Prepping for break

It rather snuck up on me... but Friday I leave for my month of winter break adventuring. I have so many things to do in the next 24 hours, yuck. I'm not going to detail out all the dates, but here's the list of places I'll be over break:

Copenhagen
Amsterdam
Bruges
Paris
Nottingham
London
Milan
Venice
Florence
Pisa

The first three cities are with a friend, the next three (over Christmas and New Year's) are with my mom, and the Italian cities are on my own, although friends will be in Venice at the same time as me

I'll have internet access now and then, but for the most part I'll be off who knows where. I'll probably post some updates when I need a break from running around.

So yeah... otherwise, I'll be back in the US on January 18th, and back at WM on January 20th. Crazy.

The other, slightly less important parts of my time in London

-- pictures --

I was in London from the third to the sixth... a busy couple days. I got there in the early afternoon Wednesday, and had to waste a few hours before Eddie Izzard time. I walked through Leicester Square... happened across the UK premiere of the film Twilight. I climbed up a bit to see what was going on, and saw from afar the two lead actors and the author of the books. I'm not a huge fan, but it was kinda neat for a distraction. I then had some delicious sushi... the first I've had in months. Yum. The rest of my evening was all concerned with Eddie Izzard, as I wrote before

Thursday I planned on attempting to get Hamlet tickets -- with David Tennant as Hamlet, and Patrick Stewart as Claudius. Like my Love's Labours Lost tickets in Stratford, these have been sold out for months and months. I showed up early at the theatre, and waited for the box office to open (hoping for the best). One of the girls in front of me in the queue happened to work for the editor of the RSC Complete Works, so she had some neat inside stories (like how apparently Patrick Stewart isn't the kindest of people). I did manage to get a ticket... but in the altitude-sickness-inducing grand circle. I could see the whole stage, and the performance was excellent, but I wish I could have been closer. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll have another chance... a slight letdown. Before the play, I spent the rest of the day wandering around the British museum and Soho

Friday I was kinda all over the place. I went to the Globe theatre (not super exciting), walked around the Eye (there were street performers and a Christmas market), and went to both Tate museums. The Tate Britain had some sort of late-night weirdness going on, with odd performances and stuff. I was feeling a bit lazy, so I went to the movies and saw Burn After Reading, which I thoroughly enjoyed. After that was part two of the Eddie Izzard experience... then to bed.

Saturday, I killed a bit of time in the National Gallery, and headed back to Nottingham.

Lots of famous people in a couple days. I was actually just a couple feet from Patrick Stewart after Hamlet, and could have gotten his autograph/picture if I had been paying attention. Plus, since then, I have realized that I got extremely lucky -- a couple days ago, David Tennant injured his back (he's got to have some surgery now, the poor guy) and won't be back in the theatre until at least after Christmas. During Hamlet, he jumps all over the stage... there's no way he could continue with back problems. The role of Hamlet has been taken over by Edward Bennett, who normally plays Laertes. It looks like I was lucky to see David Tennant as Hamlet at all... hopefully he'll be feeling better before the run finishes in early January.

Eddie Izzard

So, in short, I met Eddie Izzard in London.

Less briefly... I found out a few weeks ago that a) he was doing standup, b) he was doing it in London, and c) there were still tickets available for December 3rd. Over the past few years, I've said multiple times: if the opportunity ever arose to see him perform standup live, I would take it, regardless of cost and inconvenience and whatever else. And so I did.

His latest routine, Stripped, was pretty excellent. I'm of the opinion that his more recent works, Circle and Sexie, were weaker than the earlier ones... but this was fantastic. I'll admit, it started off a little slow, and I was worried, but the second half picked up considerably. Of course, since he's pretty much my hero, I would have been content with him reading the phone book for two hours.

People who have seen his routines know about the broad range of subjects he manages to cover... I'll just list a few highlights: giant squid diaries, Noah's ark, the development of human language, scrabble, dyslexia, the stone age, GPS, farm animals, Hamlet, the ten commandments, the burning bush, intelligent design, Sarah Palin, creme brulee, James Mason (very briefly), badgers, wikipedia... and so on

After the show, I thought I'd make an attempt at finding the stage door. I had to make two loops around the block, because it wasn't labeled, but the second time I found about ten people who were waiting outside a nondescript door. If you don't know what I'm talking about -- sometimes in theatre, the performers will come out the stage door after a performance and sign autographs and whatnot

We all bantered and had a good time for a solid half hour, hoping that Eddie Izzard would make an appearance. At last, he did -- and he was super friendly. He signed autographs and took pictures for everyone who wanted one, while ignoring this one obnoxiously drunk guy who kept interfering. I got the picture, and I got my program signed, so I was rather thrilled

That was Wednesday night. Friday night, I was slowly making my way back in the direction of the hostel, and passed by the theatre. I realized it was just about the time when he had made his appearance outside before, so I wandering around to see. There were fewer people, about half a dozen, standing around. I reassured them that he had come out Wednesday, and that it just took awhile. Just after that, the door opened, and there he was again. I watched people getting their autographs and stuff, standing back. I made the comment that I'd seen him on the US election coverage (he was in the US at the time, and did a short BBC interview that I saw purely by chance). We talked about that for a minute or so, he expressed his optimism for the future, he offered me a handshake, and then said goodnight and headed off

Whew. So I saw him perform, got a picture and autograph, had a conversation, and shook the man's hand. All of this is after having resigning myself to the thought, a year or two ago, that he was probably never going to do standup again. I was so very glad to be wrong

I'll write about the rest of my London adventures later, and my other celebrity encounters... because there's more... But at the moment, it's dinner time

BBC Licensing Fees

So I was reading an article that talked about the BBC licensing fees - what British people pay yearly for access to the BBC. There was a little detail in there that caught my eye, and I don't know what to make of it:

"The cost of the licence fee is set by the government. It is free for people over 75 and half-price for those registered blind."

Why half?

...Oh.

Belfast

-- pictures from Belfast --

I can now say I've hit all the countries within the UK, because last weekend I went to Belfast, Northern Ireland. We made our way over via a 1 hour flight -- the flight itself was easy, but getting to the airport and dealing with security and such is a pain. The city is interesting because it's partly similar to others I've visited -- the scenery is reminiscent of Scotland, and the combination of old architecture and new industrial is somewhat like Cardiff. However, there's a different atmosphere in parts of Belfast, because of the Northern Ireland conflicts... we passed a block of buildings that had been burned down due to fighting as recently as 2000

Our first full day in town, we went on a 'black cab tour.' There are a number of cab drivers in town who will take you on a tour of the city, and so we did this with two girls we met at the hostel. Walter, an elderly Irish man, told us stories about "the troubles" -- the local term used by people who didn't participate in the fighting. We saw both sides of town, the gates that separate them, and the murals painted on both sides

Belfast also has lots of areas with history similar to that of the rest of the UK - there's a cathedral, a city hall, and all the standard town areas that we've found elsewhere. Our hostel was right near the Queen's University, which had lots of large gothic-looking buildings. The second day we visited a variety market and wandered around town, and that evening we went to the Christmas market and admired all the lights

I split off on my own for the final full day, and went to Cave Hill park / Belfast Castle. It was about a 20 minute bus ride out of town, partway up a series of hills. The castle was rather fairytale-like, with silly cat statues in the garden and bits of pink trim. There were 3 trails through the park, and I set out on the middle one, which was supposed to take about an hour. However, it wasn't that well marked, and I soon realized that I was back where I started. Being unsatisfied with that, I started up the longest (and most difficult) trail, mostly so that I could go higher up the hill and get a better view of the city. I continued along for an hour or so, and got to where I could see all of Belfast spread out below me in the valley around the bay. There are pictures in the gallery. At this point, however, it was going to be rough going back the way I had came -- it had rained a bit, and my Chucks weren't exactly made for trekking down a steep hillside. I was debating my options when another hiker came along - a man with his two dogs. I asked if he knew a different route back down, without traveling the full length of the trail (which would have taken me several more hours). He pointed out the way, so by cutting across a field I ended up making my way back down with relative ease. Whew. It was quite enjoyable - I suppose even worth the hassle of flying.

I think I just lost two friends, but...

...gained one ticket to see Eddie Izzard in London on December 3rd.

(and I know exactly what he was saying when this screencap was taken -- "have I left the gas on?")

When I get a bit more motivated, I'll write about the past weekend in Belfast

You are not going to believe...

...who I am going to see in London on December 3rd.

And I'm not going to tell you until I get back from Belfast, hah!

Cardiff

-- pictures from Cardiff (normal) --
-- pictures from Cardiff (exceedingly geeky) --

Another weekend, another adventure -- this time in Wales. One of the first things we (me and Beth) did was to go to the Cardiff castle, which basically has everything you would want from a castle plus an extremely dramatic intro video. The rooms were lavishly decorated, the keep was ancient and awesome, and it was generally much better than the Nottingham castle. We explored the neighboring park, the city hall area with its winter ice rink, the waterfront, and pretty much all the major attractions.

Saturday I had to make a slight detour on my own... a bit of a science fiction pilgrimage. Cardiff is the home of Doctor Who, which is the British classic scifi. Step one was the Doctor Who Exhibit: home to costumes and monsters from the new seasons of the show. Step two was to buy myself a tiny TARDIS (time machine in the shape of a blue British police box). Step three was lingering around the Millennium Centre and some of the nearby buildings, which have all been filming locations. Step four was to take silly photos with my new toy (I only took one so far, but more will come).

That night, the Christmas tree by the waterfront was being lit for the first time, so there was a bit of a festival to go along with that. We hung out in the area, got some take-away fish and chips, and rather leisurely concluded our time in Wales.

Other highlights of the weekend include helping a new acquaintance from Iowa braid red dreadlocks into her hair for the Wales versus Canada rugby game, watching Meet Joe Black and Zoolander, and enjoying the delicious granola that came with our hostel breakfast.

London, part three

-- picture from London --

I got somewhat distracted and forgot to record my third adventure in London. I'm going to make it rather brief... I arrived on a Friday afternoon, and found my hostel -- converted from nurse's accommodations for a nearby hospital. I spent the evening wandering around central London, including spending a good couple hours in the Tate Modern art gallery. Saturday morning was spent in the excellent Camden market, which is an artsy eclectic maze. The afternoon was with my art history class in the 17th century French art section of the National Gallery, and the evening was spent seeing 6 Characters In Search of an Author, which turned into one of the most surreal experiences of my life. The market was amazing, the gallery was crowded but impressive (oh, look -- a Van Gogh... a Da Vinci...), and the play was just fantastic. Sunday morning I headed back to Nottingham

Two nations separated by a common language

I recently received some mail from my bank. I had very carefully given them my UK address over the phone, and was pleased to see that it had been sent to Knotting Ham University

Stratford-upon-Avon

-- pictures from Stratford-upon-Avon --

I finally ventured off on my own for a few days: I spend thursday evening, friday, and saturday morning in Shakespeare-land. One of the first things I realised about the town is that it would be indistinguishable from any other small English town, if not for the influence of a certain bard.

Anyways, I got there thursday after a few minor mishaps, including nearly getting lost in Birmingham (had to walk from one train station to another, and the signs managed to mislead me). I wandered a bit, but mostly just made my way to the hostel. It was very nice -- an old converted mansion, supposedly. Luckily for me, I was the only person in my room (the floors creaked all the time, so no late-night visitors was a boon). I made friends with a family from Brighton, who were visiting the nearby Warwick castle for Halloween, and talked to the staff about how the Royal Shakespeare Company theatre works

A side note about that -- the RSC has been doing three productions for awhile now: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, and Love's Labours Lost. The latter two both feature a British actor, David Tennant, who is relatively unknown in the US... he plays Doctor Who at the moment, if that rings any bells. He's an enormous star over here (perhaps I could say he's an English Brad Pitt, or a Christian Bale who never made any big Hollywood films, or something). Because of his popularity, tickets for those two shows sold out as soon as they became available (about a year ago). I came to Stratford with no real hope of seeing anything -- and Love's Labours Lost was the only one I had the opportunity to see at all, because of timing

So yeah, I talked to the staff at the hostel, and discovered how to stand a chance at getting a ticket. If someone bought one who could no longer attend, they can sell the ticket back to the RSC, and these 'returns' are made available. If I was willing to queue up early friday morning, I could just maybe get lucky

And that's what I did... I went to bed early early thursday (10-ish), and found myself awake at 4:30am. A bit earlier than planned, but I was awake. I talked to the night security guard for awhile, had some tea, and bundled up for the walk. Yeah... the hostel is two miles from the edge of town. It was barely light out. I walked it.

When I got to the theatre, there was one girl who was the first one to queue for tickets. She told me something exceedingly helpful -- for every performance, the RSC holds 10 tickets for 16 to 25-year-olds who show up the morning of the show. Tickets that cost 5 pounds (they're normally 30 or more). Suddenly, being second in the queue, I was guaranteed a seat. All that was left was to wait for the box office to open at 9:30...

Anyways, I got my ticket, spent the afternoon wandering through town (and eventually taking a nap back at the hostel), and made my way to the theatre at about 6:30. The show was absolutely fantastic. Love's Labours Lost is one of the lesser-done Shakespeare plays, because the language is even more daunting than usual, but the actors were just so superb that the audience was falling off their seats laughing. I really just can't describe how amazing it was...

Then, to top it all off, that night was a special performance -- after, the actors changed out of costume and came back out on stage to answer questions. We got to find out some neat stuff, like who played the bear (a brief dance by someone in a bear costume), and how in one part David Tennant tosses a hat onto a tree branch (during our performance, it didn't fall off, and apparently that was only the second time it didn't fall)

So after that I took the bus back to the hostel (it just doesn't run early in the morning), passed out, and then spent saturday getting back to Nottingham. It was basically 3 hours by the train, and I met some more interesting people along the way... an easy ride.

From having no expectation of seeing anything, to seeing an absolutely fantastic RSC production... I don't think it gets much better.

How to dress like a female English university freshman

I've been working on a little graphic to depict what I see on a daily basis. No, thankfully, not everyone is quite like this, but it's far too common for my comfort.

Random Street Encounters

On the way back to my dorm today, I was accosted by two guys representing the Church of the Latter Day Saints. One of them was from Utah.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

Edinburgh

-- Pictures from Edinburgh --

Continuing the pattern of running around on the weekends... from wednesday (15 Oct) to sunday (19 Oct) I was in Edinburgh with Beth.

We arrived after 5 and a half hours on the train and found our hostel pretty easily. It's right on the Royal Mile, which is pretty much Edinburgh's main street. We found dinner at a nearby pub, had bangers and mash, and got to listen to a silly Scottish man sing American folk songs.

The second day, we climbed Arthur's Seat, which is a large hill just outside the main bit of town. It took a good part of the day to get up it and wander around... but we made it and put our names up on the top, along with lots of other hikers. Other bits of the day included visiting St Giles' cathedral, having delicious Mediterranean food, and generally wandering around town

We spent the morning of the third day at Edinburgh castle, which is generally old and interesting (it's even built on top of an inactive volcano!). There we heard lots of stories from a friendly employee, who eventually recommended some areas for lunch and whatnot. At dinner we tried cullen skink -- a traditional Scottish dish that is delicious.

The fourth day, Saturday, was partially spent wandering the lower parts of Arthur's Seat, despite the occasional rain. We had lunch at the adorable Elephant House, which is coincidentally where JK Rowling started writing Harry Potter. We ended with a ghost tour that evening, where we heard stories from a Canadian guy who came to Scotland and decided to stay

Finally, we had to reluctantly return to Nottingham on Sunday by walking to the station, taking a 3 hour bus, a 1.5 hour train, a .5 hour train, another .5 hour train, a walk to the bus station in Nottingham, waiting half an hour for a bus to show up, a 15 minute bus ride to school, and a 15 minute walk back to the dorm. Whew.

London

-- Pictures from London --

I spent 10 Oct through 12 Oct on a whirlwind trip around London with two people who had never been before. We hit all the standard spots, and even managed to do a few things I didn't do the first time I was there... we went on the Eye, saw St Paul's cathedral, were in awe of the inside of Westminster Abbey, and enjoyed the craziness of the Portobello road saturday market.

It was fast and fun... though the craziness of London was a bit overwhelming. It's hard to try and see everything over a weekend, but we mostly managed

Brighton

-- Pictures from Brighton --

So, from last Thursday (2 Oct) until Sunday (5 Oct) I went to Brighton, on the south coast of England. Heading down was a pretty easy train ride -- two trains for about 3 and a half hours total. I went with my new friend Beth, due to the fact that neither of us has class on Thursday or Friday.

Thursday, we found our hostel. The directions told us to head for the beach, and then head towards the Brighton Pier (in the picture). We didn't think much of it, but once we arrived at the hostel we realized it was on the beach, about a block from the pier. There's a picture looking out our window, showing how close we are to the beach... It was sunny and gorgeous pretty much all Thursday and Friday. The first day was spent wandering. We explored down the beach in both directions, had some delicious pad thai, got somewhat lost in the small pedestrian streets in the area called the Lanes, and ended our evening by watching some football (...soccer, but don't say that word on this side of the Atlantic) in the hostel's bar.

Friday was also pretty low key: we explored the artists' quarter, where every other shop is eclectic and interesting. We both purchased excellent new hats (mine was literally from a shop on a street corner, Beth's was from a stall in a maze-like indoor market). That afternoon, we hung out on the beach for a bit, and I made some sketches that maybe I'll upload if I ever have access to a scanner. In the evening, two other friends arrived -- Claire and Emily.

Saturday morning was still nice, weather-wise. Beth and I showed the newcomers around a bit, but it started to rain about the time we sat down (outside) for lunch. We still headed out to the beach, and onto the pier, but the wind was really picking up. It was to the point where you could barely move forward into the wind, and the sea was getting really choppy. We had planned on getting our feet wet in the English Channel, but with it so nasty we held off. I'm satisfied, really, because of the large amounts of salty sea spray I got in my face... We visited a small gallery and a fishing museum to escape the weather, but eventually we caved and headed back to the hostel. That evening for dinner I had possibly the best fish and chips ever, then we played cards and hung out in the hostel for the evening.

Sunday morning, we had to head to the train station. It was a solid 20 minute walk, with the wind battling us most of the way. Honestly, it was more amusing than anything. We made it early to the station, and eventually boarded the bus that would take us the first half hour of the journey. Of course, due to the weather, the bus was held up in traffic -- we missed our connecting train in Three Bridges. We caught the next one, to London Bridge, and then took the underground to London St Pancras... finally we boarded an East Midlands train back to Nottingham... arriving back an hour later than planned. All in all, not too bad of an experience. Lesson learned: avoid the bus when you can

The irony is that I'll be on another bus Friday morning. We're going to London then and coming back Sunday evening... oh well.

Class (part 2) and Brighton

Today I had two more lectures -- AI programming and French art history.

The AI course is looking disappointing... it's going to be a bit dull. I wish I was taking the Web Services course I had picked out from the beginning. Art history, though, will be interesting. The professor actually has a few books written in French on the reading lists. He says we should at least look at the pictures, but maybe I'll make some attempt at reading (I also met two French guys today, and listening to them made me want to remember all the stuff I forgot from high school...)

And most importantly... I'm going to Brighton! It's a smallish seaside town in south England. I'll be there Thursday until Sunday, enjoying my lack of class. We decided to hit a coastal town before it got any colder -- today was blustery and rainy and pretty chilly, and it's not going to get any warmer until long after I'm back in the US

Other ideas for tentative future weekend travel plans include Edinburgh, Cardiff, Manchester, London, and pretty much wherever the cheapest rail tickets can take us

I've Got Class

So, with a bit of luck, I'll have my schedule cemented tomorrow. If it goes as planned, this will be my class schedule:

Monday
10-1 film history (with a movie screening)
1-2:20 intro to Shakespeare
4-5 film history seminar
Tuesday
1-2 Artificial Intelligence Programming
3-5 French Art: from the Renaissance to Louis XIV
Wednesday
12-1 Artificial Intelligence Programming

You may notice something not on this schedule... Thursday and Friday. By some herculean effort, I managed to make the course offerings bend to my will. It didn't work 100%, because Internet and Web Services couldn't work out, but I'll accept that if it equals a four-day weekend

I had film history and Shakespeare today -- the film professor seems knowledgeable and interesting, and the Shakespeare professor is an amazingly funny Scottish man. If my other classes go as well, this is going to be an excellent semester

Fresher's Week, Part 2

Last night (Sunday) was the end of Fresher's Week and today was the first day of class. Fresher's Week was a pretty intense experience -- or it would have been, if I had partied like the freshmen. Some kids went out every night for the entire week, but I didn't attempt anything remotely like that. Evenings were spent mostly hanging around dorms or the student union bar. I did go to the final party yesterday, at Rock City (Nottingham's main music venue), but it was a bit of a letdown. The band on the main stage was rather disappointing, and the other bands in other rooms were pretty mediocre. I'm glad I went, just for the experience and all, but it was a bit silly.

And another side note -- the British love their chanting and yelling. The entire (15-ish minute) bus ride to Rock City was spent loudly proclaiming the superiority of Rutland Hall above all other dorms, with chants that had varying degrees of inappropriateness. This, too, was hilarious.

Potatoes

I just want to mention... I've been in my hall for over a week, and we've had potatoes prepared a different way EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. I don't mind, because there are always other options, but I've never seen so many ways of cooking potatoes.

Tonight we had little fried things that looked like mozzarella sticks (which got my hopes up), but no! They were potatoes!

The English show their creativity in odd ways.

The Interwebs

A side note about the networking here, because I'm constantly comparing it to William and Mary...

Wireless is only available in some common areas. It bleeds into my room, but only because I'm right by a lounge. The wired connection works, mostly, though every couple minutes I try to load a page and get a proxy error. It works if I refresh, typically. Another weird bit (and if you have any ideas about this one, I'd like to hear them) is that the updates for both Ubuntu and Vista refuse to download. It tells me I need to update, it tries to start the download, but it never gets anywhere. I haven't messed with it a lot yet, but it seems like something is blocked. I emailed their IT about it, but they take at least a couple days to reply to a simple email

The best thing I've found is that we can get TV over the network (only in Windows, of course). It works pretty well, so I'm pleased with that

We also have room phones, but I don't think anyone has figured out how to use them yet

And finally, I won't even go into the horribly indecipherable mess that is the Nottingham website

Fresher's Week, Part 1

This week is the welcome week for all new freshmen at the university, plus all exchange students. Coming into this from the international orientation, I was already exhausted. On Sunday, all the British students began to arrive. The schedule for the week typically involved some sort of day trip, then going to some club at night. I ended up on a hall with several other Americans, and we were all rather disinterested in the copious amounts of clubbing. There has been some sort of party every night, starting Monday and continuing until Sunday's grand finale. So far, there have been three nights of clubbing, and I have yet to attend any of them.

I think I'll go sooner or later, just to have the experience, but I'm in no hurry. It's weird being surrounded by little freshmen, mostly 17 and 18-year-olds, who have left home for the first time. They're going a bit overboard with the partying, and us exchange students are mostly just waiting for it to calm down a bit.

Tonight there are two events going on. One's a bit early in the evening - a big band is performing movie/tv themes and classic music on campus, within walking distance. The other event is yet another club. I'll probably be going to the first one and not the second...

Another frustrating bit has been the day trips. Tuesday they went to the Cadbury World (yes, the chocolate company), and Wednesday they went to Sherwood forest. I wanted to do both of these things, but this was when I had to register for classes. A bunch of us will probably end up doing this stuff later on our own, but it seems like poor organizing on the part of the fresher's week people.

The other big part of the week is Fresher's Fayre -- where all the student societies show off. I signed up for a film society and a traveling society -- there's a film showing every week, and the traveling society takes a bus to somewhere different in England every other week. I'm pretty excited about meeting people in these societies who are closer to my age... not little freshmen

Class Registration: navigating the campus and nottingham.ac.uk

So I just finished course registration, which was an adventure. I even managed to completely screw it up (I'll get to that in a moment)

Back in the spring, there was a listing of courses for this semester. Come summer time, they totally changed that list, so many of the courses I'd looked at previously changed or became unavailable. Then, a few weeks ago, they finally put the timetables online so I could find out when the courses were held. Of course, all my new picks overlapped, and I had to change everything again. (Let me note that you have to coordinate information on two totally separate websites before you can begin to figure any of this out.)

I sorted it, though, and registered over the past two days. Registration does not happen online... you have to visit each department individually if you want to take a class their, during a specific time slot. Many of the time slots overlapped, though thankfully none of the ones I wanted had that problem. I showed up an hour early for each one, because several of the departments eventually had extremely long queues.

On Tuesday, for my film history course, I went to the American and Canadian studies department. The guy there was completely misinformed, but after about a half an hour of discussion we eventually got to sign up for class. Then I signed up for an art history course -- Italian Art in the age of Caravaggio and Bernini. On Wednesday, I showed up at the English department at 8am so I could be queued up for the 9am registration (I was fourth in a line of at least 50). I signed up for an Intro to Shakespeare course. Finally, I took the bus over to the Jubilee campus, and signed up for Internet and Web Services with the CS department.

After all that, I sat down and looked at what I had. Some courses offered multiple time slots for their seminars, so I navigated the website to pick which seminar I wanted. I made a discovery -- I essentially misread one of the numeric codes for my CS course. Instead of a lecture with my choice of one of two seminars, it was two lectures and a seminar (no choices). The second mandatory lecture overlapped with my film studies course. So I have to rearrange things

I don't really have that many other CS options; basically, I can switch to Artificial Intelligence Programming, or I can take no CS at all. I don't really care for that AI course, but I really can't afford to drop the film studies course, because it was pre-approved for transfer credit. Plus, if I switch to the AI CS course, I have to change my art history course as well

Everything is super complex and easy to misread... and I'm not even sure if there will be openings in the courses for me to switch into... I may just be screwed. I'm going to try and sort it out tomorrow (Friday) morning, which will be fun.

I really can't believe that course registration isn't online - even all the international exchange students from other countries say this is unusual. It's painful.

Pictures! (#1)

University Park Campus

Nottingham City Centre

Highfields Park

Jubilee Campus

Wollaton Park

International Student Orientation

Today is the final day of international student orientation. I'm in the process of moving into my permanent room (I have to hang out and wait for them to clean it before I can actually move in, so I'm in a lounge). I'll mention that I sorted almost all my problems from before -- I got the power back in my room, got my laptop charged up, etc. Now I just need access to a phone, and I'll be set.

We had a busy few days, with lots of events around Nottingham. I toured the nearby Jubilee campus, where the Computer Science building is located. I took the bus into the city with friends, which is about a 15 minute ride. We visited Nottingham castle and the museum/art gallery inside. Outside the castle, there is a statue of Robin Hood -- we took pictures with it. Then we went to the Old Market Square and the Broadmarsh shopping center. Other events include watching Ocean's 11, touring Beeston (the closest town and shopping area), visiting the student union pub, walking through the two parks that flank the sides of the main campus, and attending assorted meetings.

Busy... and now we have another week, "fresher's week," the normal orientation for all new students. Eventually class starts or something... I'm not really sure

The Temporary Dorm Room

So, from Tuesday until Saturday, we have International Student Orientation. All the local students do not arrive until Sunday, so we have time to settle in and adjust. However, for these days, we are temporarily located all together, in a dorm that is different than the one I will have for the fall semester. It's been... interesting

The room itself isn't bad. It's a single with a hall bathroom, with a desk, fridge, sink, wardrobe, and some shelving in the room. It's a bit cramped because I can't really unpack (since I'm moving again Saturday). All was well until I tried to use some of my American electronics. The adapter I brought with me to plug into English electrical sockets didn't seem to work, which wasn't too big of a deal. I went to the student store, and bought a new one relatively cheaply. Last night, I plugged it into the wall, and then plugged my laptop's power cord into it. The outlet had to be turned on with a switch, so I flipped it. I promptly lost my lights and all the power in my room. I have no idea why. The fuse switch was in the room, and I flipped it back and forth multiple times, with no success. As of leaving my room for breakfast this morning, I still do not have power. I talked to one of the orientation aides, who said she would tell the building's porter about it, so hopefully they'll get my power working again. I don't know what to do about the adapter.

Then, using some of my laptop's remaining battery life, I lit up the room enough so that I could try to call home with the room phone, only to find out it had no dial tone. I tried dialing anyways, and nope, it's no good.

Finally, I've been trying for multiple days to get my computer hooked up to the network, and along with everyone else in the building, it doesn't work. We connect, we get an IP, it tries to redirect you to a Nottingham page, and then gives you a 'no page found.'

I'll be happy to move to my permanent room and get this all sorted out. I've been taking pictures around the school and from my excursion yesterday into town, but I can't really do anything with them until I have my laptop working.

Don't get me wrong -- the school is pretty amazing. The dorm situation, at the moment, is just a bit frustrating. I'm sure it will work out in the end.

The Story So Far

After two hours driving, two more in BWI, seven on the plane, one in Heathrow, and a three-hour bus ride, I've finally made it to Nottingham. Cloudy, chilly, and utterly English -- it's all very exciting. I'm with over a thousand total foreign students (most are just freshmen, with exchange students as the minority). Besides being totally exhausted, everything is going well! It's almost time to meet up for dinner here, so I'll keep this short. Hopefully once I get my computer set up, there will be pictures to follow

Preparations

In eleven days, I take off from Baltimore and make my way to the right side of the Atlantic. I've been organizing my paperwork, arguing with the William and Mary financial offices, pronouncing words like "vitamins" funny, and mostly wondering how on earth I'm going to get my stuff into two suitcases. I figure there are at least two people who may want to know what I'm up to while I'm gone (...hi, mom and dad), so I'll post anecdotes of pub brawls, getting tattoos, being deported, exterminating Daleks, et cetera.

But regardless, I'll try and let people know what I'm up to every once in awhile, and hopefully put up some pictures now and then. Comments are appreciated, so I know that at least somebody is looking at this...

With luck, the next time I post something, I'll be in England. Thanks for reading, and I'll see everyone in January!