Class and Neighbors

This is Uni Gloucestershire Oxtalls Campus. I don't actually have any classes at this campus, but we took the bus around so I figured I'd take a picture of it while we waited for the bus.


Class was a lot less intimidating than what I was expecting. I was really expecting to be completely overwhelmed, but it really wasn't bad at all. Our newest housemate is actually in my class, so it was really comforting to see her there. I met a girl whose Dad is American and she lived in Colorado when she was in fourth and fifth grade. Her name was Anna and she was fairly nice. The class started out by talking about feminism, which I had a decent grasp on from my SOC classes and our Gender Cafe discussion about "The F Word" both from last semester. I think it should be a good class. It's strange because my classes only meet one day a week for two hours, and I only have four classes. I have a class a day starting Monday, so I have Fridays off! I also only have afternoon classes, so that's a Godsend for me.

After class the first three girls of the house and I went to campus to catch the Unibus and we rode it to the different campuses and then back into town. It was nice to kind of get our bearings on the bus, and this nice girl, Laura, was extremely helpful in explaining how the whole thing worked.


Kylleen, Erin and Josie waiting for the bus.

We picked up a few things at the grocery store before we came home, and on our way in we noticed that our neighbors were home. We dropped our stuff off at the house and introduced ourselves before we had dinner. There are four or five guys living next door, and they all go to the University at the Pittville campus I believe. They are all extremely nice, and they insisted on taking us out to the SU (Student Union, the campus bars) so we went with them after we had dinner. They walked us out there, and Josie and I came back with one of them and a friend of his instead of going on to a bar off campus. I figured I had enough to drink, and I would have plenty of time to check out the local bars on days when I didn't have class the next day.

One of the guys from next door, Luke, bought us a drink when we got there, and we all got "Kermit"s. :) It was green and really good but wasn't too strong. Jack was the housemate that walked Josie and I home, and he talked to me for the most part on the way back. He seems like a really nice guy, and really the whole house has been extremely nice and pretty cool to us. I won't have any classes with them, but I'm hoping to meet more people as the semester progresses in my classes and such. So far we haven't really met anyone from here that has been mean or that we haven't liked, so that's been really great! I miss you all but am feeling better about getting settled into a routine around here.

A Day of Rest

I am not made for non-stop action. It's good to keep me busy to a certain point, but if there's too much going on my body just shuts down. That's what I got to recover from today. Luckily I know when my body is reaching it's stopping point, so I was able to slow down and not completely shut down.

One of the girls in the house has a brother that lives in Fort Wayne. She was talking to him on her webcam today, and he showed me the work that's happening at Frieman Square from a window out of the the Downtown library. That's when I almost cried. I've been pretty homesick today. Sundays are my favorite days whether it be at home or at the Chet, and not really knowing what to do has definitely made me miss the regularity of Sundays back home. I'm still doing really well, and our final housemate moved in today and seems really nice. For now I'm going to get ready for bed so that I can be up and functioning tomorrow for my first class.

My housemate Kylleen (the one with the brother in Fort Wayne) and me at the Indian Restaurant last night.

Settling down

Josie and me at the BCA dinner

We have been incredibly busy since we got here on Wednesday. I seriously can't believe that I've been in Europe since Christmas Eve and it's already the January 6 over here. We have been going over tons of stuff for BCA (Brethren Colleges Abroad, which is mostly kids from Messiah College, oddly enough not a Brethren College), and we walk almost everywhere. We've taken the bus twice and a coach twice. There is a difference there to the British, because the bus is local trips while the coach takes long distance trips like the trip we took to Bath today and the ride from the airport. I am fairly exhausted from all of this running around business. I decided to stay in tonight to get some rest, and I'm thinking we will all be sleeping in at the house tomorrow morning. Luckily we have all day Sunday to do what we want. I'll try to give a better update sometime tomorrow when I'm not feeling so drained.

Bath

We're going to Bath tomorrow. It's the ruins of the ancient Roman Baths that people used to vacation to for social and medical reasons. I'll know more about it when we get back, and I should have pictures and such as well. I promise a better update then. Today was boring academic things, but I am getting to know more of the group now.


Josie and Me at the Roman Baths

Housemates and Such

These are two of my amazing housemates.

Kylleen is on the left and Erin is on the right. I love them both already. They're sophomores at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, and they're both just so much fun. The four of us that are living in the house right now get along extremely well, so I'm hoping that our fifth housemate will like us. Today we went on a walk through town, and it doesn't seem like it's too extremely huge. All of my classes are on the campus within walking distance from our house, and the town centre isn't very far from the house either. I found the statue of the minotaur and the hare, so I'll be taking a picture by that sometime before too long. Classes start Monday and we're doing academic advising tomorrow, so I'm hoping that I can drop at least one of my six scheduled classes. I'm so relieved to know that all I have to do is pass my classes. My friend and housemate Josie goes to La Verne, a CoB college in California, and her letter grades are transferring, but I don't think I would really like dealing with that much stress, especially since I'm adjusting to living such a different life than the one I'm used to in the States. Well, I think that is all for the night. We found free wireless in our house, so I'll update more often now that it's functioning.

I'M IN ENGLAND FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

I made it safely to the airport and even beat the group from DC to the meeting point.I am living in a house with a friend of mine from the University of La Verne in California and two girls from Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. The girls that I didn't know are both very nice, and another BCA student will be joining us once classes start. I am living upstairs next door to Josie (my friend from La Verne), and my room is nice and quaint. I will be uplaoding pictures, but our house isn't getting internet until next Tuesday so it will be a while. Once we get internet in the house I will use Skype as much as I can, and of course I will be on MSN, AIM and I'll use my blog as well. I am pretty much settled in my room, but I do have a few things left to put in their place. I hope you are all having a very glorious day!

Looking in at the left side of my room.


And the right side.


My mailing address:
Kacie Gauby
9 St. Pauls Road
Cheltenham
Glos
GL50 4EP
UK

A New Year

The party last night was much like a party I might experience at Manchester...minus the numerous things that would occur at MC maybe never.

The differences are as follows:
I vaguely knew about ten of the 40 plus people that were there.
People were smoking in the kitchen. (This one is the only one that I could see happening at all.)
We melted medal trinkets over a candle and dropped the liquid in cold water to tell our fortunes.
The host had glasses out the wazoo that people kept dropping and breaking.
A guy I didn't know (and Fran didn't know) gave me his phone number via his business card.
There were fireworks. For the new year. For 30 minutes.
A European made me dance with him.
We took the train home and Mama and Papa picked us up at the train station.

I also experienced the most dense fog I have ever seen, and I'm extremely glad that I didn't have to drive in it. My coat came in quite handy as we waited outside in the cold at four in the morning for the train to arrive. We didn't get home until after 5:00am, and I was soon asleep after my head hit the pillow. I hope the New Year was good for all of you back in the States. I miss you all!


Not the best picture of Fran, but it's the only one on my camera from the evening. I'm hoping to get Fran's pictures on my computer before I leave.