Week One... check

Now that my first week and first weekend of being in the UK has passed, I am mostly over the surreal feeling that came upon my arrival.

The last week my life consisted of sleeping, attending meet and greet orientations, trying all the different beers (again legally) and then sleeping some more. It was all pretty relaxing and fun. I have met loads of people. Like I said before my residence hall is mostly all International students so I've met a lot of people from Italy, Australia, South America, Germany, Switzerland, and Americans from all over.

This weekend I thought I would try out the Europe club seen. First of all people here drink... a lot. Just waiting in line to get in you can tell that most everyone else has already had a few too many before even getting in. Slurring, stumbling, and overall belligerence was included. Fashion here is weird, no explanation needed. One of the clubs we went to was "Halo", which used to be known as Trinity Church. That is the attached photo. Needless to say Snoop Dogg music mixed with a bell tower and stain glass windows was a little creepy.

So after a fun weekend I decided it was time for me to move in. I hung up and folded my clothes and officially moved in. It was the first and most likely last time I will clean my 7x10 room. It may have taken me a week, but at least I proved I am not as bad as the people on the TV show "Hoarders" (dad). I also have begun to do other "adult" things like grocery shop and keep a budget. It is harder than you'd think. The first two times I walked into the grocery store I had no idea where to even start and ended up leaving with 2 frozen pizzas. I have also begun to plan some of my trips. For now I only have Spain and Italy semi-planned. With tickets to Ireland for St. Patty's Day.

Classes started this week. I just got back from the best lecture of my life. I know I've told most of you about my "Traditional Alcoholic Beverages" class, but for those of you who I haven't... It is awesome. 10% of my grade is a trip to a brewery. 30% of my grade is a group project where we design and brew our own beer from scratch. After that we have a beer festival to try all of the different groups beers. I don't have it all easy with classes in Geotechnics and Fluid Dynamics, but it should be a good change of pace from what I'm used to at Champaign. And while they may have funny British accents that make me giggle in class, at least they all speak english here (unlike U of I sometimes).

Well I got to go run to another class. Tuesday has 4 of my 8 hours of class a week. I know, it's a rough life here.

I'm either going to Nottingham or Liverpool this weekend, so I'll let you all know how it goes.

Thanks.