Hello, beautiful people of Canada (and elsewhere)! So sorry for the delay in writing this post – university life has a sneaky way of letting you think that you’ve got all the time in the world to get started on work, and then BAM! It’s the second week of classes and you still haven’t decided which History elective to take, lol. But more on that later. For now, I’ll start off by saying that as per usual, my life here at Essex is busy busy busy! I’ve got tons of travelling plans already made, plenty of readings to get caught up on (anyone wanna give me a synopsis of Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy?), and something new to do and experience every day here (I’m kind of amazed my body has been able to keep up – hooray for good health!). But as a result my brain is all scattered and hopped up on Twinnings tea. So with luck, this post, while all over the place, will at least be coherent. What shall I kick off with? Oh what the heck, let’s get to the good stuff right away – London and Oxford!!! :D
Only three weeks into my year and I’ve already managed to check out two of the most famous college towns in the world, and arguably the most historically significant city in Europe. How, you ask? Well, a few weeks ago I joined the Essex Travelling Society, and boy, was that ever a smart decision! They organize cheap trips for students and conveniently one of my flatmates, Ali, is a leading member of the society. Every Saturday of first term I’ll be visiting a new city in England (hence the gratuitous amount of photos already on Facebook), and before Christmas I’ll be spending a weekend shmoozin’ it up in Amsterdam! It’s such an awesome and easy way for me to get into tourist mode without the stress of planning it all myself (although it is good practice for when I actually will have to make travel plans for the holidays).
The first city we visited was merry old London, the home of the Queen, afternoon tea, big red double decker buses, and a gratuitous amount of mangy pigeons! Me, Stephanie, Amberle, and our friend Silja from Norway decided to take an open-top bus tour of the city so that we could get a sense of where the major attractions are and build up the confidence to eventually hop on the London Underground and make our own way through London using public transportation. We caught glimpses of the London Eye (the huge ferris wheel), Westminster Abbey, The Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral (where they filmed the “feed the birds, tuppence a bag” scene in Mary Poppins), Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, and of course, Big Ben (which for some reason is becoming an obsession of mine, lol). So while I knew London would be huge, I was blown away at how jam-packed with people it was. There were throngs of people just waiting to cross at the intersection, or hundreds of people lining up for hours to get into the London Dungeons. So while it was tremendously exciting to be in one of the world’s biggest cities, at the end of the day, it’s certainly that: a really big, really noisy, really crowded city. It’s the kind of place that can easily overwhelm you if you don’t have a plan to follow. So the next time I visit London it’ll be for a specific adventure, like seeing a play or visiting its museums. I think that’s when I’ll truly fall in love with it.
This past weekend we had the chance to visit the beautiful town and colleges of Oxford (and it was worth getting up at 6:30am on a Saturday for, I’ll tell you that, lol). The city is gorgeous and full of history, so it was very similar to Cambridge in that sense. However, we had a few more hours to spend in Oxford, so I feel like we really got to check out the downtown core in addition to the fancy colleges. We saw Christ Church College, which is where they filmed part of the Harry Potter movies, and we also ate lunch at a pub called the Eagle and Child, where two dudes named Lewis and Tolkien wrote some of their Narnia and LOTR books, or something. I had a tasty lentil and cashew nut tart - possibly the best thing I've had to eat in England so far! We also did some browsing at the Alice in Wonderland shop (because apparently Lewis Carroll attended Oxford as well – I bought some Mad Hatter tea to celebrate!). AND we got to shop at Primark, which is this discount clothing store in the UK – I’m wearing a blouse I bought there for 3 pounds! Fashionable and financial score! :P Next up is a crazy hectic trip to Stonehenge and Bath followed by a late night partying it up for Halloween (anyone got any costume suggestions for me?)
Now, on to the everyday-life stuff………….
In terms of my emotional and mental well-being, I’m feelin’ pretty solid at the moment. Thankfully, I have yet to feel truly homesick. I definitely miss all of you guys and Canada overall, but luckily I have Facebook, email, Skype, the phone, and plenty of photos to help close the gap and make me feel like I’m not so far away (it also helps that my best friend is just up north in Lancaster, my mom is visiting this week, and the rest of my family will be popping by later on in the year). However, what I miss the most about home is Trent. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thoroughly enjoying being at Essex – I’m not joking when I say that there is ALWAYS something to do here (even on a freakin' Monday night), and it’s nearly impossible to feel lonely when there are so many people available to hang out with. But two weeks ago especially I was longing for Trent and everything I associate with it. For example, I had the same boyfriend during my first two years of university, and now I’m single. My two best friends in Peterborough are Andrew and Anelia, and now the three of us are on separate continents. My student card isn’t an all-access pass like it is at Trent, and it really is up to me to find my own way. Everyone here is very friendly and helpful, but only if I ask them questions. We really have to be on top of things here, and sometimes it can be a bit frustrating when we find out important information after the fact, info that could have easily been given to us before we got here (like whether opening a bank account was actually necessary, or that we wouldn’t have our internet connection set up as soon as we got here). School especially was a bit tough to handle at first – I’m used to falling in love with my classes right away and knowing how the system works, but here there are required readings as well as recommended readings, and it’s not always clear how much of them they expect us to read. The professors also jump into the course immediately – it wasn’t until the last class of the week where I actually got a course syllabus handed to me! For the past two years, even though I’ve socialised more than I ever have, school was the biggest source of my happiness. Particularly last year when things were emotionally rough, I threw myself into academia and really let my passion for it flourish – I always left my class happier than when I went in. So especially when it comes to academia here, I’ve really had to learn not to compare everything to Trent, otherwise some of it comes up short (although on the flip side, my social life here is what’s REALLY fun, while school is still sort of on the backburner). Although, now that I have my classes sorted out, things are starting to pick up. For the most part they are very interesting, and I’m eager to find out how each of my professors likes to teach.
My classes for the year will be:
United States Literature Since 1850
Decorum & Decay: Classical and Decadent Discourses in Literature
World Cinema
Sex, War, and Class at the Movies: Britain 1930 – 2000
Essex won’t ever feel like Trent to me, and in a way that’s a good thing (Trent after all feels like my home, and that’s hard to replace). It’s similar enough that I can handle what it throws at me, but different enough that it feels like a new and exciting place. So hopefully I can keep looking at it with fresh eyes!
Whew! These posts keep getting longer and longer! I’ll simply end off by saying that right now, my comfort level at Essex is the best it has been so far. I spend most of my time with Stephanie and Amberle, as well as a few of my international friends, but I’m starting to do things with my flatmates beyond chit-chatting in the kitchen at dinnertime. Last night we went to another (much fancier) flat on campus and watched The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas together, and we’re hoping to plan trips together to the pier in Southend and to see the new Harry Potter movie in November. AND we’re planning on partying hard for Halloween (if I can manage to stay awake after travelling all day, haha). The younger British students tend to stick together a bit more, while the older international students (like me) are out-and-about more often, but everyone is very sweet and making an effort to get to know each other better. So I’m looking forward to spending more quality time with the great people that I live with!
Now on to the last bit………………
British Thing(s) of the Week(s)!!!!!!!!!!! (double feature)
For the week of October 10th to the 17th…….
Galaxy Chocolate! This is a brand of chocolate that you can only get here in Britain (or in some specialty shops back home in Canada – like the Nutty Chocolatier in Peterborough and Sugar Mountain in Ottawa!). It’s essentially not much different from Cadbury or Hershey, except that it’s just a smidge better (it’s very rich and creamy no matter what form it’s in). You can get it in the form of bars, cakes, cookie bits, and my personal favourite, Galaxy “Minstrels” (they’re like fancier Smarties – I’m snacking on them right now!). Deeeeeelicious! :D
And for the week of October 18th to the 24th………
Prêt a Manger! This is a chain of fast-food restaurants in the UK (sort of similar to Tim Horton’s, minus all of the doughnuts). They specialise in deli sandwiches, soups, coffee/tea, and delighting my taste buds ;) In all three cities that we’ve visited so far, me, Amberle, and Steph have scoped out the nearest Prêt a Manger and we have yet to be disappointed (their toasted mozzarella, pesto, tomato and basil sandwich is divine!). So if you ever find yourself hungry in the UK, Prêt a Manger will do the trick! (They should just go right ahead and hire me as a spokesperson, lol).
Until next time, chip chip, cheerio!
<3 Madalyn
Monday, October 25, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Survived week one? Check!
Wow! Have I seriously been in England for only a week now? It’s such a bizarre feeling – the days go by so quickly, yet I’ve jam-packed so much stuff into these past 9 days that I can’t believe only a week has gone by. With that being said however, it’s been a crazy-awesome time here, filled with meeting tons of new people, partying until the wee hours of the morning, going on plenty of tours, and doing my best to sort out what will be my life here at Essex for the next 9 months (basically, I just copy everything that Amberle and Stephanie do, and so far it’s been working out well for me, haha). Where to begin! Well, how about from the spaced-out/overwhelming/relieving day that was last Sunday……..
After shuffling up my bags to my room I spent a few moments to myself trying to soak it all in. My original plan was to simply pull out my duvet from the pack I ordered and crash right then and there, but I felt so spaced out and over-stimulated that I stayed awake and by the grace of the jetlag gods managed to push through another 10(!) hours. I’m glad I did, because not only did I not get a headache or pass out or vomit or get cranky, but I got the chance to socialise with my new flatmates over a cup of tea (yes, it’s very popular here) and I got to meet up with Amberle and Stephanie for a quick visit before we all went to sleep (Oh sleep! Sweet, glorious sleep!).
Monday was filled with setting up my internet, shopping at the nearby grocery store TESCO (everything but HP Sauce and Heinz tomato ketchup is a British brand), and attending an international student welcome meeting. The presentation was geared more towards international students who are doing their whole degree at Essex, so at the end of the meeting I introduced myself as a Canadian exchange student and asked a question about clubs geared towards study abroad students. From that I ended up being approached by 3 other students, one of which was a fellow Canadian from Montreal named Gilles. So speaking up led me to become friends with even more awesome people! The same thing happened later on that night when I was waiting in line for tickets for Freshers Week and befriended a girl from Norway named Silja, whom I’ve hung out with quite a bit since then. Through Amberle and Stephanie I’ve also met some wonderfully friendly and enthusiastic people that I hope to spend more time with as the weeks go on (it helps that all three of us live in separate residences). So, much like my first year at Trent, my social life is booming here! ;)
Speaking of which, my gosh, is Essex ever a party-friendly school! During Freshers Week there were multiple parties being held in multiple venues, and that’s not even including the endless house parties in the residences. I went out clubbing at Ministry of Sound night (which is a world-famous club in London that I would love to check out), International night, and at an Eliza Doolittle concert (she’s a very cute British singer). On the other nights I simply stayed up late writing blog posts and bonding with Steph and Amberle over tea, beer, and whatever sweets and goodies we could pick up at the campus shop.
AAANNNNNNNDDDDD that isn’t even mentioning all of the tours I’ve gone on!! The first was to Wivenhoe, a quaint little British town about a half hour’s walk away, where we had a pint of English beer by the water (like in the Essex brochures!). The second tour was to Colchester, which is the city near campus – we visited the castle there (it’s very small, but it’s legit!) and I got a free pint of Strongbow with my order of jacket potatoes (possibly the most exciting free drink I’ve ever received, haha). The third and final trip was a tour of Cambridge, including King’s College at the university. I won’t go into too much detail about it right now, but I’ll just say that walking along the cobblestones streets and admiring all of the beautiful architecture reminded me why I wanted to come to England in the first place. It was absolutely GORGEOUS, and it got me so pumped up for travelling (this Saturday in fact, is my long-awaited trip to London!). What a treat to be able to experience all of this so soon after arriving here!
"And now for something completely different…………"
So because I know you want all the deets on rez life, here’s my living situation: Including me, there are 14 of us living on the fourth floor of Tawney Tower. 8 of us are international students, and 6 are British. The Brits are Izzie, Ellie, Chloe, James, Farzad, and Ali, while the international students are me, Kri (American), Emily (American), Klaus (German), Shotaro (from Hong Kong, although his English is perfect), Beatrix (Spanish), Fabio (from Angolla), and Li (Chinese). So it’s an awesome mix of people, all from different places, all different ages, and a good balance between guys and girls. So far, we’ve all got along really well – everyone is very respectful of each other’s space, and while most of us are very sociable, the partying hasn’t gotten too out of control. I feel very confident that living with these people will be a thoroughly enjoyable experience for me :)
And now, because this post just isn’t bloody long enough, here is the first instalment of my weekly segment…….
British Thing of the Week!!!!!!!!!!!
And the winner is…………..
The University of Essex!
Kind of an obvious choice, but since it’ll be my homebase until July, I thought I’d tell you more about what I think of it. First of all, the campus is beautiful – lots of green space, a small lake, and large concrete buildings that remind me a lot of Trent (they were both built in the 1960s and are rather liberal-minded schools). There are tons of parties going on all the time, and it helps that there are two clubs, two bars, 8 restaurants, and plenty of alcohol to purchase on campus (in fact, people can down a can of Fosters right in the middle of campus if they want to – public drinking is totally fine here!) As well, and this was a pleasant surprise for me, 45% of the students here are international, so I definitely don’t feel like I’m part of a minority! It’s a tremendously fun school, so while I haven’t quite fallen in love with it like I did with Trent, it feels like the right place for me to be at this point in my life :)
Whew! Ok, I need to stop writing these so late at night, but I really wanted to give you all an update on the craziness that was Freshers Week! Feel free to creep my photos on Facebook, let me know how your Thanksgiving was, and keep in touch! (I called my mom long-distance today, and Skyped with my dad and sister yesterday, so as long as I have the time, I’m definitely in the mood to chat!).
Love you all!
Madalyn
After shuffling up my bags to my room I spent a few moments to myself trying to soak it all in. My original plan was to simply pull out my duvet from the pack I ordered and crash right then and there, but I felt so spaced out and over-stimulated that I stayed awake and by the grace of the jetlag gods managed to push through another 10(!) hours. I’m glad I did, because not only did I not get a headache or pass out or vomit or get cranky, but I got the chance to socialise with my new flatmates over a cup of tea (yes, it’s very popular here) and I got to meet up with Amberle and Stephanie for a quick visit before we all went to sleep (Oh sleep! Sweet, glorious sleep!).
Monday was filled with setting up my internet, shopping at the nearby grocery store TESCO (everything but HP Sauce and Heinz tomato ketchup is a British brand), and attending an international student welcome meeting. The presentation was geared more towards international students who are doing their whole degree at Essex, so at the end of the meeting I introduced myself as a Canadian exchange student and asked a question about clubs geared towards study abroad students. From that I ended up being approached by 3 other students, one of which was a fellow Canadian from Montreal named Gilles. So speaking up led me to become friends with even more awesome people! The same thing happened later on that night when I was waiting in line for tickets for Freshers Week and befriended a girl from Norway named Silja, whom I’ve hung out with quite a bit since then. Through Amberle and Stephanie I’ve also met some wonderfully friendly and enthusiastic people that I hope to spend more time with as the weeks go on (it helps that all three of us live in separate residences). So, much like my first year at Trent, my social life is booming here! ;)
Speaking of which, my gosh, is Essex ever a party-friendly school! During Freshers Week there were multiple parties being held in multiple venues, and that’s not even including the endless house parties in the residences. I went out clubbing at Ministry of Sound night (which is a world-famous club in London that I would love to check out), International night, and at an Eliza Doolittle concert (she’s a very cute British singer). On the other nights I simply stayed up late writing blog posts and bonding with Steph and Amberle over tea, beer, and whatever sweets and goodies we could pick up at the campus shop.
AAANNNNNNNDDDDD that isn’t even mentioning all of the tours I’ve gone on!! The first was to Wivenhoe, a quaint little British town about a half hour’s walk away, where we had a pint of English beer by the water (like in the Essex brochures!). The second tour was to Colchester, which is the city near campus – we visited the castle there (it’s very small, but it’s legit!) and I got a free pint of Strongbow with my order of jacket potatoes (possibly the most exciting free drink I’ve ever received, haha). The third and final trip was a tour of Cambridge, including King’s College at the university. I won’t go into too much detail about it right now, but I’ll just say that walking along the cobblestones streets and admiring all of the beautiful architecture reminded me why I wanted to come to England in the first place. It was absolutely GORGEOUS, and it got me so pumped up for travelling (this Saturday in fact, is my long-awaited trip to London!). What a treat to be able to experience all of this so soon after arriving here!
"And now for something completely different…………"
So because I know you want all the deets on rez life, here’s my living situation: Including me, there are 14 of us living on the fourth floor of Tawney Tower. 8 of us are international students, and 6 are British. The Brits are Izzie, Ellie, Chloe, James, Farzad, and Ali, while the international students are me, Kri (American), Emily (American), Klaus (German), Shotaro (from Hong Kong, although his English is perfect), Beatrix (Spanish), Fabio (from Angolla), and Li (Chinese). So it’s an awesome mix of people, all from different places, all different ages, and a good balance between guys and girls. So far, we’ve all got along really well – everyone is very respectful of each other’s space, and while most of us are very sociable, the partying hasn’t gotten too out of control. I feel very confident that living with these people will be a thoroughly enjoyable experience for me :)
And now, because this post just isn’t bloody long enough, here is the first instalment of my weekly segment…….
British Thing of the Week!!!!!!!!!!!
And the winner is…………..
The University of Essex!
Kind of an obvious choice, but since it’ll be my homebase until July, I thought I’d tell you more about what I think of it. First of all, the campus is beautiful – lots of green space, a small lake, and large concrete buildings that remind me a lot of Trent (they were both built in the 1960s and are rather liberal-minded schools). There are tons of parties going on all the time, and it helps that there are two clubs, two bars, 8 restaurants, and plenty of alcohol to purchase on campus (in fact, people can down a can of Fosters right in the middle of campus if they want to – public drinking is totally fine here!) As well, and this was a pleasant surprise for me, 45% of the students here are international, so I definitely don’t feel like I’m part of a minority! It’s a tremendously fun school, so while I haven’t quite fallen in love with it like I did with Trent, it feels like the right place for me to be at this point in my life :)
Whew! Ok, I need to stop writing these so late at night, but I really wanted to give you all an update on the craziness that was Freshers Week! Feel free to creep my photos on Facebook, let me know how your Thanksgiving was, and keep in touch! (I called my mom long-distance today, and Skyped with my dad and sister yesterday, so as long as I have the time, I’m definitely in the mood to chat!).
Love you all!
Madalyn
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
“Just touched down in London town……………”
Well, that was certainly a very-pleasant-then-very-panic-stricken experience! I am referring of course to my flight from Canada to England which was last Saturday (or was it Sunday? Hmm, being up for 30+ kind of throws off your biological clock, haha). Let me start from the beginning……
The day started out a bit rough (I felt nauseous with anxiety), but I managed to keep it together and even ate some leftover Chinese food before doing some last-minute packing changes and packing everything into the car. What was so great about my send-off was that my whole family came with me to the airport! Mom, Dad, Lizzy, and Malcolm all came to see me off, which was fantastic (AND I got to see Mom’s and Steve’ new house before leaving!). After one last meal at Timmy’s (where there was a group of hearing-impaired people who were singing a song through sign language – so neat!) and some goodbye hugs I went off through check-in and security, all of which was a breeze (seriously, the Ottawa airport is so low-key it’s great – I didn’t even have to take off my boots!).
I hung out for a bit with my awesome travel buddy Elephant, and then boarded my swift and speedy plane from Ottawa to Montreal. Me and the guy across the aisle smiled at each other when we both realized that we were both snapping pictures of the engines and the clouds, lol. The wait in Montreal was long, but I was in good spirits the whole time and managed to get some food to fill my belly (although note to self: do not eat an egg sandwich that has been sitting out all day – it’s not very tasty at all). On the plane I got cozy with the blanket and pillow they provided and searched through the (surprisingly large) selection of movies, music, and TV shows to watch (I ended up going with Invictus, the film about Nelson Mandela’s recruitment of the Springboks Rugby team to help unify South Africa – I recommend it!). I attempted to sleep but gave up after an hour since the engines were just so loud. So instead I wrote a journal entry in the little notebook I brought with me, most of which I’ve repeated here J
As soon as the plane arrived, the woman on the intercom said “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to London” and my heart skipped a little beat as I looked out the window at the foggy green pastures and quiet lakes below me. It was real! I flew across the ocean and was FINALLY in England! The feeling was awesome :D
I grabbed my stuff and exited the plane tired and groggy but filled with anticipation. My biggest fear was that I’d have to wait long for my luggage, but little did I know that I already had a whole different kind of problem to deal with……
I followed the crowd to the Immigration and Customs area, which was jam-packed and slightly unorganized. I grabbed a landing card to fill out and got to the part where it asks for my passport number. So I looked into my money wallet for my passport, only to discover that…….
FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had made the worst freaking mistake I could have made:
I forgot my passport on the plane.
Needless to say, I had a borderline panic attack right there in customs, but as soon as I realized the pants-wetting-craziness of my situation, I got to work trying to remedy the situation. Soooooo……cut to yours truly running like a wolverine on crack through the Heathrow exit terminal, desperately looking for an information booth or a person in uniform, or, you know, THE AIR CANADA FLIGHT WITH MY PASSPORT STILL ON IT. Of course, Heathrow is effing HUGE, and one thing that I learned the hard way is that in England, when a sliding door says “Automatic Door” on it, 9 times out of 10 it only works from the opposite side. So after realizing my search in the exit wing was futile, I backtracked and finally ran into a Heathrow employee who thankfully advised me to make my way to the Air Canada desk (once again through security and everything) in the Flight Connections section. By this time I was sweating through every pore in my body and stumbled towards the harried British woman at the counter, who called someone somewhere who may or not be sending someone to look for it. So all I could do was sit and wait and stare at the floor and try not to pass out with fear/exhaustion.
After going into zombie mode and shuffling back towards the counter to ask if anyone was on their way, a flight attendant approached me and handed me my beautiful, amazing, never-gonna-let-you-out-of-my-sight passport. I could have hugged him right there, but instead I said thank you to both him and the lovely British ladies who watched my bags for me and hurried off back to Customs, where I waited in line with my fellow jetlagged passengers, got to deal with my first (and hopefully last) snotty British customs officer, and went off to pick up my luggage and find the Essex shuttle bus.
So the moral of the story here folks is: make sure that you zip-up your money wallets so as not to have your passport slip out into the seat pocket in front of you. Some high-stress travelling situations can be avoided if such precautions are taken.
But hey, I survived it, I learned something, and now I have a wicked airport story to tell, haha.
The rest of my first day in England included napping on the shuttle bus to Essex (the only sleep I got in roughly 34-36 hours), moving my stuff into my little dorm room, having tea with my lovely new flatmates (more on them soon!), and running off to find Amberle and Stephanie, my awesome Trent buddies who are with me here at Essex. Then, off to bed!
So that, in a nutshell, was my first day in England, and my first of many days at the University of Essex. By the end of this week I’ll have written a new blog post all about Fresher’s Week and my adventures here so far - with a special weekly feature I'll be calling "British Thing of the Week" (so clever, huh?). So check back soon!
I’ll simply end off by saying that while things have been crazy busy here, each day gets better and better. Essex has big shoes to fill – I adore Trent and Peterborough feels like home to me – but I’m starting to feel more confident that I can fall in love with this school and town like I did with the Peterpatch and Trent two years ago. Collecting my thoughts in this blog is already making me feel like I’m heading in the right direction. So a new post (and plenty of Facebook pictures) to follow soon!
Love you all! Can’t wait to talk with all of you in more detail over the coming weeks.
<3 Madalyn
The day started out a bit rough (I felt nauseous with anxiety), but I managed to keep it together and even ate some leftover Chinese food before doing some last-minute packing changes and packing everything into the car. What was so great about my send-off was that my whole family came with me to the airport! Mom, Dad, Lizzy, and Malcolm all came to see me off, which was fantastic (AND I got to see Mom’s and Steve’ new house before leaving!). After one last meal at Timmy’s (where there was a group of hearing-impaired people who were singing a song through sign language – so neat!) and some goodbye hugs I went off through check-in and security, all of which was a breeze (seriously, the Ottawa airport is so low-key it’s great – I didn’t even have to take off my boots!).
I hung out for a bit with my awesome travel buddy Elephant, and then boarded my swift and speedy plane from Ottawa to Montreal. Me and the guy across the aisle smiled at each other when we both realized that we were both snapping pictures of the engines and the clouds, lol. The wait in Montreal was long, but I was in good spirits the whole time and managed to get some food to fill my belly (although note to self: do not eat an egg sandwich that has been sitting out all day – it’s not very tasty at all). On the plane I got cozy with the blanket and pillow they provided and searched through the (surprisingly large) selection of movies, music, and TV shows to watch (I ended up going with Invictus, the film about Nelson Mandela’s recruitment of the Springboks Rugby team to help unify South Africa – I recommend it!). I attempted to sleep but gave up after an hour since the engines were just so loud. So instead I wrote a journal entry in the little notebook I brought with me, most of which I’ve repeated here J
As soon as the plane arrived, the woman on the intercom said “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to London” and my heart skipped a little beat as I looked out the window at the foggy green pastures and quiet lakes below me. It was real! I flew across the ocean and was FINALLY in England! The feeling was awesome :D
I grabbed my stuff and exited the plane tired and groggy but filled with anticipation. My biggest fear was that I’d have to wait long for my luggage, but little did I know that I already had a whole different kind of problem to deal with……
I followed the crowd to the Immigration and Customs area, which was jam-packed and slightly unorganized. I grabbed a landing card to fill out and got to the part where it asks for my passport number. So I looked into my money wallet for my passport, only to discover that…….
FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had made the worst freaking mistake I could have made:
I forgot my passport on the plane.
Needless to say, I had a borderline panic attack right there in customs, but as soon as I realized the pants-wetting-craziness of my situation, I got to work trying to remedy the situation. Soooooo……cut to yours truly running like a wolverine on crack through the Heathrow exit terminal, desperately looking for an information booth or a person in uniform, or, you know, THE AIR CANADA FLIGHT WITH MY PASSPORT STILL ON IT. Of course, Heathrow is effing HUGE, and one thing that I learned the hard way is that in England, when a sliding door says “Automatic Door” on it, 9 times out of 10 it only works from the opposite side. So after realizing my search in the exit wing was futile, I backtracked and finally ran into a Heathrow employee who thankfully advised me to make my way to the Air Canada desk (once again through security and everything) in the Flight Connections section. By this time I was sweating through every pore in my body and stumbled towards the harried British woman at the counter, who called someone somewhere who may or not be sending someone to look for it. So all I could do was sit and wait and stare at the floor and try not to pass out with fear/exhaustion.
After going into zombie mode and shuffling back towards the counter to ask if anyone was on their way, a flight attendant approached me and handed me my beautiful, amazing, never-gonna-let-you-out-of-my-sight passport. I could have hugged him right there, but instead I said thank you to both him and the lovely British ladies who watched my bags for me and hurried off back to Customs, where I waited in line with my fellow jetlagged passengers, got to deal with my first (and hopefully last) snotty British customs officer, and went off to pick up my luggage and find the Essex shuttle bus.
So the moral of the story here folks is: make sure that you zip-up your money wallets so as not to have your passport slip out into the seat pocket in front of you. Some high-stress travelling situations can be avoided if such precautions are taken.
But hey, I survived it, I learned something, and now I have a wicked airport story to tell, haha.
The rest of my first day in England included napping on the shuttle bus to Essex (the only sleep I got in roughly 34-36 hours), moving my stuff into my little dorm room, having tea with my lovely new flatmates (more on them soon!), and running off to find Amberle and Stephanie, my awesome Trent buddies who are with me here at Essex. Then, off to bed!
So that, in a nutshell, was my first day in England, and my first of many days at the University of Essex. By the end of this week I’ll have written a new blog post all about Fresher’s Week and my adventures here so far - with a special weekly feature I'll be calling "British Thing of the Week" (so clever, huh?). So check back soon!
I’ll simply end off by saying that while things have been crazy busy here, each day gets better and better. Essex has big shoes to fill – I adore Trent and Peterborough feels like home to me – but I’m starting to feel more confident that I can fall in love with this school and town like I did with the Peterpatch and Trent two years ago. Collecting my thoughts in this blog is already making me feel like I’m heading in the right direction. So a new post (and plenty of Facebook pictures) to follow soon!
Love you all! Can’t wait to talk with all of you in more detail over the coming weeks.
<3 Madalyn
Friday, October 1, 2010
Leavin' on a jet plane...........
DONE!!!!!!!!
I have finally finished the incredibly long and labourous task of packing for a 9-month stay in England. Against my better judgement I am bringing and extra bag, so needless to say I have my work cut out for me on my journey from the luggage pick-up to the shuttle bus, haha. Ah well, it's all done now (and at least I'll have everything that I wanted to bring in the first place).
My emotional and mental state is somewhere in between total exhaustion and crapping my pants with anxiousness. I meant for this to be a much more eloquent post, but seeing as though it's 1:30am and I've been freaking out about packing all day, I think I need a break, haha.
It's a grind to get there, but in 24 hours I'll be in the place I've been working towards for a year now! So many thoughts running through my head, but I think I'll let sleep take over and delay my freaking out until tomorrow ;)
I have finally finished the incredibly long and labourous task of packing for a 9-month stay in England. Against my better judgement I am bringing and extra bag, so needless to say I have my work cut out for me on my journey from the luggage pick-up to the shuttle bus, haha. Ah well, it's all done now (and at least I'll have everything that I wanted to bring in the first place).
My emotional and mental state is somewhere in between total exhaustion and crapping my pants with anxiousness. I meant for this to be a much more eloquent post, but seeing as though it's 1:30am and I've been freaking out about packing all day, I think I need a break, haha.
It's a grind to get there, but in 24 hours I'll be in the place I've been working towards for a year now! So many thoughts running through my head, but I think I'll let sleep take over and delay my freaking out until tomorrow ;)
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