Third Times the Charm

Well it’s Sunday. Day 3. Jan. 7th. My dad had breakfast with me this morning and then left to go back to Chicago. So now I am officially alone. And I’m bored. I still haven’t managed to find internet, though I may just pay for dial up soon. (I know…pay for dial up? Is it the stone ages? But it’s the only service I’ve been able to find so far. I’m sitting in the library now and can’t get any wireless signal. Its supposed to be here somewhere… maybe I’ll just give in and go to an internet café for an hour. But I am sitting here, alone, amongst people who are doing homework before the term even starts (?!?) and facing eating dinner alone. Is it a sign of alcoholism to drink alone even if you don’t know anybody? Anyhow, I do have some positive things to say so let me get to them.
After my dad left I sat in my room for a bit and decided that that was pathetic and boring so I chose to be adventurous and took the bus to the mall. Dad had left me some numbers of buses that he thought went to what we assumed was the mall, but that was all I new. I head off walking down the street looking for a bus stop facing the right direction that had the numbers I was looking for. (I found a park on the way. Kinda muddy and nothing but grass, but nice and green all the same. Could be nice in good weather.) Just as I was buying a day’s bus pass one of the numbers I was looking fro drove up so I hurried on. I had no idea what I was looking for, so I just kept to the window hoping I would find some clue that stores were near by. I finally saw a parking garage and the blessed words “Lewisham Center” and another sign where all I could read was the word “shops.” I hazarded that this contained the mall and got off. I followed some teeny-boppy girls in a round about way that led to the entrance of the mall!! I was so happy. Now I wouldn’t call this a mall by Woodfield or King of Prussia standards or even Whitehall, but it had stores and that was close enough. There were a ton of the Rave and Deb type places, which is not what I was looking for, but I did find a stationary type of store that also had games, computer/video game stuff and art supplies. Here I found post-its, tape, a sketchbook, and markers. The new Harry Potter book was already advertised for pre-order and you got a Garth Nix book free with it (!!!) and as soon as I find internet to check if it comes out before I leave, I’ll be back to preorder my British Harry Potter book fro only 2 pounds ($4). Yeay Harry Potter and yeay for being in London (I hope) when it comes out!! I also have to say I already love Europe for one reason alone: they have small shoes!!! I picked out a pair of rain boots I liked and fearfully asked what size I would be citing the impossible to find American woman’s 4 as my size. Without hesitation the salesperson said I would probably be a 2 and brought them right out to me! The first pair I picked up came in my tiny size! That has never happened before! Go Europe! I also got weatherproofing spray for them so my feet won’t get wet like they did yesterday. Then I went to Woolworths (department store that didn’t bother much with really organizing the departments) and got pushpins and a cord for the dial up I hope to get (gah for hoping for dial up…so sad) because apparently European telephone jacks aren’t the same as American and I needed a new cable, but they had one and that made me happy. I also got my favorite Cadbury chocolates that you can’t get in the states: crème eggs and Flake (in dark chocolate). I tried to get Bueno and Kinder eggs, but they were not there. Yumyum. Apparently they don’t sell alarm clocks so I had to go to Argos for that. They have a strange store concept: You go in and search through a catalogue for the item you want and write down the number, then you go to the counter to pay and get an order number and a checkpoint on your receipt, last you go to the 3rd counter and wait in line for them to bring you your order. I guess it cuts down on stealing. But I got a clock radio for about 4 pounds so I can wake up for my one appointment at 9am on Monday (still haven’t found the building where it is though.) I even managed to get on the right bus and get back to my dorm. I felt so accomplished. I set my alarm clock, sprayed my shoes, and hung up some pictures. Then I set out about campus to explore, find internet, find buildings, and hopefully find friends. So far I haven’t been very successful on any of those, but tomorrow is another day. But now its dark and the library is closing so I have to leave. (Damn library closing at 5:30) Off to find dinner and friends? I hope so. Maybe an internet café if it isn’t closed/I find it, maybe cereal in my room. More when more happens.

Day 3 part 2: (The best part of this blog thing is I can ramble on as much as I want and not clog up anyone’s friends page, so I’m going to say more!)
I finally got to talk to my flatmates!! Yeay! I’m so much happier now that I’m not all alone! I found the internet café but decided not to go because I was hungry and it didn’t have food, so I went home and on my way in saw Anna (the one roommate I met earlier) helping a new girl in, Hannah. She is funny and really friendly. She’s also an English and Drama major and a musicals nut! Actually all three girls love musicals, so hopefully we’ll all go see stuff. Then Becca moved in and we all helped her up with her stuff. She’s really pretty and kind of your typical girl with lots of stuff and pretty sparkly things but she seems really nice. I didn’t get to talk to her much because she ran off to see a friend and then her boyfriend came over, but everyone seems nice. I sat and talked to Anna for quite a while learning about British school and about her. I really need a doorstop so I can keep my door open and see what everyone is doing cause I’m kind of on an end of a T shaped hallway by myself. But I’m much more excited now that people are here. I was really lonely earlier because all the normal kids were coming back from break and greeting each other and I missed all my friends, all of you, and being safe and knowing everyone and all that funness of coming back from break and seeing everyone again. Oh well, at least my flatmates seem nice and it should be fun. The two guys still aren’t here, but apparently one of them (a dancer!!!!) goes home every weekend so I may not see much of him (L). But things are looking up, much better than before. I have one meeting tomorrow morning and I still don’t know where it is, but then nothing until Wednesday. Maybe I’ll have to introduce everyone to Lehigh style drinking ;) There was a girl from Muhlenberg here last semester, which is so ironic, but those kids don’t party like Lehigh, so I’m sure I have much to teach. So what if they’ve been drinking since they were 16 (legally 18), so what if they have pubs and night clubs like Chicago has Starbucks (I cannot wait to go to pubs and nightclubs! Yeay being legal!), they don’t have beruit (I don’t think) and they don’t have Lehigh! Eh, we’ll see how things go. If I get internet and get a hold of Nyko maybe I’ll party in Paris… who knows. I plan on getting some good work done, but I also planning on having tons of fun. I was so jealous of Tomas last semester… now is my turn. I hear new people in the hallway.. I need an excuses to go out there…. Gr. Well, besides that and wondering what to do with my newfound free time, I feel much better now. My room is looking more homely, though still barren compared to the crap piles back at Lehigh, but better. I can handle better. Is it sad how much my alarm clock excites me? Or how much Cadbury excites me? You know what’s funny, you always miss what you can’t have; Hannah was talking about how much she loves American candy. Apparently things like Reeces are hard to find here. They talked of having friends in the States bring back boxes of Lucky Charms. If I had known that I would have brought tons of American crap but I thought America was so globalized the stuff would be everywhere and no one would want it. I mean, how could you crave Snickers when Cadbury and good Belgian chocolate is everywhere?! I go to Canada just for candy sometimes (well, family and candy) and I’m so excited its in the stores here. But I guess after a while I may miss Reeces. So when you come, bring Reeces, Lucky Charms and your own plate ;) and I’ll trade you cheap American crap for good Belgian chocolate. I Love Crème Eggs!!! And now I only have one left… Its taking all my willpower not to just devour the Flake.. Well I guess I’ll clean or watch a movie to keep my mind off the yummy candy. Hopefully this will actually get posted tomorrow and you can catch up on the 6 pages of back reading you have to do. More adventures tomorrow!