Going to the U.K.

I finally got my check last week and deposited it, so my bank account has a lot of money, which is awesome. The problem is I never got my debit card’s pin number, thinking I had to go to the bank to do this. This is not the case, it was never ACTIVATED so I still don’t have access to my account. Right now I have 18 dollars in my US account and £4.80 in random change here. I hope I get my pin by Friday so I don’t have to borrow money from my friends when I go to London for a show.

We’re going to Fabric to see Kid sister and some other bands, it was £15, which isn’t horrible but obviously not cheap. We’re going to a few pubs too the rest of the night so I’m going to have to stay in this week and probably next weekend too.

The weather has actually been pretty nice, I left my friends place at 4AM yesterday after a late night monopoly session and it wasn’t cold or anything. The night before was a little bit nuts though, I got home an hour earlier but it was free alcohol for Stu night, so I was pretty pissed at that point.

I finally have my first assignment due on Wednesday! The only problem is I finished it in about 5 minutes in class. I actually haven’t done much school work this weekend. Yesterday I went shopping with Emma and today I cleaned my room and watched videos.

Not much else is going on. I am learning all of the British terms, but I think I mentioned that last time. It will be interesting when I go back home if I have an accent or not, and if I can turn back into “American” mode or if I continue to say things like knackered, cuppa and mint.

I rule. Well, not really, but stuff has happened, just too much to categorize in here and go into any detail.

My first radio show went pretty well, I am going to be on at 5 PM here time (so noon EST) on Thursday. You can listen at  http://www.insanityradio.com/.  No clue what we’re playing (other than 80’s music) but I don’t really care since I’m there just to have fun.

Classes have been okay, I am hoping things pick up soon though since it has been pretty easy. Went into a meeting as the student representative and didn’t really get much done other than piss off a few of my professors.

Weather has actually been fairly decent, its usually between 10 and 15 out, which is dealable as long as I keep on walking. Walking has been something I’ve just gotten used to, and I’ve started to lose some weight, my pants now almost aren’t fitting me, its sort of nuts. I need to go shopping soon to get some new pants, but I’m a bit nervous about having to go down to 30’s, then moving up in weight in a few months.

Today during a break between classes I hung out with some new people, and it turned out to be bunch of Iranians. We didn’t talk too much about politics, but it was still neat getting into a conversation with people who I probably wouldn’t ever have met in the US.

I have gotten into tea in a big way, usually once or twice a day I get it, it is officially better than coffee in multiple ways.

Finalizing plans to get my friend Julia to come for Christmas break since I am staying here, so that should be fun. Also maybe get to test drive a caterham 7 during the break if I can continue to be cool.

I am getting tired of not having power for my external hard drive. I have gotten sick of the small amount of music I have on my notebook (and the lack of space it gives me on my drive.) I also realized I want a nice speaker system, and to get into vinyl because of its inherent awesomeness. So I need to fix that soon.

I am now not really tired and its 12:30, going off to learn more british terms from my friends.

Classes finally started! There was a bunch of confusion because we didn’t actually sign up for them until Monday, and then I really didn’t have a clue of what I wanted to take either. So far they have been okay, but I’m a bit concerned because neither class really went into much depth. At RIT everything would start immediately, and we have less than half of the class time here and we’re already a week behind. I also was a bit concerned because it seemed like there were 4 or 5 hour lectures, luckily there are only two hours, which is great. I also learned my one class isn’t at 9am, which is brilliant.

It is getting cold here considering I only have summer wear basically. I’m having some clothes sent, but I need to pick up some warmer things when I’m in London this weekend.

Not much has really been happening, been waking up, getting some reading done and then hanging out with friends at night. Unfortunately one of my friends classes have hit her pretty hard so we haven’t had much time to hang out since Sunday, and it doesn’t look like much will change for the near future.

Oh, and here are some pictures from Antwerp and Spa.

I’m really getting used to being here. To be honest, right now a lot doesn’t really seem that different from the US, just the whole “me having an accent and cars being on the wrong side” are constantly reminding me. Also the fact that about 95% of the people in the management school are asian…but that doesn’t really remind me of England at all.

I basically have run out of money too, which is really lame. I have 30 quid right now, but it needs to last me 2 weeks minimum, which will be difficult. The process to get a bank account is utterly retarded, and school isn’t helping at all. To get a bank account I need a verification letter from the school. For that I need a student ID, and I have to wait until Friday to get my student ID because the school designated that day as the time for management students to receive them. I sent in all the forms to get one early over the weekend, but they didn’t receive it so I have to wait another week to open a bank account.

This also affected my ability to get a mobile phone. I broke down and bought one yesterday so I could call people, but it is only a pay as you go, and is literally worse than my Startac from 98. I’m going to try and sign up for a monthly plan with someone else once I get a bank account and some cash.  I will probably also never call anyone while I have this crap phone, but at least I’ll have something I can use as a backup in case my other phone breaks.

Today is the first day since I moved in where I am not going to Egham/Staines to do some shopping. I am going to a pub at 8PM tonight with a bunch of people for a little gathering I organized for some international students, since the support here is sort of lacking. It’ll be fun.

One thing which is really weird for a school is that alcohol is EVERYWHERE. Every school function has it, and its all somewhat decent wine. People also tend to have wine around a lot more, which is very different from the US…or at least my experiences in the US. Having beer on campus is also obviously very different from RIT where it was just banned. The one bar I’ve been to the last two nights is also somewhat lame, they have no where near the amount of bartenders, so you’ll queue for 15 minutes before getting a beer for 2 quid.

I’m meeting a lot of people, which is pretty awesome. I was nervous coming in about not having a lot of people to talk to, or just staying in my room a lot. I’m not constantly outside meeting new people, but I have met a ton of people already. I am also having the somewhat random thing of having people come up to me going “Hi Stuart!” because of the facebook group I’m in, and me trying to figure out who they  are. I’m sure I’ll start meeting more people too once classes start and people become a little less nervous.

Walking into registration on Monday I was AMAZED at the amount of asians in my school. Which I guess means it has to be good, or something. They all seem to congregate together too, which is weird. Today during a class training session I basically ran this discussion group because everyone else was so nervous. I’m usually not an outgoing person, so it was weird for me to be that guy. It helped me learn that I am good at leading people at least, but I already knew that.

I’m now going to take a nap because I’m awesome like that.