New places, new faces, new experiences....

My first few days in Manchester were actually quite eventful. The Study Abroad Unit had plenty of activities planned for the international students, leading up to the international orientation on Monday and Tuesday! The first event was a meet and greet at the student union. Before the meet and greet, Sarah and I ventured down into the city center to get phones and hair dryers. The city center is a really cool part of the city and has tons of shops and different areas. Any ways, we founded hair dryers and then we found a sore that would change the rest of our American money into British pounds because we were pretty much out of money after shopping for groceries and bedding. Apparently on Sunday, all the stores in England close early at 5pm, so we had to hurry over to the phone store before they closed. We were the last people they let in the store and then they locked the doors behind us. We ended up getting matching old school phones ( and yes we have already accidentally taken each others phone home). The phone deal is pretty good though. I top-up 10 pounds and 7.50 of that goes to unlimited texting. The rest of it can be used for phone calls.

Chicken Tikka Marsala and Garlic Naan!

After we got our phones we took the bus back to our rooms and made plans to meet up later to go to the student union. At, the meet and greet we ended up creating our group of friends. I found the 2 other people from my University at the meet and greet (I didn't know them before our pre-departure orientation). We went around and met  bunch of people. Originally it had seemed that there was supposed to be food at this event, but there wasn't so we got a big group of like 20 people together to go eat on the curry mile. We went to an Indian restaurant and they put like 5 tables together for us. There were so many people there from different countries and states. It was amazing! Also, the food was so good! It was my first time eating Indian food (and now I can't get enough of it )! Word to the wise- in England they don't split checks up, so it literally took us like 30 minuted to get the bill payed.

The group! (I'm all the way at the end)

Chinatown

After we left the restaurant, many of us were not ready to go back to our rooms, so we knew that it was the Chinese new year and decided to go to Chinatown and see if anything was going on. There weren't any events going on, but they were putting up the lights and decorations for next weekend. So, we walked around and found this little bar. It had a really cool vibe and they were playing retro (like from the 1960s-1980's) American music. So we all went in and hung out while we got to know each other better. I had a delicious cider made of berries from Sweden (the British are really into their hard ciders and beer).

Me, Miguel (from Mexico), Irene (from Canada), and Sharon (from Hong Kong)

The next day we all met up to go the first day of orientation. Orientation went from 9-2pm. It was pretty boring and pretty much all common sense stuff. After orientation, I went out to lunch with my new group of friends. We tried a restaurant close to the University called Krobar. It is a mix of Danish and British food. A lot of the guys got a traditional British breakfast, which consists of beans, grilled tomatoes, roasted mushrooms, toast, potatoes, eggs, sausage, and bacon (the breakfast of champions...hahaha). I had a danish chicken club and chips (french fries here). After lunch, we split off, some people went to look into gym memberships and others were going to the city center. I went with Irene, Danka, and Chris to the city center, so I could show them the phone store. We had to wait on Chris to go back to his room and get his blackberry, so Danka, Irene, and I went to explore this beautiful Catholic Church right across from the student union. It is literally the most beautiful church I have ever been inside. While we were there, we found a pamphlet telling us how to go to confession and we saw the priest take his dog outside to play fetch. 
                                                           

After we went to the city center, we all (the whole group) made plans to meet up to go to the word quiz at a pub called Jabez Clegg. The World quiz was a lot of fun and our group definitely had the most fun and killed the music section :) After the quiz we all walked down to the curry mile and got dessert. The dessert shop was rather funny looking because it had bright barbie pink walls and booths. The ice cream was tasty though! After we finished our dessert most of us headed back to Owens Park and we went and hung out in Squirrels (the student bar). The next day we had our last and most important day of orientation. We got all the info on our classes We also got free soup :) Later that night there was supposed to be an international orientation party, but apparently a lot of people didn't go. I was planning on going, but I missed it because I was getting my internet fixed so I could use it during the normal hours of the day and not just between 1am-4am! 


Wednesday night we all made spontaneous plans to go visit Liverpool on Thursday...but thats another story for another post! 


-Cheers 

“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” – Freya Stark       

Finally in Manchester

Hey everyone!

So I realize a lot of people of been waiting on me to blog about my experiences in Manchester so far. Sorry it has been so long, I have been busy exploring the city and we started classes this week. But, I am going to start at the beginning and tell you everything! (Mostly because I want to remember every little detail years from now) Here it goes:

I left Nashville on Thursday and flew to NYC. Then I flew from NYC to Manchester. Everything went smoothly except my flight was delayed in NYC for a little over an hour. Apparently there were really strong tailwinds and we would arrive in Manchester way before we were supposed to, which in turn would make the British air authority very angry. On the plane I sat by a very nice couple from Wales. It was pretty difficult to sleep, but pretty much every time I woke they were bringing us more food. I landed in Manchester at the original time, even though my flight had been delayed. I then made my way through customs. It was pretty easy. I met two girls there who were going to study abroad in Keele. My friend Loren is studying there right now.

I took a black cab from the airport to my accommodation. The cab driver was really nice and told me I had to go see a proper football match. He also asked me how it felt "to be driving on the right side of the road, because the rest of the word has it wrong." In case you are wondering it isn't that strange, but it does take some getting used to, esp when you are walking. If you don't look left you will get ran over. I made my way to my accommodation and checked in. Then a guy from reception escorted me to my flat. I had to carry my luggage up 3 flights of stairs because there isn't an elevator. My room is a strange green color...which appears to be a theme because the curtains, carpet, and doors are all green. It is really different to live in accommodation in England compared with the UT because they allow alcohol in the residence halls here and even have a student bar in Owens Park, which is the collection of residence halls that I live in.

My room was covered in sticky notes from my flat mates, which was really nice. They were all taking exams, so I really didn't get to hang out with them at first. They are all really nice, but it definitely strange to be living with first years again. I couldn't get my internet to work on the first day, which was really difficult because I didn't have a phone or any friends. The first day here was probably the loneliest I have ever been. But, I never regretted my decision to come. I was actually really excited to get out and experience new things and make new friends. So, I headed to the nearest grocery store to buy towels and bedding because I literally had nothing! The bedding completely confused me because they don't have comforters here like we have in the states. Instead they have duvets. I had no clue what to do with a duvet, so I literally stood there staring at them for like 30 minutes. Also because they don't have flat sheets only fitted sheets. Any way, I bought my duvet and carried all of my things back to my room in the pouring rain! (it really rains here a lot)

The next day I decided to go on an area and campus tour, even though it was raining. Here I met Sarah, another exchange student (and the only American in the group). Ironically she was from TN to, but she goes to school in Southern California. The buildings on campus are so beautiful here. Also fun fact, the first atom was split in a room on our campus. After the campus tour, Sarah and I went to the store so she could buy bedding and I could buy groceries. Later that night we went out for the first time with my flatmates. We went to a club called Factory. Which was pretty fun! The stamped our hand with the facebook like symbol which was pretty funny! Also the bouncers at the club have no idea where to look on a TN license for my birth date, so it takes them forever.

My first couple of days in Manchester have been great! I am going to break the rest of the past two weeks up into more blogs because so much has happened that I want to share with you!

-Cheers (they literally say this after every conversation, it pretty much means thanks and goodbye)

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Tomorrow....

...is the big day! I have finally finished packing for my 6 months abroad, which is a big relief! Surprisingly is was a bit easier than I thought it was going to be. (I might have taken over my sister's bed while I was packing... ). I am taking two large (ginormous) suitcases and one carry-on.

I fly out of Nashville tomorrow to New York City and then from New York City I fly straight to Manchester on a night flight. Hopefully I will be able to sleep....but I probably won't be able to because I will be so excited. I land in Manchester at 8:15 in the morning on Friday! Then I get to check into my flat; I will be sharing a flat with 7 other people (for a total of 4 guys and 4 girls), but we will each have our own room within our flat and there will be 2 bathrooms. Orientation officially starts on Jan. 23rd, but they have some activities planned for us throughout the weekend. Hopefully this will allow me to make some friends and find my way around the city!
On the radio today there was a story about a British Airways flight. The crew apparently accidentally told the passengers that they were going to be crash landing....but there wasn't an emergency and they landed perfectly fine. So, I am definitely glad that I am not flying British airways and hopefully my flight will not be that eventful.
It hasn't really hit me yet that by this time tomorrow I will be on a plane headed for England, but I am sure it will probably really hit me after I am on the plane. Then next post will come when I am in Manchester! Until then, have a great weekend!

~ "Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends."- Maya Angelou

A Little Over a Month...

Hey Guys!


So I decided to start a blog about the study abroad that I will be doing next semester, this way I can keep all of my friends and family in the loop. For the Spring 2012 semester I will be living in Manchester, England while I attend the University of Manchester. Manchester is located in the Northern part of England. It is a little over 3 hours from London by rail. Manchester is the second largest city in England (London is the largest).


I really can't believe that everything came together in order for me to spend an entire semester exploring England! I am so excited to learn more about British culture and lifestyle. The university system in the UK has a very different set up from that in the United States. I will only be taking 3 classes while I am there, but they will count as 15 credit hours here in the U.S. Also at the University of Manchester, they have a 3 week Easter break compared to the 1 week spring break we have here in the States. So, hopefully I will spend my 3 week break exploring mainland Europe. There are so many different place I want to see while I am there; I don't know how I will choose!

While I am really excited about going abroad, it has been sad to say goodbye to all of my friends here in Knoxville. Tomorrow, I am heading home to spend chrsitmas break with my family. I only have a little over a month left in the U.S. becaue on Januray 19th I begin my European journey!

Check back for more updates on my journey and feel free to leave comments :)

~ “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine