Best and Worst of Times

Hey all!

So last night I went out with my new friend, Wesley, from Boston. Her school did a lot of planning and got all the Bentley students to be in the same accomodations, which is cool. We played some games at her place for an hour or so before going out. It was very interesting because we had a wide range of people in one small living room. There were two boys from Milan, one boy from Sweden, a handful of British, about 6 or 7 girls from Boston, 6 or 7 boys from Boston, a boy from NYU and me from Seattle.

After awhile we went to their dorm bar and its called the Grovel. There some British people showed me how to take a jagerbomb "the british style" which is no different then from the US! In Sweden they call a jagerbomb, a submarine. I got to know Carl, the one from Sweden, fairly well. He was very interested in my class at UW, Introduction to Scandanavia, politics and Disney movies like the Little Mermaid. He told me that he had been to Miami before during the re-election of President Bush and how there were so many protests. He said it was funny because he had never seen something like that; people were standing along the roads with signs and yelling. He jumped in with the crowds and felt like he could make a good protestor even though he didn't know the purpose. He knew all about McCain and Obama and the Iraq War. He said that everyone in Sweden hates President Bush but they really don't have a better solution. This all was very interesting to me. He said that in Sweden they have a monarchy and they love it.

We then did a little bit of bar hoping and club hoping...I really got to know the group of people I went out with pretty well and it was fun. The majority of exchange students that I have met have been really friendly. Everyone is in this together and wants to make as many friends as possible...otherwise it would get really lonely here! Its really amazing how much I've learned about different cultures in Europe so far but also just about different areas in the US. People from NY and Boston are also very different from Seattlites. I'm so thankful to have this blog because only afer 2 and a half days of being in England I feel that there is so much to talk about!

The fire alarm did go off at 4:30 am and unfortuneatly I could not fall back asleep until like 10 am. Those darn freshers think they are so funny. I heard them yelling downstairs being like "you do it...no you do it"...I was just thinking 'wait for it, wait for it' and off the alarm goes. I really hope they get tired of it. So when I should have been sleeping I put together my bulletin board in the dark (my electricity died last night).

So I missed some things I wanted to do this morning because I slept until about noon but its okay because there are repeats tomorrow. At 3pm I went to main campus to have a three hour tour of Manchester...that was really fun. My favorite thing we drove by was the Manchester Cathedral and I would really like to go visit it later this week. I forget which person built it but it was their punishment for signing the Magna Carta. A lot of the time I felt like the tour guide was a little bit hostile toward Americans. When we drove by the Manchester United facility she says, "Now Americans own Manchester United, the people of Manchester and the rest of Britian used to own it and we were doing just fine, but now the Americans are owning it." eeeeek.

The Labour Party Conference is being held in Manchester right now...so there are a lot of protests going on. It's different because police take pictures of the protests and have cameras on long sticks. Its almost like "Big Brother watching you."

Another interesting thing I learned from the tour was how Manchester likes to recycle their buildings. Many of the buildings were from the Industrial Age like Cotton mills and such and then have been recycled and are now hotels or apartments. Thats very different from the states because when some company gets bought out, or the land itself, we usually tear it down and rebuild...they don't waste the money and they are left with their old beautiful architecture. We also drove by the tallest free standing building in Europe...it was only 4o something stories...and guess what it is? the Hilton Hotel. O Paris Hilton.

Tonight there is some big army party going on for all the students. I don't understand how all my friends can go out and stay out to 3 am every night and do it over and over. I know I am going to shower, finish my bulletin board, and go to sleep!!! (got to get sleep when I can).

Tomorrow's Schedule:
9 am Welcome Lecture
11 am Tour Campus
12 pm Free Lunch at BSchool
12:30 Go to Barclays bank to get the ATMs to work!
then hopefully get the internet to work...

More words US to UK:
-roommates- flatmates
-messed up -buggard
-tight -wicked
-cents -pents
-a bill -a note
-a line -a queue

Love,
Natalie