Turning 23 and Stonehenge

Happy birthday to me - if only I had Benedict by my side :-P

It's difficult for someone who loves birthdays to ignore their own.  I found this out when my 23rd came hurtling at me out of no where.  I guess when you are busy with homesickness and culture shock and beginning grad school and adjusting to living in a new country some stuff has the tendency to fall into the background.  But either way, sometime around October 14th I started to get excited for the anniversary of my birth.  This year it was a Friday.  And I didn't have class.  I decided I would go into Colchester for the day.  I bought myself a new coat, ate a banana Nutella crepe for lunch, and then spent the afternoon with Benedict Cumberbatch.  Ha, wishful thinking - I spend the afternoon STARING at Benedict Cumberbatch as he portrayed Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate.  (Great movie, by the way.)  Then I ate dinner in a little French cafe on the High Street.  I had been planning on staying in town for a bit after the movie, but it turns out Colchester is DEAD in the evenings.  Yes, even on a Friday evening all the shops are closed and no one is on the streets.  It felt like a ghost town.  In fact, the only reason I ended up eating in the cafe was because it was one of the only places I could find that was open.  So that was that.  Now I'm 23.

The next day was spent frantically doing as much homework as possible because Sunday was the first trip with the Travel Society.  Yay for meeting new people and going places with them!

Sunday started at an ungodly hour.  I woke up at 5 AM.  The meeting time was 7:10, but I had no clue how to get to the meeting point.  I left the Quays around 6:40 and got to the meeting point with a few minutes to spare.  The bus left at 7:30.  (Somehow, on time.  I didn't think that was possible for a group of people my age.)  I sat with Nicole, a girl I met at the first social who is from Chicago.  She is a fresher who is getting her BA here.  She's spending the whole three years (plus one year abroad that is actually part of the degrees here - I know, right?!) at Essex.  By some strange coincidence we ended up sitting across the aisle from two American post-grads.  Ben, from Indiana and Andrea, from New Jersey.  Ben is a Fulbright - which makes me feel unworthy to be in his presence, and Andrea lives in my building up in the sixth flat with the crazy French kid I met during Freshers Week.  The four of us hung out for the day.

Thanks Google maps UK for this handy little graphic
A - University of Essex
B - Stonehenge
C- Bath

The drive to Stonehenge takes about 3 hours and it rained on and off the whole time.  But I guess when you drive that far across a country that is known for its mass amounts of precipitation, that's bound to happen.  Since I come from a place where you can drive for 6 straight hours and still be in the same state, it's strange to drive for four measly hours and literally be on the other side of the country.

Stonehenge itself was great.  We were driving along past open fields, talking about nothing like people do when they meet on buses, and all of a sudden, there was Stonehenge.  It was actually kind of startling.  Turns out it's one of those 'can't get there from here' type of place.  We had to drive through all of these back country roads to actually get to the site.  There was a little area with a gift shop and ticket booth and cafe and then this big long tunnel, and then there you were - Stonehenge.  You aren't allowed to get close to it anymore.  There are little fences to keep you out.  Everyone there just walks along a path in a huge circle taking photos - both cheesy and non-cheesy.  After you walk the path it's back down the tunnel and into the gift shop.  Less than two hours after seeing those iconic rocks from the highway, we were back on the bus and on our way to Bath.

Look how those rocks are balanced - you can't tell me that's not amazing.

It's takes about an hour to get to Bath from Stonehenge and the officers of the Travel Society had us singing campfire songs on the bus.  Most people didn't participate, but what the heck, right?  And I was a Girl Scout.  It takes way more than a measly call-and-response songs to embarrass me.  I actually got up in front of the bus with Mikya, the president, and helped teach the people who would listen 'Baby Shark.'  Seriously.  I have no shame.

Bath was also pretty amazing.  The skies opened up almost as soon as we got there and we had to stand outside in the downpour for way too long, but that allowed us to meet new people as we huddled under shared umbrellas.  I was overly excited to get inside the baths and see all the stuff that I learned about in Latin class because I'm a geek like that.  It was really interesting to actually see the hot rooms and the changing rooms and all the things that we read about in those textbooks.  I like learning in a classroom, but who doesn't like going out and seeing the stuff in real life?  I think a lot more people would enjoy their educations if it was possible to actually go to the places you are learning about or see the things you are studying...

Bath Abbey and entrance to the Roman baths

But anyway, enough of my tangents.  The plan was to go to the Roman Baths and then take a walking tour of the city.  Dinner was supposed to be at 5 and then we would be back on the road by 6:30.  Well, the baths were packed, so the group got all split up.  We four Americans were able to stick together, so we took our own walking tour of the city.  It was absolutely beautiful, even if it was all rainy and wet.  The architecture was amazing and there were all these quaint little side streets and shops.  We walked around the park that borders the river and took way too many pictures of everything.  We planned on meeting up with everyone for dinner at 5, but then the group dinner got cancelled - there were way to many of us to just walk into some random restaurant and be like "Hey, there are 60 of us.  Can we have food?"  The four of us spent a really long time walking around looking for a pub where we could get fish and chips, but to no avail.  We ended up eating at Slug & Lettuce - it's kind of like the TGIFridays of England.  Then it was back to the bus for the four hour drive home.

I was able to sleep for a tiny bit on the way to Stonehenge, but I could not for the life of me fall asleep on the way home.  It was really unfortunate.  I listened to my iPod and stared out the window.  The suckishness of being on a bus for a combined total of 8 hours really didn't hit me until we had about an hour and a half left in the ride.  The bus driver stopped at a rest stop for a bathroom break, and that's when it hit me.  I felt like crap and knew I still had over an hour left of staring out the windows and watching the mile markers and rode signs go by.  Obviously, I made it unscathed, but I was so so tired by the time Tesco came into sight.  Thankfully the bus made a stop at the Quays so we didn't have to walk all the way back across campus to get home.  That was a blessing.  I think I feel asleep the minute my head hit the pillow and I still wanted to throw my alarm across the room on Monday morning.

So, yeah, things are going well.  I have an insane amount of coursework and I'm already freaking out about my first assignment, but that's nothing that I wasn't expecting when I signed up.  I'm pretty settled in food- and amenities-wise.  I'm still trying to navigate the thing with my flatmates.  It's hard to get dinner when your kitchen seems to be in a perpetual state of dinner party - and that's not an exaggeration.  Tonight when I got back from class at 6 the gathering had all ready started.  Here I am now at 11 and I'm just starting to hear some sense of quiet coming from the kitchen.  And I haven't had dinner yet.  When it gets this late, you just start to think - "You know what?  I can wait until breakfast."  Also, I feel like this is worth mentioning.  There are four rice cookers in the kitchen.  If they all cook together and at the same time, why do they need four rice cookers?  That's an honest to goodness question.  Anyone know the answer? ...

-RJ

It's the little things

"Open by Hand" ... As opposed to?...

As the title of this post suggests, nothing really new and exciting to report on.  Just the little stuff that I'm experiencing as a post-grad (I still can't get over that.  It still doesn't feel right on my tongue.)

Evenings are a strange time around here.  Some nights are perfect and silent and I sleep basically through the night.  Then there are occurrences like 4 AM Sunday morning.  Incessant banging on the door and ringing of the bell - three drunk guys insisting that they used to live here and they left their bacon in the fridge.  I was so happy that Alex got to the door before me.  He was actually really nice and diplomatic about slamming the door in their faces.  A few nights before the bacon incident, I could have sworn that the music that comes out of the JUMANJI board was playing outside.  Part of me wanted to run out to the non-river and find it.  Part of me remembered the freaking giant bugs that came out of that game.  Part of me reminded me that I'm ridiculous, so I went back to sleep.

I think I jinxed myself with that last post.  I was feeling all warm and fuzzy inside and then the next two days were pretty crap.  Nothing terrible happened, I was just a little homesick and feeling off.  Eh, I guess it happens, right?

My Tesco card came in the mail today, which is actually really exciting.  Why is it exciting?  I'm not exactly sure.  Because now every cashier can stop asking me if I have a Clubcard?  Maybe.  Because now I can start saving 1 pound 50 for every 150 points I earn?  Maybe.

I also received my two new t shirts in the mail.  There are no words for how excited I am about these shirts.  One is a joke map of Australia.  The other is a sloth hanging off the Empire State Building like King Kong.  Yeah, I know that I'm not the most normal person out there...

So happy to finally have these in my possession - You can't tell me they aren't great.
I wouldn't believe you if you tried.

Progress in befriending my flatmates has come as far as I think it's going to.  It's not that anyone is implicitly unfriendly, it's just that the girl who lives next to me and the guy from Nigeria are the only two who really talk to me.  The rest of the people never speak English around me - Even when I try to talk to them.  And they ALWAYS seem to be having some type of dining extravaganza.  There are always random people in the kitchen having big...well, feasts for lack of a better term.  I'd get sick of cooking so much and socializing so much.  It's like every night!  I didn't eat dinner until almost 10:00 tonight because there were too many people in the kitchen all night.

Speaking of the kitchen, I've finally christened it as my own.  Two days I shattered my mug when it fell out of my cabinet.  Then tonight I accidentally exploded some peas in the microwave.  So, the kitchen is officially ready for me to use now, right?

I've mostly taken to eating in my room.  I'll eat in the kitchen if no one is there, or the people who are there will talk to me.  Most of the time, that isn't the case.  The kitchen table isn't that big and I discovered that it's extremely strange to sit and eat cereal while three people at the table continue on with their conversation in another language.  So I don't really care if it makes me look like a hermit.  I make my food and then go back to my room.

I think that two of the people in my flat might be dating.  They are always together and it seems like they yell at each other a lot.  (But you know, since they aren't speaking English they could be yelling "GOSH DARN IT JOHNLOCK IS A THING YOU STUPID GIT!!!!"  I doubt it, but you never know.)

The non-river went and changed times on me.  All of a sudden last week it started not being there around 3 PM when it usually is.  It's there right now, after 10 at night, and there is some water there in the morning when I wake up.  It's all very strange.  Also, I think people live in the one boat out there.  I've seen people walking around the deck a few times and didn't think much of it until tonight when I looked out the window and saw the glow of a TV.  It's really a strange world that my window looks out towards.

I'm almost finished reading The Hobbit.  It's actually really good and I didn't have any problems getting into it like I did with Lord of the Rings.  It also helps that I can only picture Martin Freeman as Bilbo.  Freaking adorable little hedgehog Martin Sassypants.

The rest of this week are booked for homework and then private (haha - just me) birthday celebrations on Friday and then more homework and then STONEHENGE on Sunday.  More on that after I've actually experienced it in all of its glory.

-RJ

How far I've come

I couldn't resist snapping a picture from the train bridge

Last night I was walking back to the Quays from campus.  It was getting dark and the skies had finally decided it was time for rain.  It rained for my entire walk, and although I had an umbrella, I didn't put it up.  The rain wasn't too heavy and there wasn't much wind.  I smiled like a loon the entire time.  Walking on the train bridge I realized that I should be running like everyone else, but instead I just kept walking.  I was in England.  In the rain.  I felt like I had been waiting for my entire life.

This afternoon I was walking to campus and the wind was insane.  It was absolutely freezing, biting wind.  My hair was everywhere.  The span on the top of the train bridge was like a wind tunnel.  I was happy.

It's so hard for me to believe that I am here in England, and not just traveling after graduation or 'taking some time off,' but actually getting my Masters degree.  The fact that I am going to be here for an entire year, and the fact that I am okay with that - I can see myself here in 11 months time, completely okay (except for the stress of writing a dissertation), blows my mind.

I can still remember crying on my first day of preschool.  I remember being homesick.  Homesick while sleeping over at a friend's house in elementary school, homesick at a student council conference in high school, homesick by the gate in LAX, homesick not two weeks ago - convinced that I couldn't carry on.  Yet here I am, settling into the strange accommodation that is postgraduate living, worrying over things like cutting boards and train tickets.

For my entire life I dreamed of living some type of exciting life.  I say dreamed because I thought it was an impossibility.  I always liked being at home with my family.  I purposely chose a college that was close to home.  It took me so long to decide on a major - I wanted something that wouldn't pigeon-hole me into a life of 9 to 5's in tiny cubicles.  My semester in Australia was an amazing outlet, but I thought that's all it was.  A "Remember that crazy time in college?" story.

So I guess the reason behind this post is for me to acknowledge how far I've really come.  This is an amazing opportunity I'm living and I'm starting to believe that it is only just the beginning...

-RJ

I don't think we're in undergrad anymore....

So, it's a giraffe.  Other than that, yeah, I don't know either....

Now that today is finished I have attended all of my classes for the first time.  I had all sorts of moments ranging from "This is going to be fine" to "Oh s*!#"

So here's a rundown of my classes this term (not semester, I need to keep reminding myself - this is only 10 weeks....)

Formative Debates in Criminology:
Monday 1 pm-3 pm
So far it sounds like it will be an into crim class, which is good.  Even though I took Crime & Deviance with Carla, a course to get into Masters level work makes me feel good.  Also, the topics outlined in the syllabus look interesting.  We are covering everything from Positivism to Marxism to Globalisation in Crime.  The professor is great.  He is also my course coordinator and, going from first impressions, I like him a lot.  We have a lot of the same interests (terrorism, surveillance, theory - hear that, someone else besides me who likes THEORY!!!!).  He cracked a bunch of jokes during the first lecture and it was not a boring two hours.

Sociological Research Design:
Tuesday 9 am-10 am; 5 pm-6 pm (I know, late, right?)
Ugh, research methods.  I hate methods and statistics, but oh well, I can't get an education without them.  I'm just hoping and praying that I got enough out of Dr. Brown's classes to make this not an absolutely horrible experience.  The professor seems very nice.  She is kind of bubbly and very enthusiastic, even after teaching 5 different modules today.  The 9 am part of class is straight lecture.  The 4 pm part of class is seminar.  There are 10 students in that class and 8 of them are international.  I sort of feel bad for the English kids.  They probably feel cheated and outnumbered.  Also, I can foresee one kid in that class getting on my nerves.  He is from Greece, and once again, going off first impressions, he seems like a pompous a$$hole.  It might be hard to handle him after all my other classes on Tuesday without throttling him.

Organised Crime: Global and Local
Tuesday 2 pm-4 pm
I'm interested in the topic.  The books are freaking expensive.  The professor wrote one of the texts.  He is from Australia.  He is terrifying (Although that might have been jet lag.  I'm really hoping it was jet lag.).  We are expected to academically argue in this course.  I've never had to site references during an argument, so I'm petrified.  I can read until the cows come home, and I can talk about what I've read, but this class is really scaring me.  At least I 'know' some of the people in the class.  And by know, I mean that I either have other classes with them, or I met them at the introductory conference.  I'm predicting that this class is going to be the one that sort of kills me this term...although research methods might also take that title....

Besides my classes, life in England has been going well.  I'm going to volunteer in the sociology resource room every Monday morning for two hours.  I started up a bank account and can pick up my card tomorrow.  I finally got myself a phone so I have a local number.  The food situation still isn't great, but it'll get there, eventually.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to explore town a bit.  I don't have anything until an informational session about the resource center at 5 pm, so it would be a good day to just take a few hours and explore.

That's all for now

-RJ

Fun Fact: Midnights & Miles' Sheldon Cooper Moment

One of the main squares at the university on market day

Some fun and random facts and observations about my travel to and my first 5 days in England:

Predeparture:

-My last American purchase was:  A Twix bar, a pack of cheesy cracker sandwiches, and a pack of Vienna finger cookies

-There was a very strange family waiting in the chairs near me at the gate.  I later found out that the two daughters (who got randomly pulled by security during boarding) flew coach, while the parents flew business

-It took over 2 hours until the flight attendants started to serve us dinner

-There were curtains separating the flights classes, and I thought of Kristen Wig popping into First during Bridesmaids every time someone walked through

-My orange juice I drank with breakfast tasted distinctively like bacon

-I was so confused by the time change.  When the flight landed, I knew the time on my watch (6AM) was correct, but I was like, WTF I have no clue what time/day it is

-The woman behind me constantly slapped (it felt like slapping, I'm sure it wasn't) her in-flight entertainment screen.  Which was mounted on the back of my headrest

-I think the sitting in front of me watched the first 20 minutes of every movie available

-The woman sitting two seats over from me was a trip coordinator.  She had a group of 20-something people with her and they were all flying to Venice.  She told me her son is in college and wants to study abroad.  I told her that he should do it.

Arrival:

-The UK Border was crowded, but I got through pretty quickly.  They made it sound much worse than it actually turned out to be

-While waiting for the Essex shuttle I sat next to a girl from Virginia

-All shops close at 4PM on Sunday due to trading laws, so I wasn't able to buy the stuff I needed.  A woman named Vanessa made sure I got to Tesco in time to buy a duvet and a pillow for the night. She said I "would freeze" otherwise.

-I talked to an RA coordinator named Anna on Sunday night when I was upset and couldn't use my computer because I didn't have an adapter.  She is from Romania and she is VERY nice

England:

-The mosquitoes here are freaking gigantic

-The roads are very narrow, so I always feel as if people are driving recklessly

-Cars park on the sidewalks

-There are CCTVs everywhere.  Seriously, everywhere.  And every time I see one I think of Mycroft.

-Pounds and Pence instead of Dollars and Cents

Are those enough fun facts for you?  If not, I'm sure more will be forthcoming. :)

-RJ

Ups and Downs

No picture with this post because I haven't taken any yet.  I take my camera every time I leave the Quays, but I still haven't taken a single picture.

The last few days have been extremely up and down.  Unfortunately there has been more down than there has been up.  Homesickness is a big factor, along with culture shock.  Anyone who says that England is just like the US is freaking out of their mind.  If it weren't for the fact that they speak English (which I am SO glad for) I would question if I'm even in the right place.  You don't realize the difference things like brand names and street signs really make until you are dropped in the middle of a foreign country to figure it all out on your own.

Day 1 was hell.  My flight was fine (slow service and no sleep, but what can you expect?).  Everything started to go downhill when I landed in Heathrow.  We didn't actually land at the terminal.  We had to wait somewhere on the runway after we landed for buses to come and shuttle us to the terminal.  Once that finally happened, I had to make my way through border security, get my luggage, and find my way to Terminal 3 - which involved taking a subway train.  Thankfully it was free.  I lost my water bottle on the train.

When I made it to Terminal 3 I found the Essex group and then I realized how freaking tired I was.  I got to the meeting point about an hour early, which wouldn't have been a big deal, except for the fact that the shuttle was an hour and a half late.  Then the bus ride to the university was two and a half hours long.  I tried to stay awake.  I really did.  I saw some farm animals and lots of fields and highways.  Then I fell asleep.

I got dropped off at The Quays and had to get my key and find my way to my house and then my flat.  It was basically just trying my key in random doors because nothing is labeled.  Once I finally got into my room I started to lose it.  I feel like I cried for all of Sunday afternoon and all day Monday.  In between emotional breakdowns I went to the mandatory Welcome Talks.  They were mostly geared towards undergraduate students, so I just kind of sat there and felt alone.

Today I had sociology department events all day.  They were extremely overwhelming.  I'm really afraid that I'm not going to succeed in these classes.  They meet once a week and you are supposed to do at least 10 extra hours of work for each class each week.  I have three classes this term.  That's 30 extra hours of work on top of all the regular course work.  Then, each class is graded on one assignment.  A 5,000 word essay.  I'm freaking out about that....  I am seriously afraid of failing a class.

After the soc events today I tried to keep myself busy.  I took a shower and then watched the first episode of season 2 Elementary.  It kind of was a bad idea because they traveled to London for the episode.  Of course.  Any other time I would be thrilled about that, but now it makes my stomach churn a little bit.  After that I walked to Tesco to continue trying to buy enough stuff so I can actually live here.  I'm still in need of a lot of stuff, but I guess it's getting better.

Right now I'm eating these horrible ramen noodles.  I've grown so accustomed to ramen in the last few years, I didn't think it was possible for it to be bad.  However, I was wrong.  The flavor is fine but the texture is all wrong.

I guess that's all for now.  Hopefully some pictures and a more lighthearted post is on it's way.

-RJ

*I guess it's sort of ironic that I started to read The Hobbit while I waited for my flight out of Philly...

"So after that the party went along very merrily, and they told stories or sang songs as they rode forward all day, except of course when they stopped for meals.  These meals didn't come quite as often as Bilbo would have liked them, but still he began to feel that adventures were not so bad after all."
-The Hobbit