And then I flew around the world!

     Hello to all you back home! I know I had previously told some of you I would write up a blog as soon as I got to Birmingham, but unfortunately, I needed a wifi password and login and the IT desk has been closed every day but today either because of weather or because it was after hours. So anyway, on with it, right? (A little warning: this will be all over the place at first because a lot has happened since then.)

So first: The Packing

     Oh good lord. Packing was not really difficult, but it was definitely tedious. What exactly is a necessity? Well to me that means my closet. My WHOLE closet. Narrowing down my clothing was a bit hard until I realized I could buy more here. HA! So I packed one checked bag, my carry-on, and my leather backpack. Each were completely full. It was fabulous having to take something out of my backpack and then needing to remove everything and then restuff it. Also, note to self: When I think a bag is 75 pounds, it's really 38 and I just need to work out more.

So then: The Flights



My Jam!

     The flights were alright. Mom and Loni saw me off in Tulsa and of course Mom cried. I didn't expect any less. From there I flew into Minneapolis and the layover was so short that when I looked at the departure list on the screen it immediately changed to "Boarding" and I had to power walk to my gate. The about nine hour flight was a little suckish at first because I couldn't sleep properly and the seat only tipped abut 10 degrees back. Each seat had a screen in front of it embedded in the back of the seat in front of it, so I decided to look for some relaxing music to send me off to sleep. The first album listed was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 soundtrack. How perfect is that?! I listened to it through twice. Then I listened to an Imagine Dragons album. Still not much luck with sleep so I turned on The Perks of Being a Wallflower with Emma Watson (Also perfect) and indulged my obsession a bit. The flight-attendants loved me because I made friends with them and it turns out this has benefits. At the end of the flight, he gave me a bag full of free stuff like toothbrush, toothpaste, lotion, sleeping mask, and several other things. Score! Another perk was watching the elderly couple next to me play children games on their screen in which they designed cartoon animals. That was funny.
     We landed in Amsterdam and then after an hour we boarded our last flight to Birmingham. This flight was mostly uneventful since it was only an hour. Once we arrived in Birmingham, an Italian student named Gianmarco (pronounced John-Marco) was waiting for us holding a sign like they do in movies that had the name of the university on it. So then we were driven to the school on the opposite side of the road and we (the other American students, Jaime and Eric, and I) met Daisy and Kelly from Hong Kong. It is snowy in Birmingham and they had never seen snow so that was cool. Daisy said she heard that Americans wear short sleeves in the snow and I laughed and showed her my t-shirt under my coat.

Last off: Birmingham!!

     I don't want to go step by step anymore. This post is getting tedious, so I'll just write the highlights. Since I only got my wifi today, I have four days I'm trying to squeeze into one post. On the day after I arrived, an Irish guy named Kevin and a couple of English guys, Nathaniel and Max, took a few of the International students (Erasmus) downtown. Downtown was pretty big and all packed together. Walking is huge here. I was able to purchase shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and other things I needed like groceries and hangers. They gave me six hangers. SIX. I now have 30 and I still can't hang everything up that I want to. Plus my shelves are full. (Side note: The lockbox in the wardrobe is great to hold socks and underwear.)

 

Not sure where these places are? Brush up on your geography!

     Today! (25/1/13)! I made a great first impression and slept through the welcome breakfast and the morning orientation. They sent an English guy, Jordan, to come wake me up. That's when I realized my iPhone had died during the night so the alarm did not go off. Oops... Boring boring boring. Skip to dinner. I met several girls and we decided to put in money and make dinner together. I put in money and ate but I cannot cook. Sanna and Naomi are from Belgium and Ellen and Kris are from the Netherlands. Kelly and Daisy joined as well. It was really good food and good company. I offered to make tacos, hamburgers, and jello shots for them since they've not really been exposed to that before. (They've probably had burgers before but not American). During dinner I taught them nose goes and awkward turtle which they seem to like. They kept doing awkward turtle all night! Later, at the bar I got to meet more people and somehow we got into the discussion of boobs and names for that. I say chest and none of them do. The English say tits. When Naomi heard this she said "Oh! Like Titsburg!" I had to explain that no, it's actually Pittsburg.

I will write more tomorrow, but it is 2:10 AM here (8:10 PM home) so I am going to bed for now. I will charge my iPhone so I actually wake up and then leave you with a few fast facts. Ciao!

x Russell

Fast facts:

• They have Subway here.
• Bus fare for a day is 3.90 pounds.
• They have a place called Poundland that is basically Dollar General, but it has a ton of things and never is more than a pound.
• Tax is included in the prices before checkout.
• The Bullring is basically a three story mall that has two buildings.
• Big Ben is not the clock tower. It is the bell within.
• Dallas, eclectic, and plenty are funny words for the English and Kevin to hear me say.