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