Every day here feels really long, but not in a bad way. It's more that each day is a continuation of the next, and it's hard to differentiate between everything. My days are all pretty similar, so remembering what happened which day is starting to be a challenge. I have to start my blog early in the day, and finish it later, or I won't be able to remember what we did that particular day. I didn't do that today, but today had some special differences, so I think I'll be able to figure it out :)
Today, there was a student activities fair at the student union. There were a lot of people around, and I was a little bit scared. They were all offering flyers and information (and free stuff, which was a bonus). But to be in any of the clubs or societies, you have to buy a student union card (that's about 17 pounds) and THEN pay membership fees (which are usually 2-3 pounds). They seem like a really good way to meet people, but 20 pounds pays for a flight from London to Paris. Or a flight to Dublin AND BACK. 20 pounds converts to $32 (today--the conversions change all the time). So Melisa and I have decided to save our money for traveling instead. It seems like more fun, and really, it's one of the main reasons I am here. When will I get to experience this again? I don't know when I'll be back, if ever. I'd like to meet more people, that's for sure, but I think that will get easier as the semester goes on.
After the student activities fair, Melissa and I stopped at Aldi's (they have the BEST nutella/chocolate spread), and then went to Bar Uno. Bar Uno is the bar/cafe/restaurant on campus. It's right next door to my dorm, and they have free wi-fi. That way, Melisa and I can hang out and both be on the internet at the same time! We were there for a few hours. We've decided to dedicate a lot of our free time toward studying for the GRE. Sounds practical, but we get pretty easily distracted. At this point, I haven't really narrowed down what I need to study most. My math needs a lot of work, considering that I haven't had to do any math other than statistics for the last four years. And we really appear to be struggling with the analogies. I think my problem there is vocabulary, really. I need to study a dictionary. Although Melisa's guidebook to the GRE suggests studying a thesaurus instead because I just need to have a general idea of meaning rather than exact definitions.
Then, we went out to Varsity for dinner. Melisa and I met Lauren and Kat there. Lauren invited some friends that she's made, including a few German girls, an Italian girl, and a few other assorted students. It was the most socializing I've done since I've been here, honestly, and it was really nice. Melisa and I did notice a few cultural differences though. Those girls did not eat a single thing with their fingers. Nope. They used forks and knives for everything: burgers, sandwiches, chips (french fries). Melisa and I weren't quite sure what to make of it. I can see doing that at a formal dinner, but I don't think they'd offer french fries at a formal dinner? It was interesting, though, and everyone was really nice. One of the German girls (I know her name, but have no idea how to spell it) offered to speak German whenever we liked. She reminds me a lot of Anne, who I am hoping to see while I am here!
After dinner, Melisa and I stopped by Morrison's (the closest grocery store) to pick up some supplies. We have been trying to plan out our dinners in advance, and we slowly acquire the ingredients. We'll be making fajitas, probably on Sunday, but most places close a little early on Saturdays, and even more early on Sundays. We want to make sure that we have everything we need, so we bought some chicken and peppers to go with our shells and fajita seasonings.
We decided to make tonight an early night. We will be exploring tomorrow...we are going to make an attempt to find Beaumaris Castle. We were originally going to search for Penrhyn Castle (it's a little closer) but we don't think it's open. It's really confusing and hard to find information, but it appears that many of the castles and museums aren't open until March or April. So that might put a bit of a damper on our exploring for the next month or so. But we figure that the worst case scenario involves us going on a long walk & adventure, and finding that it's closed. Wish us luck!
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