Week Two: Classes & Harry Potter comes to Life

January 12, 2010
Today I realized that I am not enrolled in the University of Gloucestershire, but the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft of Wizardry. I really feel that if I was J.K Rowling I could write some of the characters in the world famous Harry Potter novels because the professors and experiences that I have undergone just today are so close to Harry Potter it is frightening. My first class, Psychology with Tutor Dai Jones, well he in my book reminds me of Professor Trelawney. He is a fairly young man with lots of piercings all over his face, nose, lips and ears. He rambles on about random things very often, and since he talks fast with an English accent I can’t understand anything he says. Just like how Professor Trelawney is quirky and kind of funny and bizarre, so is this guy. He is legitimately interested in how human behavior works and likes to pace all over the room and act all frantic.
Next on the schedule is Sources and Methods of Local History, I think that this is my favorite class thus far. I am actually not getting any credit for this class, but I think it is going to be interesting. We are actually going on two field trips for this class, which is weird because it seems that both field trips will be taking up the majority of the day. I guess that the tutors expect you to miss your other classes for these field trips? That’s weird to me, but it’s an English thing I guess. Okay so this tutor’s name is Iain Robertson and he is Professor Flitwick from Harry Potter. He is a shorter, stout man who likes to jump around class and talks very fast. I can’t figure out if he has a British accent or a Scottish accent. It sounds different to me, and he says things such as “me thinks this, Iain thinks that.” It is quite hysterical to watch and listen to him. He is very energetic and kind of a mess with class, but it is fun, so yeah, that’s Professor Flitwick.
Okay so last but most certainly not least of my classes for this day was Aquatic Living. It took me over 20 minutes just to find this stinking class! I got so lost, and I probably still won’t be able to find it next week. I arrived to class about 5 minutes late, so all the good seats in the back of the class were already taken up, so I had to sit in the front. The classroom was very long and dark, and had water running the entire time with lots of other chemical sounds going about. The professor ( I honestly don’t even know his name) asked me who I was after I interrupted his class right from the beginning. I kindly told him that I was from the U.S. and a BCA student. He just looked at me and wrote my name down, I guess I wasn’t on his roster or something. So about a minute later came in another girl who sat next to me “Molly” here name was. I don’t think it really was Molly, but I am not sure how to pronounce it or spell it. The class was dark the entire time, almost to the point where you could fall asleep. During the middle of the lecture I decided that this guy was Professor Snape. He walked slowly about the room, spoke very quietly and articulated all the words, saying things like “canals and drainage” very often. He wasn’t as scary as Snape but he was definitely intimidating and at the end of class when he asked if there was any questions he said “For all you who are too shy to ask questions to my face, (then he took a long pause) just email me I guess.” The first thought that went through my mind was “I will Google any questions I have before emailing him.” After class I talked to “Molly” for a while and learned all about her, she seemed to be just as confused and worried as I was. After that class I was done thankfully, and I just can’t help but wonder what other Hogwarts characters will come into my day!
Of course, something else crazy and extreme had to happen this day, after my scary incident with Professor Snape. I needed to get some gluten free food for the week. I have heard that a store called Sainsbury’s is a good place to go, so Greg and I caught the 4:07 H bus to Sainsbury’s which was only about 2 miles away. Well, since the streets in England are small and you can park on both sides of the road, fitting a city bus through everything is more than just a tight squeeze. Greg and I eyes were widened the entire ride, as we were literally weaving in and out of cars, and making turns behind huge bushes not knowing if there were cars on the other side. Also, we came to the conclusion that it is a game for bus drivers to scare pedestrians (because in this country the pedestrians don’t have the right away). It seemed that every time a pedestrian was crossing the bus would hit the floor and speed right towards them, making that pedestrian hustle a bit more. This bus was most definitely the Harry Potter Knight Bus. I honestly felt as if it was squeezing into spaces that it shouldn’t have fit naturally. I was so glad that I am not a person with a weak stomach because if so, that bus would have been in trouble. Once we finally made it to Sainsbury’s (the last stop), we felt like we were still moving because it was “a bumpy ride”. Going back on the bus wasn’t much better after we got our groceries. Since it was now dark out, we had no idea where we were. All we saw was flashing of lights, and tightening of corners. One incident in particular, we just sat and waited at a stop for people to come on with the door opened, and we sat there for about 5 minutes and no one came on. Now I know that it is probably the bus driver’s job to wait a certain amount of time, but I did think “what if someone in an invisibility cloak is coming on?” It was creepy how alike Harry Potter the day was. I completely understand how J.K. Rowling thought of the Knight Bus, because I feel that after riding the H bus today I could have written that scene in the Harry Potter book. Okay, I am done being a nerd and comparing everything to Harry Potter. Today was magical.

January 15, 2010
Well first off I have to continue telling you all about my Professors and how they all resemble Harry Potter Characters. On Wednesday I had Ecology class and there were many BCA students, but the tutor was a younger fellow who seemed very opinionated and excited about Ecology. I feel that his class is going to be a favorite. But so he was tall, kind of young, and kind of nerdy (which isn’t a bad thing) so he reminded me most of Professor Lupin (from Harry Potter). On Wednesday I only had the Ecology class, and then I went to the Fitness First ( I joined the nearby gym, which was kind of expensive but it is really nice, and since I’m paying a decent amount for it I mine as well go as often as I can). Okay so Wednesday night we went to the Boogie Lounge, which was a lot of fun! We went out with our flatmates, and it was a good bonding experience with them and we all danced and had a real good time. I had class the next morning, which was my last class of the week, at 9:15 am and it is Islam, so I am expecting to really love it, because I think it is so interesting, and it reminds me of Faces of God (shout out to CARP!) So on Thursday I braved the cold, windy, and rainy (wake up call to England weather) and sat down with a bunch of other BCA ladies. The Professor walked in and the first thing that I thought of was Paul McCartney, just an older, grayer, chubbier version. But this professor was a bit spazzy, but again a character. The class was really interesting and I am very excited about the class.
Oh yes, this is exciting, almost every class that I have is going on a field trip at some point in the semester. I will be seeing Country Archives (exciting right?!), a river of some sort, a mountain I think (which this isn’t sarcasm, sounds really cool), and an Islamic Church (again, no sarcasm, COOL!) So that’s awesome, all these FREE field trips! So this week was relieving because I finished my first week of classes successfully, and didn’t get too lost. Oh but on Wednesday when Greg and I were walking back to Regency (our flat) a bunch of punks threw a snowball purposefully at me! I was very angered by this because we were the only ones walking and they weren’t too far behind us, and they just blatantly threw a snowball at me and hit me in the back of my legs. I turned around, and tried to give the punks an evil look (but I doubt it was too evil) and then one shouted out “Hey, it was a good shot wasn’t it?”, oh brother I was mad! Lol.
So yeah, that is what I have been up to lately, nothing too exciting just characterizing tutors as Harry Potter characters and being a target for punk, snot-nosed kids to throw balls of snow at! Oh but hey get this! I am developing a weird fetish with cleaning the kitchen! I am not too keen on the whole cooking, but I really enjoy cleaning the kitchen, which works out well because none of the other flat mates clean any of their own dishes. So every night after I eat dinner, I do all the dishes from that day. It is actually quite a project because there is a lot to clean, and since it is all hand washing and drying it is strenuous. And yeah, yesterday I felt like a Cenozoic Era house wife or something because I spent about an hour cleaning the kitchen, and then I spent like nearly 2 hours doing about 4 loads of wash by hand. So now my room looks like a water park because I had to hang everything up in random spots to dry things, and there were puddles all over the place. So that’s all for now! Steph, Greg, Bethany (from Maryland) and I planned a trip to LONDON for next weekend to see all the tourist attractions!! We will be getting an early start of 5:45 am and taking a bus to Victoria’s Station (I think, ahah) but yeah, I’m really pumped about that! But since we are money savers, we are going to go to Gloucester tomorrow and just walk around and see if we can find anything cool. I’m sure something neat will come about! Okay peace out everyone, and please remember to keep yourself updated with the Haiti situation, if you can donate money to UNICEF or the Red Cross, do something! <3


Here is a video of Francis Close Hall, my main campus

WEEK ONE: SURVIVAL

Okay,
So one week ago I was just driving to the airport right now, how crazy is that?! I feel like I have been living here in Cheltenham for over a week. This past week as full of orientation, being cold, experiencing some pub life, and being even colder. Oh and learning how to cook. One of the biggest challenges for me personally is cooking. This past week I lived off rice cakes, peanut butter, and rice pasta, but I had many troubles throughout making the simplest things. I made enough rice to feed a country, I had an empty stove running, I burned pitas, and I ate celery with every meal basically. So besides the eating challenges, the most exciting part of this past week was the BCA trip to Bath.
Bath, England we visited, and although it was freezing cold, and really windy, it was a fun time. The place itself was filled with the most beautiful architecture, and what was most interesting was the variety of people that were there. Of course you had the tourists like me with their camera all out and taking way too many pictures and acting all confused, but then you had the families who live there or nearby and who were taking their kids to see it or to sled at a nearby hill. Not only was Bath home to the historic site of the Roman Baths but it had lots of shops, street performers, and bridges. The bridge was probably one of my most favorite parts of the day. The bridge was massive and so powerful looking, it was awesome. Also, nearby the bridge was a group of homeless men with their dogs, and when we were looking at the bridge, I got the bright idea to scare a bunch of pigeons, well after I scared them away, one came back to get me and landed on my shoulder, so i naturally yelled and ran away while the rest of the pigeons came after me, and the homeless men laughed at me. Stupid American. ha. The day was good, cold but good, lots of fun with lots of pictures. This was on Saturday so it was our last day of orientation with Denise and Sandy (who are simply wonderful people).
On Saturday night and Sunday the rest of our faltmates came and they all seem like lovely people. Danica, Joe, Lexy, Sam, Cat, and Andy are among our flatmates, and all "freshers" aka. freshman at the University. But the silly thing is, they are all 20 years old, because here in England after high school everyone goes to college for two years, and then after that they go to University for three years, so it is a year more than the typical College education system in America. I haven't gotten the chance to spend much time with them, but they all seem really cool and nice so I'm excited to get to know them all a bit better.
Today classes started. It was a bit overwhelming and I was confused about where I was, which is a feeling that I feel most of the time anymore. But after spending about an hour in my psychology class with about 40 other English students and listen to the tutor lecture I was ready to leave. My schedule is pretty good I think, I have five classes Monday through Friday, and only on Tuesdays am I in class from morning til night. The tutor I had today spoke really fast so it was kind of difficult to understand him, but I am hoping that I'll get used to the accent and start being able to understand better.
All in all England is great! The people are all very nice and understanding and they all have helped me with my questions. I am very happy that school and classes are starting because I was getting a bit bored, espacially being stuck inside all day. But no worries, we got a BCA schedule of places and trips that we will be going on throughout the semester, which is fun and free! Oh and signed up for a gym today, by far my biggest purchase since I have been here, 100 pounds for two months of membership, it was so pricey but the other gym is on a campus that takes 40 minutes to get to, so it was worth it to join this gym which is in walking distance!

Here are some videos for you to check out
BATH


RUGBY FIELD

Welcome to 5303 Regency

Days One and Two: Cold, Skadoosh, and Pink Hair

Hello all you Yankeedoodles out there!
I have survived my first days across the pond, and although it took me quite some time, thanks to about 2 inches of snow to get here, I am very happy and very excited to be here finally!
So things started off a bit rocky with some luggage problems (because apparently a field hockey stick is considered a weapon and costs $140 to have checked according to British Airways) but, after a seven and a half hour flight from Washington D.C. to Heithrow, London we landed safe and sound. Not much excitement happened while I was on the plane, which is a good thing, I met some other BCA students from Messiah (boo, jk), had a very cool and interesting English family sit next to me which was very entertaining, the best part about that family was the one boy who exclaimed when we landed and said "Alright, let's skadoosh on out of here!"
SO after the plane ride, we all met up with the director's Denise and Sandy, who are just simply adorable, and we got on a coach (aka. bus) and we started driving on what was suppose to be a 2 hour ride to Cheltenham (where the school is), but it started snowing and since England never gets snow they don't have plows. I am not kidding, like no plows, the best thing they had was a John Deere tracker. So since there was about 2 inches of snow on the ground, and it was freezing right away, all the cars were slipping, and the bus was rocking. It took us about 6 hours or so to get to Cheltenham. The bus ride was definitely the worst part about the experience thus far, but even still, it was an adventure.
When we finally got to Regency (the dorm) that's when things started to get exciting, it was around 7pm, granted we left the airport around 12:30pm. I live on the 5th floor, the highest in the building right next to Greg and across the hall from Steph, and we have 5 other English flatmates. The rooms are small, and the bathrooms are even smaller, but they are homey. The rooms were freezing and I honestly thought, but right now it seems that everything is freezing, outside is cold, inside is sometimes colder, I guess I'll just have to get used to it. The first night was over for me fairly early because I was up for almost 24 hours and very very tired.
Day Two: Day two was suppose to be exciting and filled with lots of group activities and tours, but since the weather was still really icy, the University of Gloucestershire was closed. So we had some breakfast, then went on a tour of the towne. The towne seems very lively and active, it definitely isn't a city, but it most definitely isn't a country area (like E-town). There are lots of stores with lots of clothes for both men and women. Most of the clothes involve neon colors, glitter, sequins, or crazy patterns. Many people here, young and old have dyed their hair pink, I honestly don't see the attraction but it is quite popular so if I come back in May with a new hair style you all know why! :) Everyone says that things are really cheap but that is just because when you see a scarf for 5 pounds you get excited because you think it is $5, but it is really like almost $8. But I did get some essentials which was good. Later in the evening we had a group dinner at a restaurant called Zizzi's, it was an Italian Restaurant that was located in an old church. It was really really pretty (not very gluten free friendly) but that's okay. I was adventurous and had Cinnamon ice cream for dessert which was delicious! After dinner we went to a pub/restaurant/night club, and just sat around and chatted. Day two was kind of chaotic but a lot of fun, and it was really nice to explore and to get to know the other BCA students a bit more! Jet lag is still haunting me though so I am looking forward to some sleep, and being warm! But thanks to all who read, and peace out!


p.s. ALLYSON I HOPE YOU LANDED IN HOUSTON SAFELY! I was thinking about you all day, and good luck! :)

p.s.s. the picture above is a like Chinese of Thai restaurant named Kelly's which makes no sense because last time I checked my name has nothing to do with Chinese or anything Asian! lol