Class, Naps, and Paranoia — Tuesday 27 September

Today was another successful crepe tuesday. I figured out that mixing olive oil into the batter helps make them better.
I went to talk to IT before my noon class (the only one for tuesdays) and was told that my issues with receiving emails were pretty much a mystery. Sigh. I was more successful at the payments desk, where I picked up my stipend cheque to be cashed at one Barclays Bank. Then I went to class, and took some notes before class started. I'll probably sound pretentious. Don't say I didn't warn you.
HIS114, which turned into my first module at the University of Sunderland: So far, really warm and probably full of freshmen. Smelly ones. Although, that might just be the room. 
All the british students are up in arms about the heat. It's supposed to get up to 25 ºC (which is around 77 ºF). That's a rather warm room temperature. 
I had a strange conversation about study abroad, modules, and the weather with an irate southerner (I suspect London, but I'm not sure). He insisted on calling me "Raeanna". 
The classroom was really warm, and no one on the windows would open one. Regarding the outside temperature, I heard someone with a british accent trying to explain the term "Indian Summer" to a german international, so I guess it's one of those terms that forgoes rational cultural identification.
I need to come up with better reasons for going on this trip. "Because I've always wanted to see England" doesn't sound that great, and "I've always wanted to study abroad, and I don't speak any other language fluently" sounds worse. Any thoughts, please let me know.
I was pleased when I didn't end up in the 09:00 seminar group, but then I realised that I wasn't registered for the class and so hadn't been placed in a group. Bummer. I ended up in the 10:00 group.
The first lecture was an overview, and I didn't know most of it. I did know that the world wars aren't in the early modern period, which stretches from approximately 1500 (1453 and the fall of Constantinople and 1492 and Columbus sailing the ocean blue are two academic contenders in the great debate) to 1750 (I don't know why). That made me feel better, because I'm slightly less unknowledgeable than the person behind me. It looks like the class will be over the social events of the period and how they are intertwined with the political and religious events of the period. I'm pretty satisfied with this, since I know a little bit about the religious events as taught in Core 150 (who knew it would be so useful?) and I have a vague impression of English history for that period.
After class, I hunted for Barclays. I was not very successful. I got directions, all conflicting, from three different people. The last one finally landed me at the "fruit and veg stand" across from the bank, but only after I walked all the way up and down three streets and ended up covering the same ground two or three times.
I bought some strawberries, peaches, and pears with some of my £520 in cash that I need to hide around my room in £38 aliquots. On the first day of orientation, Emma told us about a kid who lost £6,000 that he was carrying around in a brown envelope. Stay with me, it's related. When I got my cash, they gave it to me in a brown envelope. I went home pretty quickly, with a tight grip on my bag.
I foolishly didn't buy a pair of slippers at a random shoe store, so I was incredibly footsore with very little to show for it by the time I got home. I heated up a cheese and onion pasty (remind me to look up and test a recipe before I head home), then put on Pride and Prejudice. I updated yesterday's blog, then fell asleep for about five hours, I would say.
When I went downstairs around 20:30, everyone was just getting ready to watch Sherlock Holmes (with Robert Downey, Jr.), so I had a snack and hung around. "Everyone" here means Jessi, Conor, Josie, James, and Adam, since Micha doesn't hang out with us much and Flo was on a date (tikka chicken chom chom). We had a fun time switching around the seating arrangements every time someone got up, too. Adam's computer doesn't have a very wide angle of viewing, so the people on one end of the "couch" got the slightly inverted colour scheme.
After the movie, I set about arranging a skype date with my family for tomorrow. Now it's time to sleep, which will be aided by some mint tea.

The Beach and New Neighbour Part 2 — Monday 26 September

Today, we (Jessi, Conor, Josie, James, and I) went to the beach. There are two in Sunderland, and we ended up at the north one. Unfortunately, we couldn't see Norway, but the North Sea was nice and ocean-y. The beach was great, with clean sand and not very many rocks. This might be partly because when the tide is in, or when "the sea is in" in local parlance, the water comes all the way up to the seawall.

We finally found the beach!

Sneaky water snuck up on me.

I was big on waves crashing, but not very successful in capturing them.

Proof.

The shoreline had impressive curves.

I was also fascinated by this little wall thing and the way the waves crashed into it.

Birds!

It looked cooler in real life. That wall is the seawall, and there's a crisp packet drifting along the little stream of water from further along the beach.

We don't follow rules. 

Obligatory cute picture of Josie and James walking on the beach. Jessi is on the left there.

Can you pick and choose?

Those things with white roofs, if you can't tell, are train cars. For Andrew.

Not one, but two lighthouses. For Mom.

The sea came in. The grey in the foreground is the seawall.

I think I walked down those stairs.

Shadow pictures!

More attempts to get sprays of water from crashing waves to follow.

It sounds so fancy, promenade.

The sea promptly started behaving like a huge body of water when it came in. No crashing waves, just big rolling ones.

Bird!

Danger, ha. I laugh in the face of danger.

Here's a couple more lighthouse pictures for Mom:

Sorry about the fuzzy. I thought I had a better one.

Not actually a real light house, but still cool.

We had lunch at a fish and chips place, and I had what was billed as a "cheese patty". It turned out to be a lump of cheese and potato that had been battered and deep fried. It was kind of weird, but the chips were really good.

 I got a picture with someone else's fish for the blog.

Another English tradition checked off my list!

After that, I wandered around campus trying to get my computer troubles sorted. I can't check my timetable because I'm not actually registered for any modules, as it turns out. This made me rather irate. The fact that IT was only available from 10 AM to 2 PM today didn't help my mood.
In the end, I skipped my first class in protest of not being able to pick out classes until two business days before they start, not that they'll really know on account of me not being registered. Also, it was at 18:00 and I was reading and didn't want to catch the bus. I need a pair of slippers, because my feet are really taking a beating.
After we all got back from our various errands, Jessi hit a steep downward slope on her W-curve. The flat's common area was really messy, which has been irking her for a few days, and then there was a note on the door telling us to take out the trash and recycling. She stomped around in a bad mood and cleaned the entire common area while muttering that she hates the cleaning lady, the trash can, the vacuum, the floor, the carpet, the sink, the counter, Clanny House, Sunderland, and England. I did try to help, but she was in the sort of mood that doesn't welcome too much help.
She bounced back pretty well once the place was clean and everyone commented on it.
Tonight, we decided to have a subdued welcome party for Tom, the new guy. He didn't get back from class until after 21:00, which was about two hours after we all gathered. I suspect that we share that class, but there could be other 18:00 monday classes.
When Tom finally showed up, we discovered that he is from County Tipperary in the Republic of Ireland (so, from the British Isles, but not British as such). He's in what I believe is an education programme, although he says that he's studying history and english. I think it's because he's doing secondary (essentially the same as middle school/high school in the states) education with the intent of teaching english and/or history; he's done a semester of student teaching 14-year-olds (I think he said first years, but I'm really not sure now that I've looked up the English school system on wikipedia). He plays hurling, which is referred to as the fastest game on grass. It's pretty brutal, like a cross between field hockey and rugby. I feel that this should prepare him pretty well for teaching adolescents.
It also appears that Jessi (my roommate) is quite taken with Tom. It's pretty funny, and also induced one of the first gossip-y moments that we had as a flat (sans Jessi and Tom). Thanks to the fairly even mix of genders and wide spectrum of personality types in the flat, there've been almost no snippy, catty little incidents.
We had a fun discussion about accents in general, which occasionally prompted arguments between Adam and James (northern and southern, respectively) in which they mimicked each other's accents.
Around 23:30, a general craving for pizza was discovered, and we hunted frantically through our collection of flyers and takeout menus for a pizza place open after 23:00. Once we found one, Josie called and had a hard time communicating with the pizza person. I'm sure it didn't help that her australian accent isn't very similar at all in any way to the pizza person's Geordie accent. I'm really not sure why Adam didn't call in the first place, because he can actually talk with a Geordie accent. 

Orientation Day 4 — Thursday 22 September

This morning, I slept in forever! Around noon, I organised my clothes and stuff, then headed over to Forster Building to get my modules sorted. By the time I got there, the advisors had all gone out for lunch, so I decided to follow suit. I also wanted to register for the Student Union's Connect programme, which plans trips and events, so I headed over to the Gateway and stood in line three times to register my mobile number with the university and get my meal stipend cheque (it turns out that I can't actually set up an account with the bank because I'm not here long enough, so I need to take the cheque back and get someone up high to sign off on the bank cashing it for me. At least it will be easier to ration...). Afterwards, I had a cheese and onion pasty, and it was the most delicious thing ever. It is also the only vegetarian thing in the pasty/pie category, so I count my blessings. I don't trust "cheese savoury" sandwiches, because they look like coleslaw, and I wasn't in the mood for egg salad or even tomato and cheese (which they have!).
After my lunch, I went back and climbed three flights of stairs twice to find the place where I could get my modules sorted. I had a great view from the room I waited in, but I wasn't alone so no pictures were taken. Sorry.
I ended up meeting with the guy who ran the meeting yesterday, and it turned out that my biochem class was completely available and in the right semester and everything! I also picked History of England, 1500-1750 and English Literature 1700-1789.
After that got worked out, I took another weight off my chest by finding a walking route from the campus to Clanny. I also got stopped by Aldi to get some cheese and "laundry gel" (laundry detergent comes in "laundry gel", "laundry powder", "laundry tablets", and "laundry gel packets" while dish soap is "washing up liquid") at Aldi, a plant at a florist's shop, and tea and not-pocky at a supermarket (which means little tiny grocery store here).

Plant! It's a Sinningia Gloxina, from Brazil.

It was nice to see a familiar face in the supermarket.

It's not-Pocky!

But before that, I saw this.

When I got back to Clanny, the fire alarms were being tested, so a deafening siren blasted through the whole flat every thirty seconds or so for about an hour. It was miserable, and I ended up putting in earplugs because my ears hurt.
I went to Asda (because Adam was going, and I need dishes), and ended up with 4/£1 nectarines, a plate, a bowl, a small square mug that came with a small square saucer for my plant. I also bought a Kinder egg in the checkout line because I've never had one, and I think they're illegal in the US. Pictures to follow.

I plan on turning in early because we have to be at the Gateway at 08:30 for the coach to York. This time, I've got dramamine in my purse, to be shared freely until it runs out.

Orientation Day 3, Metrocentre, Birthday — Wed 21 September

Today began with a frantic search to find my alarm, which was neither under my pillow nor coming from my computer. I eventually found it under my bed. Fortunately, the adrenaline was an effective way to wake up before the skype call planned with my family. I got to see yet another sunrise, much to my chagrin. Beautiful as they are, I hate sunrises.

The call went well, and it was nice to see everyone even if they did call ten minutes early. After the call, I went back to bed for half an hour.
Quick note: "module" means "class/course". This threw me off to no end before I figured it out.
Jessi, Josie, Flo, and I had the same advisor meeting at 9:30, and we were hoping to be out before the coach to the Metrocentre left at 12:30. Unfortunately, the advisor was half an hour late and talked for an hour about the online systems (that mostly don't work for study abroad, as it turned out). 12 o'clock came around without me seeing the advisor, and I managed to arrange for more of an independent online module-code-finding adventure before a physical meeting the next day. It wouldn't have been such an issue if the physical module lists had included biomedical/pharmaceutical sciences...

In any case, we all got to the coach (which is just a big bus, like LCS used for away games) on time. I was looking forward to more of england in the daylight, but I don't have any pictures from the way over because I was extremely carsick. I thought it was just me, but Jessi had the same problem. I resolved to remember my dramamine on the York trip friday.
After what felt like several hours but was in fact about half an hour, we arrived. My group included Jessi, Kari (Jessi's friend from Germany who's studying here, too), Josie, Conor, and, briefly, Scott from Colorado and a girl who might be from Whitworth, but I never caught her name. I don't actually know her, so...
We ate at Nando's, which is a mostly chicken restaurant. I got chips (fries in American) and ratatouille. It was okay, but a little heavy on the onions. After that, Scott and mystery girl split, and the rest of us went to Primark for cheap clothes. I wanted jeans, but there were none in my size. At all. In the end, I got a longsleeve t-shirt for a few pounds, a duvet cover and pillow case, and some hangers. Jessi, a goddess among women, held my place in the massively long queue so I could get the hangers.

No clashing!

By the time I got out of the store, everyone else was gone. I decided that I would go to one of the two Orange stores to see if I couldn't get my mobile up and running. I found it after about an hour of wandering, and finally got it registered. Unfortunately, I had forgotten my £10 voucher for the pay card, so I tried to top it up at a "cash point" (ATM). I need to look that up online, because I have no idea how it's suppose to work. I ended up going to the other Orange store to have them either explain it or top it up for me.
It worked out, and I wandered the mall in a good mood until I got to a stationary store and tried to buy a binder and some paper.
My wallet was not in my bag. It wasn't in my shopping bag. It wasn't in my jacket pocket. It still wasn't in any of my bags or pockets after three searches. The cashier was very sympathetic, and offered to hold my stuff until I came back with my wallet.
This was pretty devastating. While I only had £15 in cash, I had all my cards and pictures of friends in the wallet. I also didn't want to have to buy another wallet, cancel my debit card, and get a new drivers' license, Whitworth ID, debit card, and library card. I was also mad at myself for losing yet another wallet (lost my first one a few weeks into my freshman year at Whitworth), and so soon into the trip. I would have to rely on the goodwill of my friends for food and transportation until the debit card company sent me a new card.
In spite of my troubles, I held it together pretty well. I remembered exactly where I'd been, and suspected that I'd left the wallet right in the Orange store. Still, I walked back through all the stores, up and down stairs and escalators, until I returned to the Orange store. After what seemed like a very long wait in a very warm store, I was directed to the help desk just outside the store.
They had my wallet! I was walking on air. All my cards, all my cash, all my pictures, right there in my hands again when I  thought I'd never see them again.
I thanked God sincerely for the unexpected birthday gift.
I used my phone to call Jessi and find out where anybody else was, and found them successfully. We all kind of showed off our loot, then headed back to the meeting point at about 17:15 before waiting about an hour for the coach to show up. Josie had bought a huge cookie from a cookie store in the mall, and was asked repeatedly who it was for. Apparently, she was planning on eating cookie for about a month.
I sat much closer to the front, and it took at least fifteen minutes for the carsickness to kick in. I got some pictures during that time.

Spire! Steeple! Thing!

Countryside. About how I saw it by that time, actually... 

Practically home.

Jessi and I hypothesized that it's the road, not the driver or the bus. I think that bumps and any other types of sudden motion (like the terrible shifting in the first bus) jerk us around too much and shock our brains into thinking that we need to be nauseated.
When we got back to Clanny, it was decided that we should go to an Indian takeout place along Hylton Street (runs along one side of Clanny House). Once Flo finally finished doing his registration stuff on Conor's laptop, we collected Kari and set off. Adam and Michaela pled full stomachs and didn't come.
On the way, we met the Ginger Clanny House Cat, a huge long-haired orange tabby who has his own facebook page.
Once we reached Curry Express, we sat down in the hotel registration-like front room of the restaurant and read the menu. Flo read it out loud, and "Tikka Chicken Chom Chom" became an inside joke. Picture it said with a sleazy eyebrow wiggle... In any case, I got Vegetable Biryani and an order of garlic naan.
Remember the cookie that Josie bought? It was actually my "cake". It said "Happy Birthday, Raeann" (spelled correctly!) and had a card signed by everybody in the flat. Josie got some pictures of it, and I intend to get them onto the blog ASAP.
That night, there was a "nerd" themed party at a Uni bar, which was interpreted by most girls as "slutty school girl uniform". This meant that there were people in the kitchen in varying states of drunkenness, and I hung around for a while before deciding that beer smells really gross in a warm kitchen full of people drinking beer. I went upstairs, killed the spider above the bathroom door for Jessi, and updated the blog before I went to sleep.
It was a good birthday.

Orientation Day 1 – Mon 19 September

I slept away sunday, but monday found me wandering the streets of sunderland with a slew of internationals in search of the university. They knew where it was, but I still can’t find it on foot. We got there in plenty of time, although the study abroad team was late. 

The orientation today was about England, the north of England, and Sunderland, town and university. During the break, I went in search of food, and found The Bridges, a mall near the City campus. I got an iced mocha in a bookstore, and ended up getting cranberry juice from a pub.

Then came registration, which didn’t work well for most of us. Apparently we were told to bring all our originals from our applications, but since I turned those in and never even saw my transcript (same for most ISEP students), I was out of luck, as was almost everyone else. Emma, the study abroad lady, said that it happens every year. I hear that it’s being worked out, although one would think that they would get this fixed.

The lunch hour consisted of me going back to the Bridges with my flatmates, where I got cash out of a cash point, bought a phone (which needs me to call the network and get it registered before it will work…), and got some supplies for crepe tuesday. 

After lunch, there was a funny video about culture shock, and we had a speaker from support services (counseling, etc). He had the strangest beard… Although he looked fairly young, he had grey hair and a long, white beard. Flo (short for Florian), the German guy upstairs, thought that he should be "going around at Christmas” instead of heading up the counseling services.

We swung by Aldi, which is a cheap supermarket that all the Germans know. 

Side note: there are a lot of Germans. One flat is comprised solely of them. About 35 came over in one group as part of their degree programme, and then several others came over on their own through various exchange programmes. 

Later in the afternoon, I went for a walk with my roommate Jessi and her friend Kari in an attempt to find the beach. We failed, and may have seen a drug deal going down by the river. After that, I had some well earned toast with nutella for dinner. 

Adam from England (you remember, the fount of all knowledge), Conor from Boston/Miami, Josie from Australia, Jessi from Frankfurt, and I went to see Change Up. Some parts of it were very funny, but I wouldn’t really recommend it. I didn’t see the rating, but it has to have been R. After that, we went to Asda, which is the English branch of walmart. Adam was actually excited about Hershey's, which shocked Conor and I. 

Afterwards, we all hung out in the kitchen to chat, talk, and, for some, drink. 

Drinking is a huge part of the culture here in England. As Emma put it, the British work hard and play hard. They’re serious about their work, and also take their leisure time seriously. I’m not sure whether this denotes a flaw in the life philosophy of Brits in general, or just a way of doing things. I haven’t seen any drunken grownups lately, and not many smashed students, so I’m just going to avoid making an idiot out of myself. 

I kept forgetting my camera... Sorry!

The Visa Story (and also a house story)

Hi, all. The last post was a while ago, so here are some updates:
1. I leave in a mere 24.5 days.
2. I am not getting a visa.
3. Holy crap, I leave in less than a month.

About the visa. I had acquired a CAS number (confirmation of acceptance of studies) as required by the points-based system for UK visas when I finally found the fee page. It costs £255 for a student visa (general sponsored adult), and that works out to over $400 with the current (crappy) exchange rate. If I was staying for the full year, this would be worth it. As it stands, however, I probably wouldn't be able to make enough money to cover the cost of the visa. So, no visa. I'll try to be more frugal than I tend to be when presented with stores.

Also, I leave in less than a month.

My housing situation has improved, apparently. I will be living in a house off campus, probably in the room that the person who hooked me up with the house will vacate in December. In a fit of irony, she's the only one living there that I know beyond casual, visual acquaintance.
The house is awesome. It's got columns and a basement (already dubbed "The Cohab Cave") and a million bedrooms and a fireplace and a freaking conservatory. Also a washer, dryer, dishwasher, and refrigerator. I'll be on the ground floor, by myself and the kitchen. There's also a patio, two bathrooms, and two living room areas (the entry and the, what, parlour?). It's maybe a mile from campus, and at least one of my future housemates has a car. With some boldness on my part, I should be able to get a ride in on particularly awful mornings. On halfway decent mornings, I should be able to walk in easily enough. Hopefully, I don't have any 8 AM classes.

In other news, I leave in less than a month.
I've stopped having dreams about being unsure of my placement by ISEP (those involved a rainboot store where I never managed to try on any boots) and moved on to dreams about missing my flight (one involving hijacking another plane to catch up at Reykjavik and another about leaving the Tri Cities about half an hour before my flight leaves Seattle). Happily, my subconscious is free of fears about real, terroristic hijackers, so there's one less massive anxiety focus... With the riots in London I've spent a bit of time worrying about not being able to go for safety reasons and having to take random filler classes at Whitworth and not having a place to stay... In fact, I had planned to take random filler classes this semester anyway (just in England instead of the US), and I think there is an extra room at the house.

Wellp, see ya later.

Housing Confirmed: The Saga of the Impassable Paywall

The issue with my double entry was a non-issue, thankfully. My housing contract was offered to me, and I was all ready to accept. But new issues soon cropped up.

 Yay! Room 4B in Flat 1, Block 1 of Clanny house has been reserved for me!

 That doesn't apply to me, I'm ISEP. Pwned.

 Yep, yep. Click to agree, then... Accept offer!

Non-refundable booking fee? Whatever. I'm ISEP. 

 Er... Sure. I guess I can click that... since I have to click something. 

Whoah, whoah. No. I'm ISEP, so I don't have to pay! I emailed Sue Jackson and everything, and the University of Sunderland's Institutional Information Sheet for ISEP says that I don't have to pay booking fees.

I clicked the "Next" button and was greeted by a credit card information entry page (a paywall: I had to submit my payment information before I would be allowed to continue).
After gasping in panic and griping about the stupid automated paywalls, I emailed the "Send queries to" email, which never replies, and then forwarded my correspondence with Sue Jackson to Nicola Jackson, the ISEP person at Sunderland. Her official title is actually "International Development Officer", but whatever.
I think it was probably helpful of me to include my "Accommodation Application Reference Number", my student number, and the "Booking Reference Number" in my emails, because no one emailed me back about needing them, and the whole thing was taken care of while I was sleeping. All I had to do was email Denise from Residential Services that I confirm all the stuff that I would have happily confirmed had the site let me.
However, by the time I woke up to email anyone, it was already after 19:00 in England, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see how this turns out.