home is where the photobooth is...

*we stayed out for forever*

so, it has been a whirlwind of activity since my initial post and subsequent arrival at the university. i am finally getting settled in my "home away from home." the first day i moved in, on sunday, i sort of freaked out. i got to my dorm room and it was a fucking mess (pardon my french). the floor had never been vacuumed, nor had any of the surfaces been wiped down or disinfected. well, to get to the point, it was a long way from the third floor of the stone arch apartments. well after calming down and cleaning everything (i now know how my mom feels when she travels) i settled and found all of my classmates from hamline. sunday night, we went out for indian food in town and i stayed and had a beer at the pub (the lighthorseman) that i had been drinking at the two nights prior.

the nice thing about this trip is that most people from the group have been quite nice and hang out a bit. i have been spending most of my time in jake's room (a new friend from hamline who lives in derwent college). i live in langwith g block which is on the complete opposite side of campus. the entire group from hamline is amazing. i am so glad that each person came with and is here and has been so kind to me and all of my weird, strange, and old man ways. i'm keeping up with these young pups quite nicely. to introduce the crew, on my floor is miles, alyssa, nissa, and sam. caite also lives in langwith with us, but is on the ground floor. evan is another hamline-ite, but he is a hold over from the previous group. he also lives on the ground floor. jake, dylan h, dylan a, bryce, erin, and a.j. live in derwent, which is really where all of the action is. i must say, we are a pretty sexy looking crew.

anyways, monday night is really when things started looking up. i went over to jake's and we met quite a few kids from the university. they took our group of americans out to the bars in town and we really ended up hitting it hard. jake and i did quite a few shots with our new british friends at a club called the "voodoo lounge." i was able to talk some football (soccer for you yanks) with the brits and hold my own quite nicely. i guess the most humorous part of the night was when we were all trying to get home from the club and i was out in the road trying to hail a cab. everyone here waits in queue (or in line). well, i was hailing a cab as if it was bar-close on a friday night outside bootleggers in downtown mpls. i ended up getting escorted off the road to which i yelled at the police man (or bouncer i'm not 100% sure), "this is how you do it in minneapolis!" it was a good laugh for all.

everyone is so nice to us minnesotans, its actually very comforting. it helps me get over the fact that i am a long ways from home and is setting up the semester quite nicely. the group from derwent that we have met is quite a large group, and it would take forever for me to name (and i don't want to bore you more than i already am) so lets just say they all have fantastic names.

tuesday, jake and i decided to keep things a little lighter. we went to a trivia night that was happening in derwent. i only knew two answers, to music questions, but thanks to my parents i will never forget simon and garfunkel OR the red hot chili peppers. it was still a lot of fun. in the middle of the night, the trivia hosts needed two volunteers from each table to come up for a competition. i was "volunteered" from my group and a girl named roberta came with me. they then covered my face in shaving cream and roberta had to throw cheese chips at my face to try and see who could get the most stuck on their face. not sure what i got myself into, but roberta and i put together a valiant effort. we lost, but only because the team that won blatantly cheated. but, it was quite great overall.

now onto a little bit of info on what life is like here in york. the cafeteria food is okay. they serve a lot of chicken tandori (an indian dish). i'm pretty sure between the two places i can have dinner i could eat it every night. breakfast is great because you can either get tons of meat or cereal. they have soy milk here so i can actually eat cereal (first time in a year or so). i have always been afraid of soy milk but it is actually quite tasty. i have been drinking a lot of cider here instead of beer because not only is it cheaper, but it is also a bit stronger. my room is extremely cold, but it is something i am finally getting used to. the one thing i am missing as far as food goes is barbecue. i did find some bbq chips in town (very rare) but they aren't the same. a nice rack of bbq pork ribs from rudolphs would be pretty nice.

i'll post more next time, since i'm set to go out with the hamline group again. we toured clifford's tower yesterday, and today we are checking out some more shops and a bridge. friday we will be seeing the minister and saturday we are taking a day trip to scarborough. i am taking my camera, so pictures will be posted soon.