Big News!

Hello again!

     I hope the last few days have treated you well. They've certainly been eventful for me. I shall begin by mentioning that I still have not attended a lecture. Oops. If you've been following, you know I missed half of Orientation because my iPhone/Alarm died during the night. Well... I didn't have class on Monday at all, but on Tuesday I had it at 9:10 AM and my UK phone alarm (which I had been using all week previously with success) failed to go off at all and thus I missed my first class. Today, I was ready. This was not going to happen again so I showed up bright and early ready to go. Except no one else did. Apparently, the professor had emailed everyone else and pushed class back to next week. UGH. I already was in trouble through the International Office for accidentally skipping my first class. I guess they're afraid I'll slink off into the UK and steal their jobs, sell drugs, or just generally create mischief. Luckily, this one wasn't my fault. Side note, we call it hacking someone's Facebook, they call it Frape. HA! Tina taught me this one. She's on crutches and practically bedbound so I copy her accent just out of reach. (That's for you Tina) Moohahaha!

     To whom it may concern: Contrary to popular belief, it is not possible to live off of sandwiches and tea. Dagblastit. This discovery broke my heart and my wallet simultaneously. I had to go shopping again. Bleh. This time, I went with Jamie and Naomi to town and we figured out the bus systems on our own. Score! While in town, we went back to the Bullring and I ate an Asparagus and Mushroom pie (think Sweeney Todd minus the human flesh) at Urban Pie. After eating, Jamie and I went to Tesco (look it up Americans) and I bought some pasta and meatballs and soup. That should last a while at least. I hope... Another sidenote: While trying to put on classical piano music to type my blog to, I found out Pandora doesn't work here either. What the heck? Spotify it is.

     On a different note, I love/hate Skype. I love video chatting with home, but I hate how pixely it is and how half the time it doesn't even work. Although my family's wifi has been down since I left and I haven't gotten to Skype with them at all (pure bollocks), I have really enjoyed Skyping with Blake and Ethan the past few days. Talking to them makes me feel less homesick. It's like I'm right there with them only out of fart and nerf gun range. I've also talked to my cousin Dawson and Brittany, but only once each. Trying to get ahold of Pancho and Brittany during the Spring is next to impossible, but I knew that would happen going into it. I'm about to get pretty busy myself actually. Guess why?! I got a part in this semester's musical: The Jungle Book. We haven't started rehearsals yet, but Sam, the head honcho, says it's the part of Mowgli's childhood wolf friend, Grey Sister, who ends up fighting her father for the Alpha position and getting into cahoots with Sher Khan. Yesssssssss. So I get to play a villain, do stage combat, and apparently it's a substantial role so I get to sing a lot too. Yay! But I'm not overly excited or anything. No. Not at all.

     So back to today, after returning from shopping, a group of the Erasmus students headed to the gym to watch a football match. It's not soccer. It's football. It was too cold and I pretty much hate watching sports, so I left early. At that point, I was super exhausted so I decided to make dinner and go to sleep. It didn't happen. That was 8:30 PM and now it is 3:30 AM. When I went to heat some soup on the stove, Naomi came in (after getting struck in the head with the football) and started making tortellini. Naturally, I offered to split my soup if she'd split her pasta and naturally, she agreed. Though I haven't bee in class yet, I have learned something here, and that is when someone starts making food, a crowd gathers. Halfway through the meal, Sanna came in and I made her tea and we discussed many things (Purposefully vague). As she was about to leave, Daisy came in and joined our conversation and then Nathaneal came in and we had ourselves a dinner party. At this point, I remembered his Les Mis obsession and we decided to go down to London in a few weeks to see it on the West End (YES) and then I convinced the room to join me at the Walk the Moon concert in a month.

     After convincing them to join me in my theatrical pursuits, I started talking about Improv and the 24 hour play festival at home, at which point Nathaneal proposed that I host Improv workshops here and if they take of, maybe a 24 hour playfest. I am going to try and take this and run with it, not only because I am super passionate about theatre, but also because I have way too much time on my hands here. I'm getting stir-crazy. I shall discuss this with Kevin. Anywho, after Nate and Sanna left, Naomi, Daisy, and I indulged in an episode of Pretty Little Liars. All I can say is poor Spencer. :'( And good acting chops Troian! Loved the performance.

     Before I go, Saturday I will be going on a group day trip to Oxford. Yes. That does include places where Harry Potter was filmed. I'm bringing extra knickers in case I pee myself of excitement. I'm also bringing my time turner that Alison gave me. Maybe it will work in the presence of HP magic. Pleasepleaseplease. Of to bed then! Good night!

Russell xx