First Few Days

Everything went incredibly well considering how scatter-brained I am.  After I made it to the Chicago airport around 2, I had a 6 hour lay over, so I sat in the terminal and watched the interesting people walking by. I also watched CNN drool all over themselves while covering the inauguration.  At 8:00, we boarded the British Airways plane. It was a 8 hour flight, and I think I slept 2 or 3 hours of it.  I asked loads of dumb questions and looked like a deer in the headlights. Made it through customs without a problem... actually, no one was there to check my bags. It made me feel like I had somehow skipped that step completely.  Anyways, I made it to London Paddington train station without too much trouble. When I got there I needed to go to the bathroom. By this time I was feeling pretty confident and sure of myself. I had successfully made it this far and I soon found the desired bathroom. I rounded the corner only to find that the my destination was down a flight of stairs. So, I took a deep breath and headed down the stairs rolling both of my bags behind me. Each step I took brought the loud clunking noise of the wheels on the suit cases crashing down on the stairs behind me. "I'll never see these people again. Just don't make eye contact." I don't remember how I made it back out of there and I'd rather not think about it.  Thankfully, the train ride to Swansea was uneventful. I slept a little, but I didn't want to miss anything that we were passing so I kept waking up. I got to Swansea around 3:00, and Sarah Davies picked me up 45 minutes later.  She brought her two kids Ben (3) and Anna (2) with her. Then she took me to the Student Village where I'm living and, I dropped off my stuff in my room. I ate dinner with Sarah and Dan (Sarah's husband) that night. The next morning Sarah took me to Tesco and the Swansea Market.  Tesco is a smaller version of Walmart with fewer choices and less stuff. The Market was really fun. It is inside a building with a tall ceiling. People set up booths to sell their merchandise. They sell fresh meat, fish, bread and pastries, fruits, and vegetables as well as purses, scarves, coats, books, and lots of other things.  I bought my adapter there, but I thought it was the wrong thing. I wasn't able to get on my computer because the charge on my battery had run out. I took it back today along with my computer charger only to discover that I had had the correct one all along! Thursday night, I went to Woody's with two girls (Abby and Sarah) that I had met earlier that day. Woody's is the bar in the Student Village. It didn't really seem like a bar. I would probably describe it as a coffee shop that served beer instead of coffee and that played techno dance music instead of the easy-listening, mood-music that is played in our coffee shops.  So, I guess it's nothing like a coffee shop really. Yesterday (Friday), all the American students had orientation. I'm only going to have 3 classes, but those classes will have tutorials and seminars that meet at different times and assign homework as well. That took up most of the day and I was dead tired afterwards.  When I got back to my room, I finally comprehended the implications of the term "self-catered." (Does that make sense?) It was all up to me. What was I going to do? I made two pieces of toast and went to bed. Today, I scrambled 2 eggs for myself and felt a certain sense of pride as I ate them. Later, I walked to campus from my flat with 3 other girls (Abby, Sarah and Kim). It took us 50 minutes but we made it. Tonight, I made 3 cute, little hamburgers from the ground beef I bought on Thursday. I also peeled two carrots with a knife because there was nothing else to peel it with. Now, I have 2 happy hamburgers in the fridge waiting for me to come back to them. Once again, that sense of barely contained pride at my success welled up inside, nearly choking me. I haven't been homesick yet. There's just too much to see and think about. The closest I've come to being homesick was when I found out about sweet little Margaret McKinney! I couldn't help crying and wishing myself back in Hattiesburg.