths

Wednesday

On Wednesday the theme was Tropical at a club called Walkabout. I decided to have a night in to rest instead of attending this one. The week one reps who coordinate freshers week also plan alternative events for people who don't particularly enjoy clubbing. It just so happened that on this night there was a hypnotist performing as well. So a few of us decided to attend that instead. This was my first time ever seeing a hypnotist and I have to admit, I was pretty impressed. Granted there are always a few people who participate who obviously just crave the attention and fake it the whole time, but there were a few people who I really truly believed were hypnotized. At one point he convinced the students that their right shoe was their phone called the iShoe and that their favorite celebrity was calling to ask them out on a date. One of the guys was literally having a conversation on his shoe with the actress who plays Bellatrix LeStrange on Harry Potter. It was absolutely incredible and I had a hard time believing these brand new college students would get up on stage and willingly make fools of themselves in front of all of their new peers. 

Here he had them convinced that the room was absolutely freezing
and they were so cold that they had to cuddle with the person next to them to
keep warm. Note the guys on the left snuggling.

Just a photo of them all sleeping

He asked Char to be the queen and told everyone on stage that they were going to meet
 the queen. Wish I had gotten a photo of their reactions when they shook Char's hand... 

Thursday

Baywatch night at Ocean. This club was huge but a lot of fun as well. They played some classic 90's and early 2000's music which is always so much fun to dance to. Unfortunately I left a little bit early due to some miscommunication between me and Char. So once we were both back at the hall we ordered pizza and called it a night. 

Me and Holly, one of the girls in my block.

The dance floor was packed!

Me and Char in our Baywatch tops.

Hanna, from Iceland, Char, Me and Lisa, from Austria

Friday

Silent Disco in the Freshers Tent on campus. Unfortunately I was feeling a bit under the weather on this day and decided it'd be best if I skipped out on this event as well. However, a silent disco is definitely an event worth talking about. Basically there are two DJs at the event who are competing for people to listen to their mixes. The silent part about it is that you get a set of headphones to listen to the music with instead of it being a jumble of two different songs coming through the speakers. Apparently it is hilarious to take off your headphones throughout the night to see a bunch of people dancing to no music. I'm sad I missed it but I think it was in the best interest of my health. Gotta be feeling good for the start of classes on Monday!

Saturday

Love you Hall in our Cripps Hall Bar. This was a night planned solely for bonding with your specific hall. There is a bar located in almost every hall on campus and so we went to ours to participate in the pub quiz. It's basically exactly the same as a trivia night. After my block lost the quiz (we only knew about three of the answers to the entire quiz... but still had fun trying) I decided to go out to the campus night club with some friends from another block. This campus club is meant for students to have a safe place to go and have fun on the weekends (mostly because all of the locals of Nottingham attend the clubs in town on the weekend).

A few of my roommates and me at the pub quiz. 

Lisa and I at The Den

Sunday

Tonight is the final night of freshers week so a big concert has been planned for all of the freshers. It features about four performers who I have never heard of before and the tickets are pretty expensive... therefore I am being lame again and missing this event as well. Now, before you start judging me, I am still going to do something with a couple girls from my block. We aren't sure exactly what we are doing yet but we are planning to just play it by ear and see where the night takes us! So we will see how it goes!

While freshers week has been a blast I can't help but be a little relieved that it is almost over. I have really enjoyed making new friends and having things to do with them but a week straight of partying is just not something I have the stamina for. I am really looking forward to getting into a routine with classes beginning and starting to plan some weekend trips. 

Freshers

The past couple of days have been a complete whirlwind. My emotions have been the same. Comfortable. Stressed. Emotional. Irritated. Tired. Fine. Confused. Happy. Comfortable. Disappointed. Stressed. Happy. Comfortable... and so on in that sort of order. So you can imagine the difficulty I am having reliving all of these emotions in an attempt to write this post, right? So here is what happened...

On Saturday we got up early for breakfast (7 a.m.) then had to have all of our belongings moved out of our temporary halls by 8:30. This really wasn't an issue, although we were tired and the last thing I wanted to do was pack my things AGAIN. However, we did and then proceeded to take a short (but uphill) walk to our new accommodations. Caroline was assigned to Lenton and Wortley Hall and Charlotte and I were assigned to Cripps hall. Luckily Lenton is less than a three minute walk away from my hall so we don't have far to go to see Caroline. Once Char and I got to Cripps our fears (which stemmed from a rumor floating around among the international students) were confirmed. We couldn't move into our new rooms until 2 pm because they needed to be cleaned. Okay. So we put our luggage into a common room with a lock code on the door being our only form of security. Char and I went to the student union building because we didn't know where else to go. We each got a hot chocolate, and then proceeded to pass out for a little snooze on a couple of the couches. We woke up and waited around a little longer, got some lunch, and at 1 o'clock we decided to check to see if they finished cleaning the rooms early.
Not the case.
As a matter of fact they we running BEHIND! And the rooms would not be ready until at least three. So we waiting some more. Finally at three thirty we were given our room keys. And once I opened the door all of my frustrations from earlier that day magically vanished. Not only did I actually HAVE a room that I would be staying in for the next three months, but I had a really nice room with a significantly large bed and a ton of space! I was thrilled. I was especially thrilled when I was unlocking the door for the first time and the cleaning lady told me I was lucky because my room had just been updated with brand new furniture. Finally this day was looking up.

After we moved in, we met up with some of our friends at the bus stop and took a ride into town. The plan was to visit the Nottingham Castle and then have dinner at England's oldest pub, the Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem. Unfortunately since it took so long for us to move in we didn't make it to the castle before visiting hours had ended. So we went straight to the pub and I had my first "authentic" fish and chips.

Robin Hood

All of the girls with the man himself!

just a cute little building

does this one really need a caption?

Fish and Chips (and "mushy peas" which is apparently a thing here)

When we got back to campus from dinner we all went back to our rooms for some much needed relaxation. The next morning we had to register with our hall and then decided to spend the rest of the day in town because campus was packed with new students and their families for move in day. After a little bit of shopping we came back and met some of the "freshers" we would be living with for the next few months...which brings me to the title of this post...

"Freshers" is the term used here in the UK for the incoming Freshmen. (Apparently Americans are sexist for calling it that.) And although this term mostly refers to 18 year olds who have just finished high school (although they call it a few different things) some of the students are 19 and 20 and are returning back to school after taking a gap year (or two) where they either re-take courses or work or travel. Universities in Europe welcome the new students by hosting "Freshers Week" in which many different activities are planned. There has been a freshers fair where students can go and get a ton of free stuff and learn about and join societies and clubs on campus. There are themed nights located at clubs all over the city and there are alternative events for students who want something a little more low-key. Last night was the first night of Freshers Week and there was a huge party at a club called "Crisis". The theme was appropriately titled "Back to School" so everyone dressed in a version of a school uniform. (PS here they call it "fancy dress" when you are supposed to wear a costume. Luckily I was informed so that I didn't show up literally wearing a fancy dress...)

Me and a few girls on my hall in our "fancy dress"

These Brits really know how to put together a costume 

Me and Char at Crisis

The gigantic dance floor was absolutely packed!

I always choose really good people to sit next to on the bus. For example, the girl I sat next to on the way to the club got sick, and on the way back to campus this poor guy got sick as well. 

This was only night one of freshers week and I am already a walking zombie. Hopefully I can pull it together and enjoy the rest of the week but I have a strong feeling there will be quite a few afternoon naps in the near future.


One last thought: People really weren't kidding when they said it rained a lot in England.  

New Currency, New Friends, and a New City

A little info about British money. The conversion rate (currently) of pounds to dollars is approximately 1 pound to 1.6 US dollars. Pounds can come in either "notes" which are similar to our bills in the US or they can come in coins. There are also pence coins. 100 pence is equal to one pound (easy to remember for us Americans).

At first, it was a little confusing to figure out paying with money we weren't familiar with. Once I ran out of the notes I already had (thanks to my sweet grandparents who gave me a little stipend before I left the country) I was left with only coins to pay for small, inexpensive things like coffee. Paying would normally have taken me two seconds if I had still had a note... but I ended up standing at the counter looking at each coin until I figured out how to come up with £2.50. Luckily the woman at the register was very patient and kind and helped me out. But after we got our drinks we sat down and tried to familiarize ourselves.

Little things like this have been happening daily for us confused international students.

On Wednesday night the girls and I decided to visit a bar on campus (conveniently located inside the student union building). We drank our first English beer and chatted with our new friends for a few hours. It was fun, relaxing, and a great way to unwind from all of the stress we have been dealing with over the course of the past few days.

Charlotte, Caroline, Katelyn, Mary and Anca

...and obviously I am in the middle of this one instead of the other Katelyn

Yesterday we surprisingly didn't have any information sessions that we needed to attend. So after breakfast we decided to take a trip into the city of Nottingham to explore. (We also needed to get local cell phones so we could keep up with our new friends without depending on seeing them at meals.) Taking care of the important things first (yes, the phones) we headed into a place called Vodaphone and proceeded to buy £25 cell phones. Then we found a nice place to have lunch. We were slightly overwhelmed with being in a new place and having so many options so we popped into restaurant by day, club by night, Revolution. It wasn't the "pub" I had envisioned for my first real British meal... but it was still delicious. The £5.95 wrap and glass of wine lunch special was particularly delicious too. Then we did a little more shopping and exploring and decided we'd had enough for the day. 

Please don't ask why I was inclined to take a picture of McDonalds...

The Dragon, public house

All I have to say about this picture is that the birds in England are HUGE!

Char and me in front of the city center.

Saint Peter's Church

A pretty little flower stand on the street.

American Dollar store, meet Poundland!

After an HOUR long bus ride back to campus (long story short, we don't know how to use public transportation) we had dinner, took short naps, and rallied to go out for the NUSEX (Nottingham University Student Exchange) Welcome Party. It was at a club called Coco Tang and the only thing more impressive than the club itself was the extensive menu of specialty drinks. The fairytale-esque  menu, with drinks like the "Dirty Cinderella" and the "Toadstool Tonic" also had a sweetness rating from one to five, one being the least sweet and five being the sweetest, for each drink. The night was full of dancing, socializing, and meeting more new people and by the end of it I could not have been more exhausted.

Me, Caroline and Charlotte on the dance floor!

All of the girls, plus some anonymous photo bombers.

Tomorrow is official move-in day for both international students and "freshers" so we have to get up bright and early to move our stuff into our permanent halls. Fingers crossed for cool hall-mates and a stress-free move!

**Hint! If the pictures are too small for you to see them, you can just click on them to make them larger.**

International student status

Hello from Nottingham!

After a long and exhausting day of travel, I arrived in Nottingham on Friday around 5 pm. Our flight from Atlanta to London landed at 7 am. (There is a five hour time difference between England and Beaufort so it was around 2 am for us!) Charlotte, Caroline, and I were dog tired but before we could relax we had to take care of a few things. We were assigned our temporary rooms (we will be moving into our permanent rooms on Saturday but for now are living in a hall with all of the other international students) and then had to make our way across campus to pick up our student ID cards. After that we took much needed naps in our rooms then showered and went to dinner. We have already made a few friends from all over the world in Montreal, Canada, Mauritius, a tiny island next to Madagascar, India, and Malaysia. I have never been more outside of my comfort zone but at the same time I already feel like I am learning so much! We sat at dinner and chatted with our new friends for a couple of hours and then decided an early bedtime was extremely necessary, so we hit the hay.

This morning we had breakfast and then spent the rest of the day in information sessions about classes, internet, clubs and organizations and other important things. And now we are relaxing for a bit before dinner.

The next few days will probably be more of the same but I am looking forward to getting more and more acclimated to this new and exciting place. I haven't been as concerned with taking pictures yet, as I am still trying to get my bearings around here, but I plan to take some around campus over the next couple days.

Strange things happen when you aren't at school...

Sometimes you end up doing things out of sheer boredom that you never imagined would be so entertaining:

Such as grading the DOL (which stands for daily oral language) of the third grade students in your stepmom's class.

And sometimes you end up having conversations about the meaning of life with your dog. 

You may find yourself watching entire seasons of shows you haven't seen (or thought were cool) since you were fifteen years old...

And although I am beginning to get sick and tired of weaving these little bracelets...

I still can't seem to stop myself from making them.

Sometimes you tell yourself you'll get up in the morning and go for a jog, or do some sort of aerobic workout... but you end up watching the food network instead.

You volunteer to read Harry Potter to your younger siblings out loud during bedtime (and then continue to read out loud after they've fallen asleep because you enjoy practicing your British accent)

and finally (which is probably the most obvious activity)

you spend waaaaay too much time on Facebook, Pinterest, your blog (ahem...) and basically the computer in general.

My life sounds so hard, doesn't it?

Feeling Sentimental

This past weekend I drove up to Clemson to visit with and say goodbye to two very special people. These were the first goodbyes of many that I will have to say over the course of the next week. With that being said: IT IS MY LAST WEEK BEFORE HEADING OFF TO ENGLAND!!! Although I could NOT be more excited, I am getting increasingly sentimental as I think about all of the people and things I will miss for the next three months. So, without further adieu... 

My Family:

Will (my brother), Rachael (my sister), Jill (my stepmom), Rebecca (my sister), and Dad

 Rachael, Mom, Tom (my stepdad) and Madi (my step sister) 

Poppy and Wanda

Dick and Grandma

My Friends:

My oldest friend, Bonnie (and one of those special people I visited this past weekend)

Ford (the other special person I visited this past weekend)

Megan, my roommate freshmen year (and one of my college besties) 

Betsy, my suite-mate freshman year (and other college bestie)

my roommates from sophomore year: Alexi (the penguin in the front), Lauren (the pink bunny in the back) and Emily (the monkey on the far right) *I am not including the other two roommates because they are coming to England with me. So, unless they get lost somewhere along the way, I don't think I will be missing them too much*

Some of my best friends from high school

Another best friend from high school, Leta

And finally, the furry love of my life: 

Zorro