Uprooted and Loving It: My Life in Nottingham... I've been here a week!

It is been about a week since my last blog post, and I have been having so much fun. Since you last heard from me the semester has started, I have moved from my temporary home to my permanent home in Lenton and Wortley Hall, I have gone to the city, attempted to figure out the public transportation system, and I have met a lot of new people (most of which are now attempting to perfect their American accents).

Things that are different....

1. Housing- I have a single room, I share a bathroom with six wonderful girls, some of your best friends are the people that live in your block

2. Meals - We eat breakfast and dinner in the dining hall, and you always eat in your own hall (this means you become much closer with the people in your hall)

3. Public Transportation - First of all, the English have public transportation, we ride into town on buses and this can be quite interesting if you have never ever had to use a bus to get anywhere

4. The legal drinking age - I haven't turned into an alcoholic, but it is so nice to be able to get a glass of wine at lunch or a beer with friends

5. Accents and vocabulary - As the American, I am also the scapegoat, because I say everything incorrectly. Pants are trousers, underwear are pants, bandaids are plasters, college is uni, dorms are halls, elementary school is primary school, high school is secondary school, middle school is nonexistent, soccer is football, planners are diaries, sweatpants are trackies, going downtown is going into town, and everything I say is wrong.

6. Tea - Everyone drinks it all the time, so to fully immerse myself in the English world I joined the Kettle Society.

6. Rain - It doesn't pour, it just rains and rains and rains and rains, but it is usually a sprinkling rain.

Charlotte and Kaitlin at Derby Hall during International
Student Welcome Week - making the short walk to dinner

Our first trip into town - Katelyn, Kaitlin, Charlotte, me, Anca, and Warren

The City Centre of Nottingham

On our walk to our "in town" lunch at Revolution

Charlotte - lunch at Revolution

Kaitlin having a glass of wine at lunch

My very yummy lunch - a sweet potato and bean falafel wrap

The cloudy skies of Nottingham, on our way out of town

End of our first trip to town

Anca, Kaitlin, Charlotte, and Katelyn enjoying our bus ride back to campus

We hadn't quite figured out how to ride public buses so we missed our stop,
took naps and got to see the town of Beeston

The beautiful view from the Portland Building (our "student center")

Trent Building

Walking around campus, killing time, while waiting to move into my
new hall (Lenton and Wortley!!)

My new room!!

A week later when my room is actually decorated

The view from my room... be jealous

The Lenton and Wortley Dining Hall

Another trip into town meant a check off of the Nottingham Bucket list, a trip to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem for fish and chips - it is England's oldest inn, turned into a pub . Charlotte planned the trip (my best friend who happens to lack a sense of direction), so we got lost but this meant a little more time for sight seeing!

Town Centre on a sunny day

Charlotte wondering if we were at the number 13 bus stop (it says it at the top of the post)

A pub on the way to ye olde jerusalem

Nottingham, the home of Robin Hood!

Some of the girls from International Student Welcome Week - Kaitlin, Hanna (from Iceland), Charlotte, Anca (from Canada), Mary (who also happens to be from Charleston), Mary's housemate, Camille (from Vermont/Georgia), and me!

We finally made it to Ye Olde Jerusalem!!

English fish and chips

Sidewalk art in town

After getting settling into my hall, I began to meet all the people living in my block and the semester started, which evidently means Freshers Week (classes don't start until the following week).