Catching Up

Wow, so it's been a week since I wrote in here last. I'll blame it on the fact that I had trouble getting my internet to connect on my laptop on campus when I first moved into my dorm. Just yesterday or maybe the day before I went to the library and one of the IT support people tried to fix it and couldn't figure out what the problem was. In the end, he realized it was because the time on my laptop was incorrectly set, which was somehow messing with the laptop's ability to send and receive messages… I don't really understand it. Anyway, it works now. My other excuse is that I've hardly had any spare time lately. It's funny how I feel like I've been here for month already considering how much has happened, but at the same time I haven't really stopped moving so the time has passed incredibly quickly. I'll try to recap the highlights of the past few days as briefly as possible (which, knowing me, won't be easy).

On the 22nd of January, I moved out of my cozy little hotel room and into my university flat. Fortunately, the hotel was able to hold onto my heavier luggage so I could find my dorm first and retrieve my luggage later when i knew where I was going. I walked up to campus, registered, and received my keys. I'm not going to lie, when I first arrived in my dorm I was quite disappointed. It wasn't nearly as nice as the photos made it look. It was empty and quiet and a step down from my hotel room. But I have since changed my mind about it. Over the next couple days, once I met my flatmates, settled in, and made the room my own, it immediately became home. I think I am actually lucky to live where I live. Some people have flatmates who are messy, noisy, and only want to party. My flatmates, on the other hand, are very clean and very quiet. We all keep to ourselves, really. They are quite friendly. One is from Finland, one from China and one is from Great Britain. Overall, I'm looking forward to living here for the next few months.

Once I had moved in and checked in with the international coordinator, I went down to the Foster Building for a city tour with other international students. I had already walked around the city on my own, so used the tour as an opportunity to meet people instead. I couldn't help but overhear a few girls who sounded more like me that anyone else I had talked to since I had arrived. As it turned out they were Americans. Most of them told me that I remind them of a Canadian character on How I Met Your Mother. I think that's probably because she is the only Canadian they had encountered before meeting me, but they insist I sound just like her. Anyway, the Americans I've met here are all lovely people, and although we're from different countries, talking to them is a little slice of home. I also met two European girls on the city tour: Clara, from Germany, and Sophie, from France. I was able to identify where they are from easily enough just by their accents. We have become fast friends, along with Jitka from Czech Republic and Melissa from Zimbabwe/Kentucky, who I met over the next couple days. We are already talking about all the places we want to see while we are here. (I see travel plans in my future!!) I've also met people from Finland, Denmark, Nigeria and Turkey, just to name a few. Having such an international group of friends never really gets old.

The next day (January 23rd) we spent the morning in enrolment sessions dealing with paperwork and choosing classes. The university provided us with a free barbecue lunch, and a wine reception in the evening with activities that helped us to get to know one another. I think that was the night we went to the Adelphi, which is a popular local bar. There are lots of deals on drinks at the Adelphi on Thursday nights. Every week, one of the staff members goes around and takes photos of the people at the bar, posts them on Facebook, and then chooses one as the winner. Everyone in that photo gets free entry and free drinks on the next Thursday. Some of the regulars at the bar try to win every week but never do. And this week, I was in the winning photo! So I will probably be there tomorrow night.

Another bar we've visited a few times is the Source, which is the campus bar. We can always find cheap, good meals there, as well as many international students. We take up quite a few tables there.

We've also visited the city centre a few times, to shop, set up bank accounts and buy sim cards for cell phones. We've found all the most wallet friendly shops: Aldi for groceries, B&M Bargains and Pound Stretchers for home items, and Pound World for other everyday items. It doesn't cost too much to live here as long as you look in the right places.

Friday was another day of information sessions, shopping, and socializing. I didn't stay out too late because I wanted to be well rested for the trip to Liverpool the following day…

…which was a blast. What a fascinating city. I think I took way too many pictures of old buildings. We were dropped off shortly before lunchtime, instructed to return to the meeting place by 4:30. So basically we could do whatever we wanted. Our little group started off at the docks and then explored the older parts of the city.

We visited a Beatles shop, where I met (a cardboard cutout of) Sir Paul McCartney himself.

After late lunch in a traditional British pub, we moved on. We didn't have a whole lot of time left, but we decided to make a quick trip to Liverpool Cathedral. It's a fairly new cathedral, completed in 1978 after 74 years of construction. Nevertheless, it was designed according to Gothic architectural style. I was blown away by the sheer enormity of this building.

When we walked inside, there was a service in progress. An all male choir was singing Gregorian chants as they walked about the cathedral dressed in long, red robes. Although the cathedral was full of tourists, there was a hush inside the building, and nothing could be heard other than the music. It was beautiful. Then, out of nowhere, the loudest organ I have ever heard kicked in, making every hair on the back of my neck stand up. I would never have expected any sound to fill a space so immense, but the organ certainly did. I couldn't stop my jaw from dropping open in awe. It was a very powerful moment.

After a short time we dragged ourselves away from the cathedral and headed back to the meeting place. By that time the weather was taking a turn for the worse. It started to hail, and the wind made it hard to walk straight. The bus ride home on the top level of the double decker bus was absolutely terrifying. We swayed back and forth to the point where it actually felt like the bus would tip over. But luckily, we made it home safe and sound.

That night, the 3 Danish students threw a small party in their little house. It was one of the coolest parties I've ever attended. They insisted that each of us play some music from our home country So we heard music from Canada (I chose the Sheepdogs), the US, France, Germany, Denmark, Turkey, Nigeria and Somalia. My ears have been opened up to so many new sounds.

I went to bed early enough that night to wake up by 8 for the trip to the zoo in the Lake District the next day. I had already paid for a ticket. I set my alarm, but when I woke up the next day, it was 10:30 AM. The zoo trip had left at 9, and I missed it because I set my alarm improperly. That was a disappointment. But it ended up being a productive day for me. I bought lots of groceries for my flat and organized my room. So maybe it was for the best that I didn't go.

Monday was the first day of classes. I did not have Monday classes so I spent the day trying to work out my schedule. It turned out I accidentally signed up for two conflicting classes, so I spent a lot of time on Monday trying to choose a new class. I found one that looked interesting called Philosophy of Language. None of my classes are language related (there aren't any offered this semester unfortunately) so I thought this might be a good fit. I would have to go get a signature of approval from the prof on Tuesday because the class is not available as an elective.

But before that, I went to my first class: Gothic Literature. It was awesome. My prof looks exactly how you would imagine a Gothic Literature prof would look. I'd say he's a more benevolent version of Severus Snape. And he's obviously passionate about what he does. We're reading quite a large amount of material. I can already tell I am going to love the class. There are a couple of American change students in the class as well. One of them was telling me that she had this same prof for Literature into Film, a class in which they are going to study classics such as Pride and Prejudice and Little Women. I was immediately tempted to take this class instead of the Philosophy one. And as it turned out, when I talked to the Philosophy prof after Gothic Lit, he told me the Philosophy class is very technical and not recommended for someone with little experience in the subject. So I signed up for the English class straight away. My third class is Community History, which starts tomorrow. None of my classes are necessary for my major, but I still have lots of space for electives in my degree, and I want to take fun classes while I am here. So, I am very happy with the way my schedule worked out!

And here I am. I'm going to try not to go so long without writing a post again, because it's hard to pin down events days after they happen. But I'm glad I took the time to write them down, because it's already starting to become a blur of activity in my mind, and I'd like to remember as much as I can when I'm finally home. So I'll write again soon, and I mean it this time.

xx from Whitendale Hall,

Anna

Navigation and Exploration: Getting my Bearings in Preston

I would like to begin this post with some questions I was asked and comments people made that made me raise an eyebrow:

"Whereabouts in America are you from?"
"Oh, Canada you say? You must be French."
"I heard it gets as cold as minus 20 over there."
"Canada? I thought I could tell you had an accent."
"All I know about Canada is that Justin Bieber is from there."
"So does Canada use Euros or what?"

And that's just from one day. I expect I will be able to compile an extensive list by the time the semester is over. It baffles me how little people know about Canada. Considering we are the second largest country in the world, we seem to be a well-kept secret. Of course, I shouldn't judge people for not knowing things. I asked a couple questions that probably sounded silly to some people. For example:

"What's barm?"
"How many pence in a pound?"
"What am I supposed to do with this sauce?"
"Is there ever snow on the ground here?"
"Why is it still so dark outside? Is it always this dark in the morning?"

Maybe the Brits are secretly making lists of all the silly things I say too.

Overall, I would say today was a very successful day. This morning feels like it happened weeks ago. It's not that lots of significant events happen today, but rather my mindset has shifted as I've gone along.

This morning my circadian alarm clock rang at 5 AM. I tried to fall back asleep without much success, so I went down to breakfast at 7 thinking, "Jet lag, I have conquered you." Breakfast at this hotel is all-you-can-eat and super delicious.

I then ventured outside, with a plan in mind to head north-westish up Corporation Street and find my school. I'm sure I looked like such a tourist, staring around wide-eyed at everything. I couldn't help it though. Preston looks and feels completely different from Regina. There is an interesting juxtaposition of old and new here: cobbled sidewalks, mossy brick buildings, city squares and Narnia lamp posts, alongside geometric shapes, modern angular architecture, and vivid colours. I immediately felt the effects of information overload: my brain started to fog up, like I couldn't focus on anything. My body was awake, but my brain just wanted to sleep. I couldn't even bring myself to take photos. Also I didn't dress nearly warm enough (lack of snow does not equal warm apparently). But I was on a mission, so I kept going. I reached the campus within about 10 minutes and found my residence building. It's quite adorable. I'll take pictures once I move in.

Then I walked sort of eastish, I think. I should say at this point that I have little to no sense of direction. I found the city square and wandered through a big mall. The city is full of very helpful signs pointing out notable locations. I followed the one that said "Tourist Information" and procured a small map at the tourist shop. This would have been useful had I been able to find street signs. I was still confused. Luckily, almost by accident I stumbled across B&M Bargains, a dollar-store-type place that the hotel receptionist had recommended I visit to find bedding for my dorm. I bought some cheap blankets and headed back to the hotel.

Once I returned, I decided I needed to dress warmer and choose some specific locations to visit now that I had an idea of the city. I ventured out once again, this time heading south of the hotel. This is when I realized the street signs are right on the buildings. Duh. Once I figured that out, I had a much easier time. I felt energized and clear headed, and no longer confused. I headed to a cute little cafe called Brucciani. I had hot beef on a barm (translate: bun) for my afternoon tea (translate: lunch). Further down the street I found a bank and made myself an appointment to make a sterling pound bank account, which will be very easy to do.

Then I headed back to the city square, where I visited the Harris Museum and Art Gallery (below).

The photo doesn't quite capture how immense this building is. It's giant. And very Greek looking. It was built in 1893, making it one hundred years older than me.

Harris Museum and Art Gallery entrance, very pretty

Inside the building, looking up to the ceiling.  If you look closely you might be able to see the spot where the Fouceault pendulum is attached.

Some selected items of interest (keep an eye on Facebook for more to come in the next day or so):

Ancient Coins

These skulls are over 1000 years old!

Fouceault Pendulum 

The Fouceault pendulum is really cool. I'm not gifted in the sciences in any way, but I'll do my best at explaining it. The pendulum is attached to the ceiling (see 3rd photo) in such a way that it can move freely (I think it's a ball and socket type deal, if that makes sense). Someone sets the pendulum in motion so that it swings back and forth in a completely straight line from one side of that thing that looks like a bow to the other. But because of the way the pendulum is freely attached, it continually swings on the exact same plane in relation to the sun, while the earth rotates every so slightly. So as you can kind of see in the photo, the pendulum is no longer swinging through the middle but rather along the top of the left side of the bow and the bottom of the right side. In other words, the pendulum is evidence of the earth's rotation. It forces you to realized how much you have actually moved since the pendulum started swinging. Which is kind of dizzying to think about. If my explanation didn't make any sense, I recommend looking it up.

I spent a couple hours in the museum, listening to my iPod, practicing using my camera, and wandering around aimlessly. As my brain seemed to have reached its capacity for new information earlier that day, I don't think I took much in. I enjoyed it though.

I headed back to the hotel after that, finding it with no difficulty. I had planned on doing some more sightseeing, but it started to rain. Oh yeah, and I fell asleep for three hours. Turns out I didn't actually conquer my jet lag. It could have been worse though.

I woke up and made my way over to the hotel restaurant. I had beef, ale and mushroom pie for tea (translate: supper). Then I Skyped some very important people, and now here I am. Even though I didn't actually do a whole lot today, I feel like my experiences trying to navigate the city on my own really stretched me. I feel like I've grown up a lot since this morning, if that's even possible. 

But, I must be getting to sleep. Tomorrow is a big day: moving day. I need all the energy I can get.

xx from Preston,

Anna

Banana Splits...

Yes, I did indeed split (Credit for that brilliant title to Auntie Raelene). Somehow it's been both the longest and shortest 24 hours of my life: long because I haven't slept for real since I was in Regina and short because for some reason all that travelling seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. And now here I am in my little Preston hotel room trying to stay awake until bedtime in order to (hopefully) prevent death by jet lag. We'll see how that works out. Anyway, suddenly finding myself halfway across the world is starting to make me question what's real and what isn't. And the lack of sleep certainly isn't helping.

I'm in Britain, right?

Well, looking out my window I see two old church spires; clusters of brick buildings; a sign that says "St. Georges, Avenham, Winckley Square;" people driving every which way on the left-hand sides of the roads; and a definite lack of snow. Sounds like Britain to me.

Backing things up a bit,  I left around 11:30 AM Regina time. (I'm skipping the part where I said goodbye to everybody because I'd rather not think about it too much.) My first flight was to Toronto. Highlights: Pat Fiacco was on my flight too. And the lady sitting beside me who seemed familiar at first glance turned out to be the school nurse from my elementary school. Small world. I landed in Toronto on time, and after enjoying one last last all-Canadian Timmies lunch I made my way to my next gate. Which took at least an hour to get to, if not more. I had to take a train, go through security again (the lineup was unreal) and walk A LOT. That airport is so big that it has more DAVIDsTEA stores than Regina. But eventually I got where I needed to be.

My next flight went to Keflavik Airport. The Icelandair flight was so fancy. I was given a chilled bottle of water when I boarded, there was a little pillow on each seat with an Icelandic lullaby printed on it, and the flight attendants wore cute little flight attendant hats. And hearing all the announcements in Icelandic was a definite bonus! It's a beautiful language. Unfortunately, I did not get to see any Icelandic landscape. I arrived at Keflavik at 6:45 AM and left about an hour later, and it was completely dark and rainy the whole time. Once we arrived in Iceland we had to go through security again (my third time within 24 hours) because apparently the EU has different security regulations. And it did seem a little more extensive than my previous security checks. Keflavik airport was quite different from any airport I've ever experienced. The floors were all a lovely hardwood. And I noticed right away that it smelled quite nice in there. The bathrooms were interesting: Each stall was its own little room. It lit up automatically when I walked in to reveal an all white interior. And the faucet on the sink doubled as a hand dryer. Not that those details are important in the slightest. The layover was less than an hour and soon enough, I boarded the same plane again. I knew it was the same one because its name is Hekla, which is a volcano in Iceland that is said to be the entrance to hell. Because that's a nice comforting thought to ponder while one is being chucked across the sky in a metal tube.

But I digress. Ideally I would have slept on the flight to Keflavik since it was dark the whole time AND I had a whole row of seats to myself so I could stretch out. But I hadn't been able to fall asleep. So by the time I was on my way from Keflavik to Manchester, I was exhausted. It was 2 in the morning Regina time and I could barely keep my eyes open. But I did, because I got to witness a gorgeous sunrise from up in the air. I've never seen the sky such a vibrant reddish-orange colour. I tried to take photos with my new fancy camera, but none of them do it justice. You will just have to take my word for it. I saw lots of pretty clouds too. Unfortunately they obscured my view of the ocean. But you can't have everything in life.

Finally, feeling a little bit dazed, I arrived in Manchester. The clouds made it hard to see the countryside but what I could glimpse looked green and lush. We landed and I got through customs as a student visitor without a hitch. Despite my exhaustion, I thoroughly enjoyed being surrounded by so many wonderful British accents. It's hard to stop myself from eavesdropping just to hear the way people around here speak. I'll just say it's "linguistic research."

I then bought myself a ticket for a train that would stop in Preston. Unfortunately, the train system made absolutely no sense to me. The platform number wasn't even printed on my ticket. (It was 2, not 9 3/4, by the way.) Luckily I asked around and managed to jump on the right train shortly before it left. I couldn't let myself fall asleep lest I miss my stop. So that was my opportunity to see some landscape. And wow, is it ever pretty. All the trees here look so different somehow. Same with the grazing livestock. If you think about the approximate number of cows one sees when driving through the Canadian prairies… That's about how many sheep I saw. Fields full of them. And 90% of the buildings are made of brick. Very cool, in my opinion. It's hard to believe multiple cities can be so close together. It took about an hour for me to get to Preston, maybe less. That's just not something you see in Canada. I managed to disembark in Preston without a problem. The Preston railway station is very pretty. I would have taken photos but I was so intent on getting to my destination that I decided to push on. Some kindly train station workers and random locals helped direct me to the taxis. My hotel is walking distance from the station, but my suitcase is HEAVY. So is my carry-on. Plus I didn't want to get lost. The taxi driver managed to get me there in one piece, which is surprising considering how everyone around here drives with no apparent regard for where the lanes really are, or the rules, for that matter. The lanes aren't even marked half the time. I find it scary but so far I haven't witnessed any accidents. I made it to my hotel and checked in. And here I am.

Looking back on my journey, it went very smoothly. Many good things happened:

None of my flights were delayed more than half an hour.

I had a window seat on every flight.

I didn't have to sit beside anyone for 2 out of 3 flights.

On the one flight that I did sit beside someone, it was someone I kind of knew.

I didn't miss any connections.

My baggage didn't get lost (I was quite worried about this when I realized I didn't pack any extra clothing in my carry-on.)

The train I needed to catch was right there when I needed it.

There were only a few negatives:

I had problems with uncomfortable pressure in my eardrums.

It's hard to hear my iPod over the sound of the engine.

My one hour layover in Iceland wasn't enough time to find Of Monsters and Men, Sigur Rós and Björk so that each of them could play a song for me.

Really, I can't complain.

But now, I have things to do. I'm going to do a a little bit of exploring before lunch and see what I can find. I'll post again when something interesting happens. I'm missing all of my favourite Canadians, but at the same time I'm so happy to be here.

xx from the UK,

Anna