the past few days

so, much has happened in the past few days.

on Monday i attended the big long orientation session. i had kind of a difficult time getting there because i was not sure which stop to take.. there are like four tube stops equidistant from the campus i had to be at, which is the administrative one and also biosciences. it's called Cavendish campus. the one i will ultimately be spending all my time at is a bit closer to me, called Regent campus. it was again good that i am in the dorm i am, because it is closest to that campus. the orientation itself was pretty standard, i got my ID card though, that was strange, and then they broke us into groups for an "orientation challenge" that is meant to make the students walk around London and answer stupid questions. well, by now everyone has figured out that most of the answers are on Google or Wikipedia or the Westminster site, so it seemed doubly pointless to me. in my group were the other kid who came here from Arizona, a girl from Penn State, a girl from Stonehill that lives in my dorm, and a girl from Pace in NYC. it seemed like we were Team America, but when they were announcing the groups it felt like there were more international kids mixed in. one girl was complaining about that.. like if i wanted to meet Americans i'd stay in America. which is true. but it is a lot more convenient not to have to worry about language or even accent barriers. that leads me to another point - oftentimes when i order coffee or food or even ask questions of salespeople, they truly cannot understand me. i find that so weird. i mean i guess it is a pretty drastic accent in comparison to their own, but come on! we're both speaking english... right? Monday night i was feeling pretty out of it so i went to bed early, still without bedding, ugh. i decided i'd wake up early on Tuesday and go to a proper store and get bedding. oH yeah on Monday night i finally got a phone. it's free if international callers call ME. the number is 07732036182. it's a pretty nice phone and i got that and the first 10 pounds worth of minutes, which since i text should last like a month, for under 40 US dollars. now THAT is a good deal. i also got an Oyster card, which allows me to ride the tube all i want for a given month but is ridiculously expensive (100 pounds/month). HOWEVER, i applied for a student card that should be mailed here sometime within the next two weeks that drops that price down to 70 a month. still ridiculous. i wonder what the prices are in comparison to those of NYC subway passes. does such an animal exist?

on Tuesday i woke up early and went to a department store called Heals and got a duvet cover, pillows, pillowcases, and a flat sheet. it was 80 pounds though. i was like ARE YOU SERIOUS? because that bedding would have never cost like 99 US dollars. i bought everything on sale too. i was really kicking myself about that because i am SURE that SOMEWHERE in this city there are much better deals to be had, especially for students. but i researched "bedding + SW1P 1HH (our postcode)" in Google and from the websites that came up, Heals looked to be cheapest. that was one specific time i wish i had known somebody in the U.K. that had to buy bedding here in London and is a student. it seems to me that most of the people i have met either brought it from home because they live somewhere close like Germany, bought the shitty package of sheets/blanket that University will give you for 25 pounds, or know somebody who has studied here for longer than a semester to help them out. but i was quite peeved about that. it's just so unnecessary. but beggars really can't be choosers.
then in the afternoon, i met up with my orientation group so we could like try and do the stupid assignment. we got about halfway done then gave up. but apparently they can't penalize us for not finishing the thing, or they don't grade it or something. they just want to see that we do it and meet each other and blah blah blah. go America for giving up so early. ha ha. after that, i came back here for a bit then went on my student account for Westminster and realized that one professor has already suggested that we start reading books before the class begins. that's fine with me, since there are only two papers and an assessment or something like that to do for the class, so i bought one, Defoe's Moll Flanders. it looks pretty interesting. the other two are Pamela and Joseph Andrews. i need to look up who wrote those.. and i swear i have read Pamela before or at least excerpts of it, i think it might be construed as the first English novel besides Robinson Crusoe. but here we are.
Tuesday night was my first English club experience! I met up with a girl from my orientation group who also lives in Wigram and has already assimilated better than me because A) she came with a big program and B) two British girls that live on her floor are friends with her. it sucks that my flat is as quiet as it is, i have only met two people from here. hopefully that changes. apparently there is one other American girl living here but i have never even seen her, and the others are British and thus extremely shy and reserved. it's amazing how true that stereotype is. even last night, i met two British girls who at first were kinda shy but eventually became really nice. we had a good time. the club was called Pasha and i guess it's a big student club. it was extremely crowded. and i spent way too much money -- about 20 pounds between cover, coat check, and three drinks. but i think that is a lot more like New York prices. i remember even when i went to the club in South Carolina i ended up spending like 40 bucks but that was mainly due to the taxi. ha this club Pasha is in walking distance of my dorm. interestingly, the music they played was a mix between popular hits of the United States, like Rihanna and Kanye and even Britney Spears (side story: one of the questions on the Orientation challenge was "what famous U.S. celebrity is quoted as saying "I want to start my career somewhere small, like London or England."?" and the answer was B. Spears herself. oh man..) with a lot of techno that i do not know, some i did though, and then the rest of it was songs from years and years ago that were popular in America, including Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" or Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin'" layered over ridiculous techno beats. they even played Nirvana? i was so surprised. but in terms of the club, it was just like every other club, loud, crowded, girls trying to hard, horny boys, blah blah blah. but i kind of diverted that because i told Aaron to come down. he got there around midnight when the cover was 7 pounds instead of the 5 i payed, but such is life. he kind of protected us from strange boys.. including this one indian-looking kid that wouldn't leave me alone.. and stayed out with us til 2:30. most of the people i were with originally had left by that point except for one girl from Wales, but he met everyone i was with. we got him on the bus back to his dorm, and then came back to Wigram by like 3 because his bus didn't come til 2:45 and wen to bed. i am upset i have forgotten my camera every night. haha i am so used to not having one that it barely crosses my mind when i walk out the door. it's now 1:07 and as i have nothing to do today that's a good thing. i think i might try to find a used bookshop and go to the doctor because i need to "register with one" as part of living here. that's probably a good thing.

okay. looooong post. hope you are all doing well!