Gone 'Splorin

I woke up to the sound of a maintenance guy banging - quite loudly, might I add - on my door. I had noticed that the faucet in my room was a bit leaky, and even though I didn't report it, somehow they knew... creepy. But no more leaks for me!

Today was a day of exploring, aka walking until you can't walk anymore. I first picked up my campus ID card so I wouldn't have to pay for the bus anymore, then we hopped on the bus and headed east in search of the beach. And we found it (after I had asked for directions in my best attempt at an English accent from a lady at a petrol station... no funny looks, so I guess I'm a pretty convincing Brit!). The wind was exceptionally strong and crisp blowing off the North Sea. Despite the "no dogs allowed" signs posted everywhere, we spotted a good handful of people walking their dogs on the beach. These Geordies are such rebels. After a few minutes of photo ops, we grabbed some lunch at the Cafe Bungalow: a precious little cafe with a great view of the ocean.

After we hitched the bus back into town I did a bit of shopping. My clothes were getting wrinkly-er and wrinkly-er by the second since I hadn't bought coat hangers yet and they were still sitting in my suitcase. My desk was entirely too dark and I was still freezing every night, so I also bought a lamp and a blanket from a store called Wilkinson in town, which is kind of like England's version of Walmart/Target (aka, one of my new favorite places!).

I start classes tomorrow, so I'm really anxious to figure out how to navigate my way around all the campuses. My first class doesn't even meet on campus, so it'll definitely be an adventure trying to make my way to a random building 20 minutes away from a bus stop. By the end of this semester, I have a feeling I'm going to have really great legs.

Some other things I've noticed:

- They serve slaw with almost every meal.

- The cars are all super tiny hatchbacks. And no one puts stickers on them. How sad.

- All of the electrical outlets (or "wall sockets" as they call them) have switches on them so you can turn them on and off. I have yet to figure out why.

- Once you learn to understand their accent, the locals are really friendly and they all seem to love talking to Americans.

- Their shoes and clothes are sized differently, so I'll have to do some experimenting to figure out what sizes I wear in the UK.

- Chicago the musical will be showing at one of the theaters here; I cannot WAIT to go see it!