On Sunday I woke up at around 6:30am but had experienced a really restless night due to my excitement regarding my upcoming move to Essex. This was the breaking point -- I either would love Essex and my trip would be enhanced by it, or I'd hate it and the next few months were going to suck . . . After waking Brigit and Katie up, several times, we all finally made it downstairs for breakfast at the hostel. We still had about two hours until the taxi cab came to pick us up so we decided to walk to Tower Bridge and visit London Bridge on the way. Both display amazing architecture and are humbling to walk across but there really isn't much to do beside just that . . . walk. We decided to catch the Tube back to our hostel and we arrived just in time because the taxi was waiting. We checked out of the hostel and told the cabby where we needed to go.
The ride to Colchester took an amazing hour and a half. The entire time I was fascinated by the incorrect manner in which everyone was driving. Not only was everyone on the LEFT side of the road, but they were straddling lanes, there were little to no posted speed signs, ramps were marked .2mi before the exit and "roundabouts" are about the most dangerous thing I've ever seen . . . especially for pedestrians.
The cabby generally asked questions of us and what it's like for blah blah blah in America -- but what I found funny is his initial converstaion starter . . . George Bush. YES! Just what I wanted to talk about, perhaps the most embarrasing thing you can talk about with the English! So I cracked a joke and evaded the question . . . One thing interesting about the cab driver is that he demonstrates perfectly the immense difference between America and England. In America someone is considered diverse if they or their immediate family have traveled to America from a different country, plain and simple. In England, however, diversity takes on a whole new persona. The cab driver spoke 3 or 4 different languages (my guess) and was born in Pakistan, moved to Germany where he lived his childhood, has lived in various other parts of Europe during adulthood, and has finally settled in London. WOW! And this seems to be quite typical of many people living in England, specifically, London.
When we got to the University, it resembled much of what we had just passed along the side of the road on our travels. It was full of residencies but had so many hints of deep rural roots - the designs of houses, the grassy spaces between occupied houses, horses, etc. The cab driver dropped us off at the end of a large hill and wished us luck. It was at this point that I was nostalgic for my mom, my grandma . . . I remembered my first day of college back at North Central. My mom, grandma and my aunts/cousins were all there to help me move-in, to get lunch with us, to support us. But here at the University we were alone. Thank God for Katie and Brigit because I don't know what I would have done if I were standing there by myself knowing nothing about my surroundings, how to get home, how to communicate with a familiar voice, see a familiar face. Nothing. The only thing we knew we needed to do at that point was find a certain lecture hall to collect our keys.
We found a place to stash our luggage (near a Student Union member - you've got to hear about this Student Union - It's AMAZING!) and we made the treck to the longest "queue" (line) EVER! So many new students were checking in. I started to feel a little better at this point, however, because not only was a majority of the line nervous and fresh-faced, there were several more Student Union members smiling and checking-in on all the newbies. FINALLY, after we retrieved our keys and went back to our luggage and made it to our dorm down the largest hill ever . . . I got to my flat. I got off the elevator (lift) went to open my door with what looks like a hotel swipe key AND . . . the door didn't open. My key wasn't working very well. I went all the way back downstairs, grabbed a member of staff and she fixed my key, showed me to my room, tried to open my door to the single I'd be occupying AND . . . the key didn't work. The battery was dying in my key deck . . . finally she opened the door and I saw my space. It was cold and unwelcoming so I got right to unloading my stuff. I needed to make it my own before I could get any more depressed.
After I managed to unpack all of my things, I started to feel a little better about my situation. Things were going wrong left and right but I was so in over my head with new culture and excitement that I kept my head up as much as I could trying to make the most of my experience. Up to this point, not only did I feel lost and confused but my door was broken, my power was out because my adapter blew the main fuse, I had no bedding, no pans, no dishes, no food, etc. AND, the kicker is that the 24-hour superstore at the bottom of the hill (about a 20-minute walk) was not in-fact a 24-hour superstore on Sundays. I had one hour to get there, get all of my stuff and check-out.
Tesco, the superstore, is the most chaotic place on the face of the planet. Especially on move-in day when at least 3,000 "freshers" are preparing for Fresher's Week at the University of Essex. I'm not even going to elaborate on the experience but I'm surprised I didn't have a stroke right there in the middle of the store. After pushing our way through crowds and crowds of people, us North Centralites managed to grab the basics needed for the night and a few extras. We checked out, called a taxi, managed to get our stuff to the dorm with the help of the Christian Union on campus and started preparing for our first night at the University of Essex!
The University of Essex has several stores, restaurants, bars and even a club on campus so, naturally, all the freshman who had just moved in went F*CKING CRAZY! Now, having gone through freshman year myself, and several college years thereafter, I was not completely enthused by the behavior but I was also anxious to experience "Fresher's Week" in the UK. So Katie, Brigit, Amanda and I decided to go to the Student Union Bar to check out the scene . . . yep, just as we thought, a whole bunch of 18-year olds getting drunk . . . I still can't wait until more people my own age move-in! The most fun I've had has actually been in the flats in Eddington Towers. Katie and Amanda live on Flat 3, I live on Flat 5 and Brigit lives on Flat 11 -- since two people live on Flat 3, we've all been hanging out down there and we've made a few new friends this way. It's a more relaxed way to drink and make conversation without completely flying off the handle. Don't get me wrong, the flats are still a BIG party. No joke -- people generally don't stop screaming and laughing and throwing themselves from flat to flat until 4am or so, BUT it remains, nonetheless, more relaxing than Square 3 and the Student Union venues. ONE HAS NOT EXPERIENCED PARTYING UNTIL ONE HAS LIVED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX - OMG! I've NEVER been to a school that operates like this EVER! Because the school condones and even expects this massive consumption of alcohol by it's newest class, students feel even freer to do as they wish! I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but it's definately NOT something students in the US see . . .
We'll have to see how the partying dissipates as classes start - I hope by a factor of 10 or more :)
KISSES,
Brittany
Brittany
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