Back on Track (written today)

YAY! We finally have internet – our lives have been restored! This past week has been a combination of fun and frustration. I think four out of five days we made trips to the city centre either for shopping or to set up bank accounts, internet and cell phones (which we’ve yet to purchase, since you need a debit card first, which is on its way in the mail). We’ve also been to campus three times (it’s more like a 15 minute walk than 10 – so at least I’ll get my 30 minutes of daily cardio in!) and it’s quite beautiful. Old buildings covered in vines and rows of white roses along the pathway – OH – and the craziest thing: the LIFTS!!! Zainah and I have most of our classes in the “Attenborough Tower” (yes, it’s named after Sir Richard Attenborough and yes, it’s an actual tower, but the windows are being replaced so it looks really odd from the outside – sort of like something from Hellraiser)…so to get to the different floors, they have these crazy lifts that don’t stop moving! We had no idea how to get on and off so we asked someone and they told us you just hop on. So with great hesitation, we jumped on the lift…there’s a great video of our experience I’ll do my best to upload later. The first night we walked to campus mom came with us and we went to the library to try and use their computers (without any luck). But a security guard was very helpful and informative – he gave us maps and all kinds of pamphlets. Before we left mom asked him if the park we walk through is safe at night, to which he replied “Well, we do get a lot of boogies around here…” (sidenote: don’t freak out, the pathway we walk along is lined with 24 hour, 360 degree security cameras and there’s a shuttle that comes every hour on campus to take you wherever you need to go at night). But the funniest part was that after he said that I asked “So what do you mean, boogies…like ghosts?” and mom goes “No Div, he’s saying Bullies not Boogies!!!”…we all had a big laugh about that…but even Zainah heard him say ‘boogies’! I think it had something to do with what we were reading earlier that day about how Leicester is the most haunted city in the UK – apparently they run lots of ghost tours at Halloween time (it’s on our to-do list).

What else has been going on? Well we drink lots of tea every day – it was sort of an automatic thing because the weather just makes you feel for tea all the time, it really makes a lot of sense. It doesn’t rain here as often as people make it seem – we’ve had some generally mild days so far with scattered showers in between, but nothing that lasts all day (sigh* I sound like a meteorologist). Everyone in our neighbourhood is extremely friendly (and extremely South Asian – another reason for the quiet vibe, some stores are even shut down for the entire month of Ramadan); mom keeps introducing us to all the store owners and telling them to watch out for us and they’re very glad to do so…so it’s a nice feeling to know people have taken us under their wings J…The shopping is really great too – but all the stores are kind of expensive when you convert the prices. Except for one…PRIMARK!!! It’s better than H&M (believe it). In three floors you can get everything from trendy tops for 8 £ to towels for 1.50 £. It’s our favourite store – but you have to be careful since everyone shops there not to buy very popular, common stuff (thanks David for the advice).

Tomorrow there’s an Open Day on campus…so it’s supposed to have more people touring and gathering information – I think we’re really looking forward to making friends and developing our social life…kind of getting a little boring now that nearly everything is in order. Don’t get me wrong, Z and I are getting along just fine! I think we’ll make great flatmates – she likes to clean and I like to cook...and every day we become a little closer (awww)...but really, I'm looking forward to all the fun we're going to have this year!

Stay tuned for more updates...