Pictures Round 2: Newcastle-Under-Lyme

 

I went into Newcastle today to get some groceries from Morrison's and decided to take some pictures on my journey. The town is so beautiful with all the old buildings. Its fun to imagine what they used to be 100 years ago and what the town might have been like then. Because I'm 100% sure that the cute old building the McDonald's is in hasn't always been a McDonald's!

 

O2 is the popular mobile service provider in the area.

 

Poundland is like a Dollar Tree. Everything is a pound!

 



 

I think this is the police station for Newcastle. I just love the look of the building!

I made it to Morrisons! I wasn't quite sure where to go so I was pretty excited when I found it.

 



You have to go in a tunnel under the road to get from the main part of town to the Morrisons, and I thought that was some nice graffiti. Much better that most things you see in tunnels. 

 

 

I managed to get all the groceries I needed except for stuffing. I want to make Chicken Casserole for my hall mates! I might look a few other places then I guess I'll resort to making my own. I'm so excited to have a variety of food to choose from! I was getting tired of pasta and pb&j.

 

 



Pictures Round 1: Campus

 

This is my building. Lindsay Block C!

 

The wall entering Lindsay Court.

 

Again going into Lindsay Court.

 

Everything is green here. Everything. Even tree trunks!

 

Here is a map of the Lindsay buildings. Can you find mine?

 

Standing by the back of Keele Hall.

 

The front side of Keele Hall.

 

I know I don't have a ton of pictures yet, but I'll post more I promise!

Let's Get it Started!

So far I've had two days of modules. The way it works here is once a week you have a lecture for your module then you have a seminar/tutorial for the same module. The lecture is just that, a lecture, and the seminar is a smaller group made up of the people in the lecture and a teacher facilities discussion. I like that there is lecture as well as discussion, I feel like I will absorb the material better, however I don't know how I feel only meeting once a week (all my lectures and seminars are back to back). Also, in America we have tests throughout so you can tell how you are doing. Here I seem to only have a big exam or paper at the end that counts for a majority of your grade. I'm sure I will still do fine, but you know me, I like to worry. I also have a lot of outside reading that I have to do. Which I will try to keep on top of. At least until I write me essays (I'm going to try and write them early so I don't have to worry about them over Easter break).

My schedule looks like this:
Monday: Classical Sociology. Lecture 11-12. Tutorial 12-1. (I'll get through, but I don't find it as interesting as the others. The first girl I met on my hall is actually in the lecture and seminar with me so that is a plus!)
Tuesday: American History. Lecture 10-11. Seminar 11-12. (So excited for this one! In high school Bunches told us her US History course taken in England gave her a whole new perspective. So we'll see!)
Wednesday: Environmental Ethics. Lecture 10-11. Seminar 11-12. (Haven't had this yet, but I'm sure I will be challenging but interesting. Just recently I've been a bit more interested in the environment and what I can do to help.)
Thursday: British Culture: Seminar 1-3. (I dropped my literature class so I could take this. I figure I can take a Lit class any time but only once do you get to take a British Culture class in England!)
Friday: NO CLASSS!!

Tomorrow my friend Celina and I are going back to the grocery store to get a few more basic things. We tried to order online and have it delivered but they don't take American cards! Ugh! This morning was the farmer's market they hold every Tuesday in front of  the Student Union. I got some broccoli, 6 eggs, 5 oranges, 13 medium sized potatoes and 7 reasonably sized carrots all for 3 pounds and 90 pence!

The weather has been pretty gloomy and quite cold. The radiators on my floor don't seem to be working right, so as I write this I am sitting next to the radiator with my legs against it. I am so cold all the time. I'm glad I have tea! I need to get another type or two because Earl Gray is getting a little boring.

I hope everybody is doing well!

"I lift my eyes to the mountains- where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth." -Psalm 121:1-2

The First Few Days

Once I got off the plane and gathered my things the large group of us going to Keele grouped together to wait for our bus that would take us to the campus. The bus ride was nice, about 45 minutes and I got to see the English countryside for the first time. It really is beautiful. Getting to campus and figuring things out was a little confusing because we had a lot of free time on the first day because others were sill arriving. I got to my room and started unpacking then I went on a Campus tour. I was very hesitant the first day because there were so many unknowns. I went to bed early hoping in the orientations the next day I would get more answers.

Over the next few days I met with tutors (advisors) and got my modules (classes) all figured out. I also sat through some orientations which definitely helped me feel more comfortable. On Thursday the school took us to the grocery store to get some basic things. It was nice to get some food and other things I needed. Carrying all the groceries back was a pain though, so in the future I think I will get them delivered. I'll let you know how I get on with that. On Friday night the people in my block invited me to go dancing with them and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I hope we can go again sometime. Saturday and Sunday have mainly been for relaxing before classes start, but tonight I am going to the cinema with the people from my block.

All in all, a lot of the things I was worried about was for nothing, I'm meeting some great people and the people on my block really are including me - I think they like that I am American:). On occasion I have difficulty understanding someone if they speak too quickly or use a phrase I don't understand, but I just ask them to repeat it and I'm good to go.

Here I will list some things that I have been noticing about England/Keele so far: Remembering to walk on the left side of the sidewalk is incredibly difficult. It's cold and rainy just like I was told it would be. The bus drivers are very nice here. People actually go to the school functions. You think something is really cheap then you realize its almost twice as much because of the conversion from pounds to dollars. Instead of pulp (in orange juice) they call it bits, and the same goes for seeds in jam. I have a harder time understanding adults' accents than I do people my age.

If you have any questions about how I'm getting on or other things I've noticed, just comment and I'll try to answer in the comments or in another post.

"It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights." -Psalm 18:32-33

I Made It...Barely

So, I'm here! I made it to England safe and sound and I am getting settled and meeting some great people. I'm going to preface this by saying I'm not exactly sure how posting will work. I know I won't have time to post every day and I'm sure once classes start I'll fall into a rut you won't really want to hear about every day things - just exciting and new things. I don't have classes on Friday so I'm thinking first thing Friday mornings I'll sit down and write a summary of the past week and maybe a post here and there if things get particularly exciting. Also I think I will post pictures and summary posts separately so each post isn't as long. That being said, don't hold me to it because this could all change. I'm journaling everyday, so I won't forget and I'll be able to catch this up if I fall behind.

Ok, Now to the fun stuff - What I've been up to.
I'd say to start a story right, you have to start at the beginning. And this story has a rocky beginning. If you are friends with me on Facebook you will know I almost didn't make it here. No, my plane dint almost crash or anything horrific like that. Problem One: My flight out of New Bern got delayed. Which never happens. But it happened. That made my hour layover drop to thirty minutes. So essentially my plane to Manchester would already be boarding by the time I landed. Enter Problem Two: There was construction going on in my terminal and I didn't see the other train, so I ended up getting on the wrong one going the wrong way and realized it 2 terminals later and switched trains quickly. To make a long story short, when I finally got to my terminal I was running down it when I heard them make the final boarding call for my flight. I didn't think I had made it. I still had 12 gates to go. When I was two gates off, a lady pointed to me and said "Manchester?" I said yes and she said "Stop running, you made it, you can get on the plane." At this point I broke into full on tears right then and there. I went to the ticket counter, crying, shaking and hyperventilating. Getting onto the plane was a big blur (probably because my eyes were full of tears). I do remember walking down the ramp and verbally thanking God. Because He sure was helping me out. He reminded me that this trip might be planned by me and I may think things are going to go one way, but God can change them in a heartbeat if He wants to. The first little while of the plane ride I was still a mess because I was in utter shock that I was actually on the plane. After that, the rest of the flight went really well and I got some rest, so I wasn't too tired when I landed in Manchester. After getting off the flight, going through customs was very easy and I found out that my bag also made it to England after the short layover which called for another round of verbal praise.

It's getting kind of late here, so I'm going to leave you with this, but I'll try to post more tomorrow!

"We can make our plans, but The Lord determines our steps." -Proverbs 16:9
(I know I used this on the last post, but after the fiasco, this is more relevant to me than ever.)

It's All About to Begin

Oh my goodness. I leave tomorrow! Everybody keeps asking me if I'm excited and I say yes, which I am, but I still have a hard time believing it's really happening. I have been talking about wanting to study abroad for as long as I can remember. And I have been working towards completing the application for about a year. A year ago, Erin and I were looking into places we wanted to go and setting up our first meetings with the study abroad office. This has been such a long time coming. I tell everybody that I've talked about it so much I forget that it's no longer in my imagination. It's no longer far into my future. I forget that I'm leaving tomorrow! I'm all packed up, I just have the last few things to go in right before I leave. I have a big suitcase that I'm checking (and praying it makes it to Manchester when I do and doesn't get delayed) as well as a smaller rolling suitcase and a messenger bag I will be carrying on the plane with me. Since I have an overnight flight to England and I will be landing Wednesday morning, I am hoping I will be able to sleep some on the plane. I haven't had much luck in that department in the past, so I'll keep you updated on how that goes. I've prepared all that I can and now I just wait until 4:30 tomorrow afternoon when I get on the plane. That being said, I can tell I'm starting to get some real butterflies in my stomach and I'm starting to realize how much I'm going to miss my family. I know in the end everything will be alright and God will get me through. Recently I've been seeing a lot of Bible verses that remind me that if I believe in The Lord he will carry me through any rough patches and keep me safe. Two of my favorites are Romans 8:31 and Isaiah 43:1-4.  I hope you keep checking in to see what I'm up to. I'm going to try really hard to post once a week or so.

"We can make our plans, but The Lord determines our steps."
-Proverbs 16:9

Another Place to See Me!

My friend Erin (who is going to Ireland) and I are in the Honors college and their mascot is a dragon. Well, in early December they had a going away party for us and they gave us all the cutest stuffed dragons.

Erin and I immediately fell in love with them (yes, we are children) and decided to make them an Instagram account. We plan to upload pictures of them in front of all the awesome places we go to. We named them Archie and Rori. Archie is on the "Most popular British baby names" list, and Rori is on the one for Ireland.

If you want to follow the account name is @archieandroriadventures! 

I can't wait to start this adventure! I hope you tag along!