My first 24 Hours in Manchester

So I am finally in Manchester, England.

The Flight:
The flight over here was incredibly smooth. Absolutely no turbulance and I passed out for four hours because my mom made me take sleeping pills that I insisted I wouldn't need (which actually was the reason why it turned out to be a great flight). It was nine hours to London then transfered to another Terminal which was very easy; then one hour to Manchester. The student service bused us over to school and dropped us off in an alley street. I felt like an abandoned child. Absolutely no idea where the heck we were. Luckily some purple-wearing-tshirt girl comes strolling by and helped us to our dorm. This girls name was Emily and I found out that she just got back from Seattle, Washington, visiting a friend.

Manchester Appearance:
Flying over Manchest is quite beautiful. Its got rolling green hills with clusters and lines of trees. Every building is red brick and pretty short. Most of the houses look like townhouses but some are regular. Its strange not seeing any skyscrappers or modern buildings. I have not been on campus yet because it is so far away. Tomorrow I am going to tackle the bus system and hopefully find my way to main campus and recieve a campus tour from my favorite student service. My dorm is surprisingly not too bad. Its a courtyard with all exchange students and freshers (which is freshman). I have one window, a sink, desk, regular sized closet and a bed. The bar in the dorm looks like a cafeteria where they play techno music and stand around talking and drinking. The British can really drink their faces off.

My First Night:
I had dinner in my dorm. Its weird how they speak the same language as me but I still have trouble understanding. I couldn't understand any words the lady was saying so I just pointed to random stuff. Green beans is salad, carrots, and I have no idea what they call the curry. The food is going to take some getting used to I ALWAYS feel hungry. I sat with two boys and a girl, Ali, Mads and John. They were very friendly, all freshman, and eager to meet people. They freaked out when I said that the movie 10 things I hate about you was from seattle. FREAKED OUT. When hanging out in the courtyard my mentor called my name. He said he was keeping an eye out and thought he recognized me. Really crazy definetly was not expecting that. We are going to get together sometime next week I think. I met my neighbors in the dorm and one is from Boston the other from New York. We went out to a bar with a bunch of british boys called Queen of Hearts. It is an old church made into a bar. They play a game called "save the queen" where if they drop a coin into your drink you have to drink alllll of it or else the queen will drown. It was fun and I met a lot of people but I only stayed an hour. That night the fire alarm went off twice. When I finally got back to bed the dorm next to us went off...I have a feeling is a prank that is pulled on all freshers.

The First Day:
I don't really want to get into much of my day because its been bullcrap. Everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong. My converters broke my lap top and blow dryer. Apparently people don't use blow dryers here so you have to go into town to get them. I bought a straightener because when I plugged mine in the room smelt like fire. Got my lap top fixed for 30 pounds, got a phone, internet took about 4 hours this morning and still isnt working in my room. Blah blah blah it just goes on. It will definetly get better when I get settled and get the hang of things.

Tonight:
The Bop is going on in the dorm bar tonight. I might check it out but I am so tired I really just want to sleep.

Words I've Learned US to UK:
-Whats Up/ How are you? -Are you alright?
-Thanks -Cheers
-Green Beans- Salad
-Pants -Trousers
-Cider -Cider (took me ten minutes to realize he was actually saying cider...really embarrassing)
I cant really remember the others. I will add then later.

Anyways, pray that Manchester will get easier for me!

Nat