All Caught Up and Run Down...

Hello! If you haven't figured it out I HAVE arrived safely - luggage in tow and free of charge care of my mother's conversation with a helpful flight attendant. The past few days have been really hectic, and as a result, I'm spending today in bed, with kleenex, hot water and blankets trying to nurse myself back to health.

Let's go back to the beginning for a moment though:

The plane ride:
Relatively harmless - they shaved a half hour off of arrival time and I had an aisle seat. Once I got in, I went to hand over my VISA to customs, to which the attendant snidely asked WHY would I want to go to Exeter...Then past customs, to baggage where their baggage carts are FREE! Already I was loving England. I had a brief reunion with a university friend who's there to teach as well, and then off down a 10 minute path to the other terminal where I was greeted and shepherded onto a hot bus for the 4 hour trip across the country to Exeter. I glanced out to my left and saw stonehenge....and then about 2 hours later to my left I saw one of the old red telephone booths and I knew I had arrived. Turns out, Exeter attracts students from El Salvador and Khazakistan (the former was worried about growing accustomed to recycling). The Canadians bonded together, and 2 of us (namely, Emma and I) found ourselves in the same residence. The other, Sam, lives down the path...and for the majority of this week, we've been checking off our to-do lists together.

Monday:
After a fitful sleep on a mattress with no pillows and in damp cold, I made a decision to buy bedding - THIS DAY. There were supposed to be these university packs of linen and dishes available for order- BUT people are still waiting on them - and they're expected to take at least another week to arrive. Before I could treck to Tesco (the UK edition of Wal-Mart) we did a bit of a campus tour - the main campus is about a 40 minute walk away, ALL up hill (but then again, so is everything else in England) and the city centre is about a 20 minute walk. My campus, luckily, is only about 10. The campus tour was anything but thrilling, although we DID discover the washrooms which J.K. Rowling based some of her Potter sections on (yes, she did go here...but then dropped out) We made it to the Tesco later and started scratching things off our list - bedding, blankets, water filters...check. Then we couldn't figure out how to get home - as apparently certain busses stop running at certain times (and the bus fair was 2 pounds anyway- that's 4 dollars one way!) so we befriend some police officers, and used their walkie-talkies to grab a cab home. I also succumbed to picking up a 4 pound cell phone, with a pay as you go plan as otherwise, I would have no contact number - making banking difficult (and the ever-important task of buying pizza)

Tuesday:
Tuesday we got productive- we registered with the university, picked up our health cards, opened bank accounts, registered with the health and insurance departments and bought glorious pillows. This all took WAY longer than anticipated, and exhausted us - though jet lag was a huge contributer. Also of note, Shoppers Drug Mart is going to receive an angry letter from me, as their converters do not work - not only have I blown my alarm clock/ipod dock...but I'm pretty sure I've wrecked my Canadian hair straightner - and, on that note, my bangs which were nicely singed before I noticed the danger. On Tuesday, I also bought a hair straightener UK style - though it doesn't do much good here with all the humidity.

Wednesday:
I woke up with a cough - great. Emma has a cold. We began the hunt for hangers and medicine - which is more difficult than you think because ALL the hangers in every location are sold out due to the student population AND the are almost no recognizeable brands of medicine here - so I ended up with something called a Buttercup cough syrup and I'm hoping it works. We made another grand trip out to Tesco, this time for kettle, school supplies, thumb tacks...and...drumroll...our first grocery shop. We had initally wanted our groceries to be mailed to us BUT because we're living in a brand new residence, it has its own postcode that nobody recognizes yet- so there goes that option. The grocery stores are something else here - signs to eat healthy are posted everywhere...and they have all these 2 for 3 pound, etc deals - also, the gourmet cheese here are Canadian...I bought a load of stuff, and then, upon check out was carded because APPARENTLY you need to be 19 here to purchase knives- as in the knives in my cutlery set. Anyhow, we got home late, I had a meal of mashed potatoes, and then opted out of a wine party in order to watch Mad Men and nurse myself back to health.

Today:
I've basically quarantined myself today. I tried the practice test for these online computer and math tests I need to complete- and failed the computer one - does not inspire confidence. Tomorrow I'll consider trecking out to campus once more...and fingers crossed that whatever this cold/cough/flu thing is it dissapears by the weekend or Monday.

So that's the day by day- other than that- here's some essential information:
a) i'm really concerned about taking photos here because eventually I'll need to charge up my cameras, and as I've had such an excellent track record with the Canadian power converters..well, you fill in the blanks
b) I have no idea how many of us are living in this little house -- there's 4 rooms per floor, and the basement houses a kitchen and table (though no sitting room or couch, much to my dismay) The ones I've met are all from Canada- and of the 3 other Canadian I live with, 2 are in the primary program and, as such, started last week.
c) My room is great- though missing a lot of drawer space. Though my bathroom has an automatic sensor that turns the light on for only 30 seconds at a time (leaving me to shower in the dark) I have a towel warmer- which makes everything better.
d) The weather has been a bit dodgy - cold in the morning and at night, and hot in the afternoons - I'm looking forward to constant cold, just so I can figure out what to wear in the mornings
e) I have yet to sleep through the night here. Thank you jet lag. I continue to try to go to bed at an appropriate time, but can't stop myself yet from waking up at 3 in the morning for a few hours.
f) Yes, things here are expensive- but the tea is worth it.
g) The majority of people here have been great, less one bus driver who told us to get our act together and kicked us off the bus prematurely.
h) I haven't been hurt yet crossing the street- but I'm expecting it to happen at least once.

And that about brings you up to speed! Fingers crossed for my speedy recovery so I can start exploring again!