Friday/Saturday morning: 10/1/09- 11/1/09
Hey guys! I made it!.... barely :( Right now I’m sitting in a temporary dorm room until the hall officially opens tomorrow afternoon. It’s been a long a day to say the least and I hope to never to go through it again. My flights were terrible, but they weren’t that great either. I got stuck sitting in the middle on my international flight, which usually isn’t so bad except our plane was just a larger version of a domestic plane. The seats were not larger nor were there any space at all.
I got off the plane in Heathrow, which landed 45 minutes early only to wait at least an hour to find out that my luggage didn’t arrive with me. So as of right now I am wearing the only clothes I have. One thin long sleeve t-shirt, a pull over sweater, and a hoodie, and gloves. Everything is packed in my suitcase. My toothbrush, my deodorant, my medications. EVERYTHING! Plus I have a sinus infection, and guess what? My antibiotics.. they’re in my luggage.. nice.
I got lost at the airport trying to find which airbus/train I needed to take to get to Reading. I had to get on a bus to another terminal which took me completely around the airport before I even got to bus/train station. I then had to purchase a ticket and I barely arrived in time to get to the bus station before the bus left. I got on the bus, arrived in Reading and of course was freezing. By then it was 3 o’clock just two hours before the sun had begun to set.
I got lost at the train station trying to figure out if the person who was supposed to meet me was there or not. And to see what bus I needed to get onto to get to campus. I didn’t figure out any of those and ended up taking a taxi who then had no clue where he was going on campus. Nice, eh? I walked around campus, which I would say is HUGE for an hour trying to find my hall. When I did, no one was there.
I tried calling study abroad office only to find out that my phone can’t dial out. I texted my mom to call me, since I couldn’t call her and just broke down. There I was sitting in another country, freezing, no luggage, knowing no one, not knowing where I was to go, and no one was there to help.My mom called JU for me to help figure out where I needed to go. I eventually figured out to dial out. Apparently you have to put a + (plus) in front of the number. Who knew? Ginny from study abroad made some phone calls and then called me to tell me where I had to go. I then get to the place I need to go, only to find out that I need to go back to where I started. The tragedy.... I got my keys for the night, my bedding for the semester and they send me back off to where I came from. Thankfully though they have like public safety of the building meet me and take me to my room. Thank God. So now I am sitting in my temporary room, here at 2 a.m. because I went to bed at 5 p.m. because I was so tired, and didn’t have warm enough clothes to go eat dinner in town. I’ll be glad when it’s warmer today so I can go and actually eat. I haven’t eaten since the meal the airline fed me at 10 a.m. on Friday morning.
So here I am at 2 a.m. can’t sleep because I’ve been sleeping for at least 8 hours but also because my room is right next to the pantry. People who are on the hall for other reasons are incredibly loud at 1 a.m. nice, huh? I’m praying right now my computer connects to some internet so I’ll have something... but not as of the moment. When I do have internet though I will definitely send this out!
Hopefully though things get better... they have to right? I mean they can’t get much worse, can they?
Saturday Night/Afternoon 11/1/09
I just want to let everyone know that I am 5 hours ahead of you! So when you're eating breakfast, I'm eating lunch. When you're eating lunch, I'm eating dinner. And when you're eating dinner, I'm in bed! I hope things are going well for you guys! I finally got my luggage around 8 p.m. tonight (3 pm EST) so that was nice! I did get lost very badly on the way home from my trip to ASDA, aka wal-mart, I missed the bus so I thought hey I'll just walk. BIG mistake! I took the wrong road got on the a part of the campus I didn't know and it was completely dark. I don't know how I got back to my dorm. Things are pretty lonely here. I'm one of the few on campus and the only one in my building. I hope it will be better. I got to skype with my family so that was nice :)
Sunday Morning 12/1/09
I was thinking about making another trip to ASDA but I really don't feel like going anywhere today. I'm so sore and I need to unpack. Thankfully I got food for today so I don't have to worry about it. If I need to get anything I can go tomorrow and drag somebody with me. (poor innocent soul!) I found out that the walk from the hall to ASDA is over 3 miles. So I walked 3 miles last night in the dark! Never again! NEVER!
I'll be glad when today is over. Everyone comes back today so they're will be people here. As of the moment I'm the only person on the hall and I do believe the building. The building is huge and I've only gotten lost a million times it seems getting to my room. I'm on the second floor but really the third. What we call the first floor they call the ground floor, and what we call the second floor they call the first floor,and what we call the third floor they call the second floor. Today I'll probably go down to park reception which is residential life and complain that my curtains don't cover the whole window. How weird is that? The bathrooms are all that bad. I am in a co-ed door, which is weird but there are bathrooms for men and women. We have 2 freestanding showers with doors, and 2 tubs with doors. So I can shower or take a tub (like that's going to happen!).
It is very different here. Everyone one walks everywhere and its not a big deal to see someone walking on the street even late at night (like me). However no one greets you on the sidewalk. That is quite disappointing! I'm so used to that. Even on public sidewalks in the States you at least try to acknoweldge the person who is passing you. Not here. They don't even look at you. I'll try to take more pics today. I don't feel like leaving campus like I did yesterday. Maybe that's a good thing? Plus I can rest and figure my way around in the daylight and just enjoy the green fields here if they're not covered in snow! Friday night it snowed but only on campus. This is the coldest winter they've had in 30 years (and I didn't have anything warm, the irony!)
Tomorrow I find out my schedule and fun stuff like that at orientation. So once I know that I'll let everyone know. My meal plan also starts tomorrow and apparently every hall has their own dining hall, which is weird. So I'll only be eating and see people in my building or in class. Odd. I really just want this week to start. Its been lonely being the only person in the building and getting lost in town with no one. Last night I thought I would never make it home. Seriously.
I'll try and keep everyone updated as much as I can! At the bottom of this e-mail are my addresses. One is for just letters and the other is for parcels. I share a mailbox with everyone in the building and there is no one in the building to receive packages so they have to mail parcels to parks reception. Things are quite odd here! I hope everything is going well with everyone! I would say stay warm but its probably warm there anyways! It's supposed to be around 46 today! But thankfully I have my jacket finally!! Whoo hooo!! :)
I love you guys! I miss you!
And hopefully I'll talk to you soon!
Address for mail: (please note that you need more than a regular stamp to mail anything):
Linda Willson
Childs Hall
Upper Redlands Road
Reading
Berkshire
RG1 5JW
England
Address for packages (not that I'm hinting lol)
Linda Willson
Childs Hall
C/O Park Group Reception
Upper Redlands Road
Reading
RG1 5JL
England
Hope to hear from you guys soon! Love you! :)
Linda
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