Canterbury is a lovely city, I have to say and will really keep saying it; however as to be expected it is very different from any type of city I have ever known. The streets are very narrow, which includes the sidewalks, and everything is very packed together. I’m jetlagged, I ended up sleeping for twelve hours and missing the first two inductions, though I made it to the tail end of the second one and found out I need a private meeting with the American International Advisor which will be tomorrow at noon, I need to check again where it is because I’m afraid all I was distracted by being tired, hungry and very late. The private meeting is only because I don’t know which modules I’m supposed to be in, or chosen, in order to do classes here.
My plane ride was fairly uneventful, my mum and my boyfriend Michael took me to the airport and we wandered around for a bit before 8:00pm EST rolled around and they had to leave, and I had to go to the boarding area. I chatted with a lady returning to England, mostly about the process in which we had to get on the plane to leave. Around 9:30pm we boarded the plane, and I sat in my seat beside the window and that was when it started to rain. I made a joke to the person sitting beside me about how we were bringing the rain with us. When we took off, I got to see Toronto from above all lit up, it was very neat, the person I sat beside had studied Geography and Geology so he was one of the few people who has never asked me if I would be doing cartography mostly. Window viewing at night is really only good when the lights are off, but the majority of the flight the lights remained on so people could read or do whatever. The inflight movies were Letters to Juliet, which was an adorable and cute love story and Iron Man 2, which I’ve seen before and it got too late so I fell asleep.
So as to yesterday, my day of arrival now that I’ve had my small rant, we arrived around 9:35am GMT at the London Gatwick Airport and they weren’t too happy with me at customs because they expected students to already have their loans sorted out by the time the students arrive, which I explained it’s sorted, it just hasn’t been deposited as of yet. After that, I went and collected my bags, the same fellow I’d sat beside on the plane helped me load my trolley and then I went searching for the meeting point for the driver who was picking me up. It took awhile to find him, but once I did he helped me get my bags down to the parking lot and into his van. It was very strange to sit on the left side of the car, it was almost like I was getting in to drive. We were almost stuck along the motorway due to an accident between Gatwick and Canterbury, but the drivers wife called to warn him, and moments later his employer called to say the same. He was a nice man, talked about the UK, Canterbury and he told me some funny stories about some American students he has brought to the university before.
Since I’ve landed, I’ve been called an American (and Irish) on many occasions, especially in the information settings though most apologize when I have told them I’m a Canadian, and even remark after a few more sentences of conversation that I don’t have as deep an accent as many Americans do. I’m living in a flat, the layout is two halls on each floor which have four bedrooms, a shower room with toilet and a full kitchen, that is 14 - 20 Hamill Terrace. So far, I am the only one living on my floor, though there is one person a floor below and six people on the floors above.
Getting here, and getting in my room was fine, though I felt a bit cramped at first it’s fine now, I got a bed and kitchen package which helped me get started. I went for a walk to the nearby ASDA (as-da) which is the UK version of Wal-mart. I only picked up some conditioner, bath soap, nutella, bread and peanut butter because my hunger ruled out the smart idea to check out what sort of kitchen I had, despite Jayne telling me I did in fact have a kitchen. Neat store, huge as per the Wal-mart franchises, I haven’t been in too many others though I’ve seen a few I’d like to go visit.
I have met two Canadians so far, Jeromi Chiu and Anne Stokes who are from the universities of Lethbridge and Victoria, we’ve tended to do things together because otherwise it’s to be lost in a wave of Americans who all have their own groups from their home universities. The school is arranging a thanksgiving dinner for the American students in November, we joked about having our own Thanksgiving dinner that we would make ourselves (and to anyone who wished to join us). There are many trips planned within the next two months, though in two months out of the nine I really only want to attend one of those trips and explore more on my own since it’s done through a private tour company aimed at students. I have also met, and socialised with the people living in the flat with me, they are from Romania, Slovakia and Cyprus and are all very interesting people.
I did have a fit, or two rather, of homesickness, which I’ve been told is completely normal, even for the students coming from the nearby communities and towns. They’ve shown us around a bit for the city, how to get to the Campus (though I still get lost) and how to get to St. Augustine’s House (the library/international office/staff offices/etc.) and given us maps and a self tour guide for the city.
It’s taken a bit to write this, because so much has been happening since I landed Sunday and it’s only Tuesday now, I’ve slept in for about twelve hours the first evening and for less than six last night because it feels way too early to wake up or go to bed. I’ll update again in a few days once the mess of my courses are settled.
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