First few days at Lancaster!

As requested, I am actually putting things up on my blog. No pictures yet, because I don't have internet access in my room yet so I can't actually download anything from my camera. We did have a tour of Lancaster today from an adorable old British man with an umbrella and I managed to sneak 5 pictures of him when he wasn't looking. At first I just wanted to get one but then my friend Maja was so amused that it turned into a kind of game. I also, however, have many pictures of the town and campus and I will take more soon.

My flight & arrival at school all went fine...the countryside near the school is very pretty and full of sheep. My room does not look anything like the attractive photos on the Lancaster website but it isn't bad. The hallway outside my room, however, smells kind of weird, the bathroom smells even weirder, and the kitchen is pretty messy. Apparently I am the only girl in my flat and the boys are all pretty messy. I am not sure how I feel about sharing a shower with 4 or 5 17-year-old boys. I do tend to get along with boys better than with girls, it is just the messiness that worries me.

BUT! Today! for the first time! I met students who actually attend Lancaster all the time - who are NOT international students - because they live in my building and came to introduce themselves. One of them, Yumi, lives on the floor below me and she offered to let me use their kitchen and shower, so I might take her up on this.

So far there is not much else exciting to tell about - I've just been meeting awesome international students, which makes this first week feel like just being in the US, and we haven't been exploring town much other than to get groceries. I will update more when I can explore Lancaster a bit more and meet some new people.

I also finally got a thin fleece blanket for my bed today, which was impossible to find. The heat in all of the dorms is turned off between 11 PM and 7 AM. If you can explain to me why this is logical, please do. I am more likely to be in my room between 11 and 7 than at any other time of day. So...?!!

I will write more soon, right now I need to go work out my class schedule. Much love to all of you.

-Julia