16 October 2010

So this week has been absolutely crazy. The UK kids moved in on Saturday and ever since we’ve been really busy with events, meetings with departments, and meeting tons of new faces. As of yesterday all of my flat mates have finally moved into their rooms. We have three people from China. One is a girl in her third year that is never around and doesn’t talk to us. One is a girl that only moved in yesterday and is a second year, but she had one of her friends who is a graduate student living in her room and “holding” the room for the week which was weird. One is a first year boy who moved in yesterday; unfortunately for him he is the only boy in our flat. We then have a very nice girl from Romania, who is very sweet but has mostly been hanging out with other Romanians. And finally, we have my friend Tasha whose parents are Irish but she lived for a number of years in the UK and then moved to New Canaan, CT and then finished up her high school in Denmark, but spent the past year as a gap year and was living with her family in Singapore.

My building (or Block G as we refer to it here) has been pretty amazing so far. We are one of the smallest blocks with only 32 people living here. About 17 of us have been going to all the events together and hanging out, while everyone else seems to be international students that are either having issues with the language barrier and only speaking their own language or they haven’t moved in yet and we haven’t seen them.

The academics started this week, which has been a bit intimidating and weird because it is nothing like at home. Because I’m enrolled in both the Chemistry and History department here I’ve been having a number of scheduling issues (mainly with the history department). I’m finally enrolled in all the proper courses after a week of running back and forth to departments and sending numerous crazed emails to my history advisor apologizing for not being able to read the timetables and causing yet another time conflict. My courses are a visiting students module in Inorganic Chemistry, Travel & Tourism in 19th and 20th Century Britain, and Home & Away: Global Aspects of British History 1750-1870. They all seem like they will be really good courses, and I’m excited except for the tremendous reading lists I was given in all three. I’ve already explored the library and have come to terms with the fact that it will be my place of residence while here in York.

Today we have two big events that I will have to tell you all about late. The first is the Freshers Fair where all of the clubs and sports teams have tables and you sign up and receive free stuff. Then tonight we have what they are referring to as the Big Bang which is a combination of a Freshers Ball and a big concert series. There will be a number of different venues on campus with different live acts playing, and there will also be fireworks, a light show and apparently laser tag. Should be a lot of fun!