Here and Adjusting:
So the adjusting process has been a bit rough I guess. The time difference threw me a bit at first – mostly because my computer is still set to US time and I don’t want to change it so that I can easily remember what time it is there for all of you!
Weather:
The weather has been mostly nice. It has rained a few times since we have been here, mostly at night so (knock on wood) not enough to interfere with too many of our plans! The temperatures have been pretty mild (my friends will tell you different, but one is from CA…surely her opinion cannot be trusted…for this upstate NY chick, it has been nice and mild!), mostly in the 40s and even reaching the 50s a few of the days!!
Food:
So the food is…interesting (though I did have a FABULOUS turkey, bacon and avocado “panini” today…). Since we have gotten here, breakfast has consisted of a croissant and juice, milk or water for me. Lunch I have skipped a couple times mostly to try and save the money on my meal card and dinner I have thankfully always generally found something that I can or will eat (shepherds pie made with lamb, chicken, what we fondly dubbed “checkered ziti”…etc.).
The way the refectory works here is MUCH different than CHC’s cafeteria. Instead of just swiping your card and eating as much as you like, you get charged for everything. So the main meal is like £2.85 and if you want rice, and/or vegetables with it that is like an extra 75P for each portion, etc. So we try and budget to about £4 a meal but that sometimes proves to be impossible with the prices. And then of course if we want a water, etc. that is another added price. I guess that it really isn’t too bad though. I can generally always find something that I will and can eat. Not having a fridge or anything to store our own water bottles in, however, has definitely contributed to the dehydration that I am experiencing!!
Showers, Toilets and Sinks, Oh my!:
As you can imagine, 4 girls in their 20s who have not slept in a LONG time, have had long plane rides and are trying to adjust to a new place can get rather silly. One of the first conversations we had upon our arrival was about the toilets. In the bathroom closest to Bridget’s and my room, we have regular toilets (like in the US with a handle to flush). It was nothing strange to us. However, in the bathroom closest to Anitra and Lanette’s room, the toilets have buttons to push in order to flush. Now we are all very intelligent young ladies and can surely understand the concept of pressing a button to flush a toilet. However, there is not just ONE button. Oh no! There are two! One of the buttons flushes the toilet, and the other adds water to the toilet. So of course, being sleep deprived (who am I kidding, we probably would have had this conversation normally…) we somehow managed to get into a conversation about what the correct process for flushing the toilet was. Were we supposed to add water first, and then flush? Or we were supposed to flush first and then add water? This was one of the questions that we deemed “too awkward to ask, but that definitely should be included in an orientation guide…”
The sinks are different too. There are two different faucets. The left is hot (which is REALLY hot!) and the right is cold. However, there is no way to mix them or get just warm water. So you have a few different choices. You can use hot water and burn yourself, you can use cold water and be cold, or you can use both and burn you left hand while freezing your right hand. I have not figured out a better method yet…
The showers and shower room were quite an experience to say the very least! There is very little privacy, and being short did NOT help the situation in the slightest. For one, the showers are a tiny little box which you are barely able to move in. For two, there is no where to get undressed or to dress. At CHC there are 2 curtains, one directly in front of the shower, and then another a few feet away with hooks on the wall and a stool to provide a dressing/changing area. However, here there is only one curtain and the hooks on the wall are way outside, making it hard for my short arms to reach the extra few feet without completely a) exposing myself or b) wrapping myself in the DISGUSTING curtain. I thought I would try and be clever and solve this problem by throwing my towel over the shower curtain. Great idea, right? One problem! I AM TOO SHORT TO DO THAT, TOO!!! For the first few days, I tried very hard to shower when no one else was in the shower room so that I did not have to worry about this situation and could just jump in and jump out quickly. I don’t think my showers lasted more than 6 minutes during any of the times I had to shower in that room. Luckily, Lanette discovered a room that has a tub shower with a LOCK on the door just right down the hall and I have been utilizing that whenever possible! The only problems I have found is that the light is broken (and it is still dark when I get up to shower so I have been showering in the dark), there is no curtain (only these weird plastic wall things that swing in and out), the windows in the bathroom are broken and has no shades/curtains etc. so it is FREEZING since it is RIGHT NEXT to the shower, the ceiling leaks on me…okay, okay I know…it doesn’t sound much better…but really, I assure you…it IS!!!!
Reid Hall 108:
Our room is a bit tiny, but absolutely adorable. The closets are really cute, and the view out our window is priceless! One of the only problems we have is that the desks are attached to the wall and don’t move. For those of you who don’t know, Bridget and I lived together freshman year too, and we moved our furniture around in our tiny dorm every two weeks without fail. So to be here for 3 ½ months and not be able to move furniture is going to be a bit of a challenge!
Randoms:
I get to see Elton John every day!
Okay, okay…..not the real one (though I TOTALLY wish…God, I LOVE him…) but someone who looks A LOT like him! William, the guy who sits at the desk in Reid Hall in order to help assist with questions, laundry tokens, and just a friendly smile looks like Elton John!! For this reason, my friends and I have taken to calling him Elton (mostly because I JUST learned his real name…). “Elton” constantly wears these FABULOUS brooches, totally has a facebook, and is just the highlight of my day! Knowing how enthralled I am by him, and also how much I would LOVE to get a picture of/with him, my friends and I have begun to devise plans in order to achieve this. I tried the other day to get a picture but it was an EPIC fail and not subtle in the least!! =)
My EPIC fail at getting a picture. I was trying to be sneaky but I accidentally left the flash on....If you look closely, you can kind of see him! 
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