Travel, Travel, Travel.....

Hello for Birmingham!

Wow what a crazy adventure it has been so far!

The first plane ride was 5 1/2 hours to Iceland and it wasn't too bad. On the plane our meal was some kind of mix between enchiladas' and manicotti...sketch! Then we had about an hour lay over there till we hopped on the final plane to Heathrow, which was a 2 1/2 hour flight.

As soon as we landed in England, we spent about an hour or so getting through customs. Finally, we meet up with our program director and professors from UMD and took off on two coaches to Birmingham. It was a 2 1/2 hour coach ride that felt like 5 minutes....I slept the ENTIRE time!

We arrived at our Flats around 3pm and had three hours to settle in a bit then meet the entire group for a FREE dinner of cold english sandwiches such as curry and bacon, cheese and onion, chicken and corn, and cheese and pickles....again...sketch. The next morning, leaving no room for jet leg, we had to be up and ready to meet at 9am for our full day of getting acquainted with the University.

We first went to the Bank to set up our accounts, which took roughly 5 hours total. We also had to sign up for our Heath Care on campus.

Then they took us on the city bus around to some places like the grocery store and where are classes will be held.

Today, another early morning, we went to Selly Oak Campus and did a 'lottery.' We all got a piece of paper with times, number of items per room, and which room to start in first. So since we all arrive in flats with only clothes and some toiletries, are flats are pretty empty besides a couple plates, a cup, and a sauce pan. So the students from last year left stuff they didn't have room for to take back and we got to go through all that stuff and take what we might need.

I was able to get: A hair straighter, a few kitchen utensils, notebooks, pens, kettle, measuring cups, and some other random school supplies.

Also today we had some speakers from the International Office on Campus to talk about Welcome week and a police officer to talk to us about how to stay safe here.

Thus far I've had a great time......beside's the date with the porcelain toilet this morning due to a little bit of jet leg, dehydration, city buses, and a bad cold cut sandwich.... I can tell I'm really going to love it here and I'm already thinking that it's flying by!

It's 9:20 pm here and we JUST got internet! I got a cell phone last night and my number is:

07908154898

My address is:

Block 21 Flat 138
Tennis Courts
Edgbaston Park Road
Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2RB

Tomorrow we head off bright and early for the Lake District till Monday night! I'll let you know how it all goes!

See ya! Miss you!