Oh What a Bloody Long Day!!!

It’s now 2:08 AM and the day is looong over, and what a long day it has been! I awoke early, at 7:45 or so to leave Charles Morris Hall and move into Leodis. Well, that’s not entirely true. I set my alarm for a quarter to 8, but it went off at 4 am instead, even though it read 7:45 on the alarm clock. Feeling rather groggy, I pulled myself out of bed into the shower, which by the way, had a toilet inside it that was shared between the two rooms, and began my morning. After showering, I realized it was still pretty dark outside, and when I glanced at my watch, I realized it was only 4 AM. Thinking that maybe I set the clock wrong, I set it again, with the alarm, put my pajamas back on and stumbled back into bed. 6 AM, same thing, minus the shower. I guess with my converters this alarm clock runs twice as fast, and is twice as annoying and reminds me of physics lectures that suggest possible reasons for why clocks run faster- it’s not like I’ve gone to the moon or anything. Well after a rather annoying start to my day, Steph and I gave back our keys, waited in the rain for the van and off we were to Leodis. Our residence accommodates about 700 students, but is split up into about 8 different blocks. While Steph was placed with other international students from the U.S. as well as Brazil, I have been placed with 4 ‘freshers’, or frosh. The only one that is here so far is Anna, from Denmark, and I am both happy and relieved to say that we get along quite well. Steph, Anna, and I proceeded soon to registration, where we quickly lost Anna, as I left for my interview to be a student computer advisor for any internet problems in res. Now, when I applied to be a ‘student advisor’, I did not realize that I’d be working with computers. Somehow, the interview went quite well, and I somehow got the position that will grant me a 600 pound deductible from residence. This should be very interesting. After that, I believe we found Anna magically and went for lunch at some yummy sandwich place where I have reclaimed my long-lost love for Fanta orange pop. For some reason, international students have to sit through some odd registration process online which is basically a waste of time since I had the forms printed out already. They told us we’d have to wait until Monday to get our student cards- which was absolutely absurd because we just went and got them ourselves next door. Here we lose Anna again, and somehow, magically find her outside. Strike 2. Actually, more like 3 but I can’t remember the other one- I’m such a bad flatmate. At this point I begin to notice how temperamental British weather is. One minute its slightly cloudy, then it pours and storms and thunders, and 5 minutes later we are outside strolling in the sunshine. A typical day. We took a bus to the Leeds City Center where we looked into cell phones (but didn’t buy just yet) and bought some stuff from Argo’s where you look through catalogues (think Ikea, Home Depot all rolled into one) and order what you want from the back. Crazy, and then walked to Morrison’s for groceries and lost Anna again (Steph and I spent a good couple hours in the store) and then cabbed home. Loooong day. Anna and I couldn’t find bottle openers for our beers so we walked across to Steph’s flat and asked around. We basically stayed there the rest of the night having a jolly old time where I learned that Stella Artois is actually known in Belgium as wife beater beer- aka cheap Lakeport beer. My room is set up, internet set up, and I have my own bathroom and toilet! Whew. I still have to set up a bank account- they closed early today because of a ‘fire alarm’- just like the warden left early… well it’s 2:25 and this girl is exhausted!!!!!