So...tired...

I've arrived in England! Actually I arrived yesterday, but so much was going on I didn't have time to post. England is gorgeous. Unfortunately, I was in a bit of a bad mood so I'm not sure I appreciated it as much as I might have otherwise.

Why was I in a bad mood? Well for one, the flight was delayed. Then the entertainment system had issues. Then when I got to Heathrow I had to wait an hour to get a bus because the buses that came sooner were all sold out. Then when it was time to get on the bus it was delayed because of an accident. Then, about half an hour later, I got on the bus to Gatwick Airport, where I had to switch buses. I waited twenty or thirty minutes for the bus, it finally arrived, I went to the Pool Valley coach station, got a taxi with some other Sussex international students (there were representatives from Sussex there to help us) and I made it to Sussex! I was TIRED. I could barely keep my eyes open.

It's a beautiful campus. It's a lot bigger than my home campus, thank goodness. It's not too big though. It's sort of my dream campus, the one I imagined when thinking about going to college in high school.

One thing I've noticed already is that people say "Cheers" instead of "Thank you". There was something else I noticed, but I can't remember it now because I'm still really tired despite it being a day later. And I'm sore from carrying my luggage. Ow.

I'll post again soon, when my brain is fully functional. I feel half asleep right now. I hope this post is coherent. Bye for now...

8 Hours and Counting

Well, I can’t sleep. I’m leaving tomorrow…okay, technically I’m leaving today; it’s really early in the morning as I type this. I’ll probably post this later in the afternoon.

So, today’s the day! Packing was even harder than expected. I thought I’d packed less than 50 pounds, but after weighing my suitcase I realized I was over. By a lot. A lot of effort later, I’ve gotten it down to less than 50 (I’ll probably be going shopping…a lot…so I’m leaving space for future purchases).

I got my class schedule, which was pretty exciting. It’s exciting now anyway. Once school starts it’ll probably be a different story.

I’m really hyper right now. I have a hard time sitting still, like I’m about to leave in five minutes. I’m nervous I’ll forget things, or that I weighed my luggage wrong and it’ll be too heavy, or other such catastrophic events. I’m nervous about meeting people as well. My previous zen has pretty much disappeared.

I can’t even sit still to finish writing this. My mind is going at 100 miles an hour. I think I’ll end here for now. I’ll post another entry once I’ve settled into my house in Sussex. Which, by the way, will be interesting because the past two years I’ve been in regular dormitories. We’ll see how this goes.

Stay tuned folks…

And so it begins...

Since this is my first blog entry, I’m wondering where to start. Let’s see…I could go on about much effort it takes to go to another country for a year. To go from Clark University to the University of Sussex one needs a ton of paperwork for the application, then applying for the visa, then booking a plane ticket, and going over everything a million times to make sure everything is in order.

Or I could go on about how excited I am that there are only 24 days until I leave for Sussex. It’s torture watching people go back to school and knowing that I’m here for nearly another month. Every day I check the mail, hoping for some scrap of information relating to my studies. I received my housing information last week and got ridiculously excited. Now all that’s left is my class schedule, which should be coming in the next couple of weeks.

I could also go on about how nervous I am. I’m worried about this whole “culture shock” thing that people keep mentioning. Actually, I’m worried because I’m not worried. It’ll be a completely new experience, but for some reason it’s in the back of my mind. I usually adapt well to new things, so here’s hoping that stays true. My knowledge of British culture is actually more advanced than it should be. I have no idea how I know so much British slang. It must be all those Buffy episodes and Harry Potter books. Biscuit, bin, berk, prat, pillock, crisps, quid, blimey, snogging…it’s all floating around in my head.

I’m not even that worried about taking a plane by myself, even though it’ll be my first time doing so. That, plus getting to London, taking a bus to Brighton, then getting to the university campus…it’s a lot of effort, but I think I can handle it.

No, the thing that’s bothering me most is whether or not I’ll be able to fit everything I need for an entire year into two suitcases and a carry-on. Now there’s a dilemma.

I haven’t been this excited in a while. All alone in another country…it’ll certainly be an adventure. This is my year of travel, self-discovery, and of course hard work. I can hardly wait—bring on the tea and biscuits!